Six Debenhams protesters have been arrested after occupying the Henry St store.
Demonstrators says they saw an opportunity to hold a sit-in when they realized a window of the building had been smashed.
They're determined to get the redundancy pay they say they're owed and have been protesting since April.
They want their two week redundancy, plus another two.
Debenhams protesters are being arrested after occupying the Henry St store.
— Hannah Murphy (@hannahmurphnews) September 8, 2020
Protesters tell me they’ll “eat their Christmas dinner on the loading bay” if that’s what it takes to get what they’re owed. pic.twitter.com/HpsZFRbpmW
Picketer Wesley Doyle told us other workers should support the fight;
"It's going to happen everywhere
"After this Covid thing is finished there's going to be a lot of shops that are going to just leave
"It's time for people to say enough is enough
"We need to be sorted out because it's the working class that are going to get hit
"The rich class aren't going to get hit, it's the rich class that are going to get hit", he told us.
Protesters are being released one by one.
— Hannah Murphy (@hannahmurphnews) September 8, 2020
Sean Powney is one of them. He says he’s doing this for his mother who has worked in Debenhams since it was Roches Stores. He says he wasn’t going to let her get arrested but he’d throw himself in the firing line. pic.twitter.com/BGo2Qfxs61
The "Debenhams Six" protesters were all released by 9.30am this morning.
They're hopeful today has shown they don't accept the €1 million redundancy deal on the table.
“We’ll eat our Christmas dinner on the loading bays if we have to”
— Hannah Murphy (@hannahmurphnews) September 8, 2020
Debenhams protesters have occupied the Henry St store and say they’ll continue protesting until they “get what we’re due”. pic.twitter.com/RP9pwYNOPn
Another demonstrator, Carmel Redmond, told us they'll protest for as long as it takes;
"If we're eating Christmas dinner on the loading bay, so be it", she told us.
The demonstrators say the company treated them unfairly.
Wesley says it was depressing when shops were allowed to reopen with the lifting of Covid restrictions, as he knew they should be among the workforce coming back into the city.
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