Shots fired as Dubliners protest against recruitment to British army

More than 100 men marched from Liberty Hall in Dublin to St. Stephen’s Green and then back to Liberty Hall as part of a trade union protest against recruitment to the British army.

At a rally at the Wolfe Tone monument in St. Stephen’s Green James Connolly called for the establishment of an Irish Republic and Jim Larkin condemned the British government and the leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, John Redmond.

DMP report on a meeting of the ITGWU that took place on 6 September 1914. It states: 'The professed object of the meeting was to explain the position and aims of the Citizen Army, but t was really part of the anti-enlistment campaign which is being carried on at present.' Click for full document. (Image: National Archives of Ireland: CSO/RP 1914, 15420)

Later, shots were fired in the air as the procession passed through the streets. The rise in anti-recruitment sentiment in the city was also visible by the gathering of men around the new recruitment office on Grafton Street.

Only a small number of men came in during its first day of operations and they were roundly booed by the crowd gathered outside.