PRESIDENT MICHAEL D Higgins is to lead the State commemoration of the 1913 Lockout in Dublin city centre this weekend.

The President will lay a wreath at the statue of labour leader Jim Larkin on O’Connell Street on Saturday afternoon, which will be followed by one minute’s silence.

Saturday marks the 100th anniversary of Bloody Sunday when three people died and more than 500 people were injured at a mass meeting in what was one of the key events of the Lockout, which saw Dublin workers fight a sustained battle for rights and pay.

Tens of thousands of workers – and an estimated 300 employers – were involved in the pitch battle which lasted from August 1913 and January 1914, and which was the most severe industrial dispute in Irish history.

President Higgins has frequently spoken about the significance of the Lockout, describing it as an “important chapter of Irish labour history”.

The commemoration will be followed by a reenactment of the events of Bloody Sunday, which saw police baton-charging a large crowd which had gathered to hear Larkin speak from the balcony of the Imperial Hotel.

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