JNN 19 May 2011 DUBLIN — Clashes between Irish police forces and protestors on Tuesday broke out during the visit of Queen Elizabeth II to Dublin, many people were arrested, the Irish Times reported. 

The Irish Police informed that 21 people were arrested following the violent acts that erupted after demonstrators clashed with law agents in the junction of Dorset Street, Eccles Street and Hardwicke Street.

According to AFP, British Queen on Wednesday laid a wreath to remember the 49,400 Irish soldiers killed fighting for Britain in World War I in an emotional ceremony on the second day of her historic visit to Ireland.

The visit to the Irish National War Memorial Garden was another sensitive moment in the first trip to the Republic of Ireland by a British monarch since the country won independence from London in 1922.

Later she was to visit Croke Park, a Dublin stadium where British troops massacred 14 civilians 91 years ago in what became a landmark in the struggle for independence.

First, in a heavily guarded convoy reflecting the huge security surrounding the four-day visit, the queen travelled to the memorial site at Islandbridge in west Dublin to commemorate Ireland’s war dead.

Those who served in the 1914-1918 conflict were forgotten about for decades due to deep unease over them serving in British uniform while Ireland’s independence struggle raged.

The soldiers were virtually ignored when they returned from the trenches of France and a national amnesia about the war developed after independence.

Irish protesters from the Republican Sinn Féin party and the 32 County Sovereignty Movement staged a demonstration at North Frederick Street, next to the Garden of Remembrance which was visited by the queen.

The 32 County Sovereignty Movement is the political wing of the Real Irish Republican Army (Real IRA), a paramilitary organization that seeks a united Ireland and responsible for many attacks including the Omagh bombing in 1998 that killed 29 people.

According to Gardaí, some individuals began burning rubbish and flags as well as taking bricks from a nearby building site and hurled them at security forces deployed to safeguard the area.

Earlier, Queen Elizabeth II took part in a wreath laying ceremony at the garden in downtown Dublin. The site, opened in 1996, honors all those who fought for Irish freedom from British rule.

The ceremony took place amidst the biggest security operation ever mounted in the city that included snipers strategically placed on rooftops and a helicopter overlooking the Garden of Remembrance.

The demonstration was part of an opposition movement aimed at separating Ireland from the United Kingdom supported mainly by Sin Féin. As Queen Elizabeth laid a wreath at the ceremony, Sinn Féin supporters released hundreds of black balloons into the air.

During the ceremony, Queen Elizabeth II was joined by Irish President Mary McAleese, Minister for Justice Alan Shatter and Army Chief of Staff Seán McCann. She also visited the Trinity College, founded in 1592 by Elizabeth I.