PJ Cremin, who says he was a nurse in Cork for 20 years and served as a medic before that, recounted how he rushed to assist protesters after learning “they didn’t have any” medical personnel on site.

What he witnessed, he says, was chaos.

“On Saturday, they got rushed charged by the public order unit… there were people being crushed and everything,” Cremin explained.

“Then they hit the crowd with pepper spray in two blasts… about 16 to 18 people.” As a medic, he said, “I treated about 11 or 12 of them,” crediting locals who “donated bottles of water” to prevent worse injuries.

Among those affected, he says, was “a 14-year-old child and his father who were hit by pepper spray.”

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Despite criticism, Cremin defended the boy: “That child showed more bravery… than a hell of a lot of the politicians.”

Cremin also blasted the government’s response, arguing, “This deal was not a deal… this is an instruction from Ursula von der Leyen,” while accusing authorities of valuing institutions over citizens: “They think less of you, me… than they do of saving a TV and radio station.”

Warning of escalation, he added: “Civil disobedience on a grand scale… we will have to stand up together.”