Far-right agitator Graham Carey has been formally charged with incitement to hatred after appearing in court earlier today. Armed gardaí initially arrested Carey on Wednesday under Section 30 of the Offences against the State Act 1939 and was being held at a South Dublin Garda station. But this morning Carey faced a judge in Dublin District Court where he was charged under Section 2 of the Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act, 1989.
According to the Act this covers “written material, words, behaviour, visual images or sounds, as the case may be, are threatening, abusive or insulting and are intended or, having regard to all the circumstances, are likely to stir up hatred”. If found guilty he could face a jail sentence of up to two years.
Bail conditions and previous history
Judge Michele Finan granted Carey bail but under a number of conditions. Included in this is that he is banned from using social media and that he signs on at his local garda station twice a day. He was also ordered to surrender his passport and is not to attend any protests. The case is due to be heard again in Blanchardstown District Court on 28 April.
The charges relate to a recent video in which Carey exclaimed that he and his supporters would “go through” gardaí at an upcoming anti-asylum seeker protest due to take place later today. In the run-up to it he also called on people to “bring whatever the fuck you feel you need to bring to defend yourself”. Going on, he suggested that they should “go get a gun licence” and “go get a shotgun”.
Carey has a long history of posting extremist content on social media. In July 2022 Carey suggested that he could disrupt Dublin Airport. During the video he said it’d be easy for one person “take over the airport”. And he told his supporters that they’d “probably find out some day” how he could do it and that it’d be possible to do so “with a rucksack”.
During a 2021 he claimed that Jewish people were behind the promotion of the COVID-19 vaccinations because they want “to chip all the children in the world”. In the same rant he went on to say “that the world is going to be drawn to Jerusalem”. And because Jewish people have been vaccinating children simply for “financial gain”, Carey insisted “We need to wipe the Jews out”.
Featured image via Facebook – The Banner Against Spanners
