THE text messages were sent out to republicans and sympathisers early yesterday: get to the GPO at 10am, they said. Between 150 and 200 people responded to the call, but they did not congregate so as to avoid coming to the attention of gardai.

“A lot of the faces were familiar to each other,” said one republican who turned up. “They’d be known from city centre bars where they watch Glasgow Celtic football matches.”

At about 10.45am the republicans made their way towards Parnell Square, individually or in small groups. “It would have been too obvious if they had marched up O’Connell Street,” the republican said. “Some went up Henry Street, others went up North Earl Street.”

When they came in view of CCTV cameras they pulled up their hoods and covered their faces with scarves. They were clearly determined to cause trouble, but gardai should have known that much earlier.

No sooner had organisers of the Love Ulster parade announced last December their intention to march down O’Connell Street than republicans made it clear that they were going to prevent it. Republican Sinn Fein called on its supporters to “do all in their power” to stop the march.

Those summoned by text message yesterday were joined by bus-loads of republicans from Northern Ireland, gardai told loyalists.

There are suspicions about how Republican Sinn Fein, a splinter group, was able to summon such huge numbers. The estimated strength of the party, which is believed to have links to the Continuity IRA, is 250 active members, mostly very young or very old.

The belief is that although Provisional Sinn Fein told its members to “ignore what will clearly be a provocative and sectarian march”, some of them turned up anyway.

Willie Frazer, the Love Ulster march organiser, said: “Republican Sinn Fein didn’t have the ability to organise this. There were people there from Sinn Fein who were recognised by both the media and gardai.”

Danny Kennedy, another organiser, said: “The strength of numbers protesting, and the level of organisation, would suggest that Republican Sinn Fein had assistance from mainstream Sinn Fein.”

Gerry Adams’s party already has its alibis lined up. Last week all Sinn Fein branches in Dublin were instructed not to attend yesterday’s protest and to busy themselves in constituency campaigns instead.

“We were told to have alibis,” said a Sinn Fein councillor in Dublin. “All we can do now is sit back and say ‘we told you so’.”

Yesterday morning republicans hid down alleys, in buildings and shops, with the apparent intention of attacking the parade before it entered O’Connell Street. But gardai twigged the plan and faced the wrath of the thugs themselves. Loyalist marchers were hemmed into Parnell Square but avoided injury.

Some time later, when the republican mob heard that a delegation of loyalists had made it to Leinster House, it headed in that direction itself. Blocked from entering Kildare Street, it set upon the Kilkenny Design Centre on Nassau Street, chanting “Up the ’Ra” and smashing windows in the store using parking cones, and burning cars.

Afterwards Republican Sinn Fein (RSF) justified its actions in a statement. “The scenes witnessed in Dublin today only serve to illustrate how out of touch the 26-county political establishment was with the depth of opposition to the routing of a loyalist march through Dublin,” it claimed.

“The people of Dublin have shown their rejection of the ideology of sectarian hatred and bigotry represented by those who organised this march. The routing of such a march through Dublin was a completely irresponsible act with scant thought given to the consequences or the dangers it posed to people.”

RSF was formed in 1986 following a split at the Sinn Fein ard fheis, after most republicans voted to take seats in the Dail. Led by Ruairi O Bradaigh, the party became increasingly irrelevant as the years went on, issuing statements opposing the peace process, IRA disarmament and the Good Friday agreement.

The Continuity IRA, after a few forays in the mid-1990s, also became an increasingly irrelevant outfit. It was the only republican paramilitary group never to declare a ceasefire, but riddled with garda moles it was unable to effect any military operation of note either. Some of its members appear to be loaning out their terrorist expertise, including pipe bomb building capabilities, to criminals.

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