No arrests in the capital, but pepper spray used at Whitegate

GARDAI needed just 60 minutes to take back control of O'Connell Street from hundreds of protesters who had blocked it for five days, it has emerged.

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"The street was under Garda control in an hour," a source confirmed to us yesterday.

We have also learned that not a single protester was arrested in the early morning operation in central Dublin, which saw 500 gardai clear the street and surrounding areas.

It's understood there was a handful of arrests during the operation that kicked off at 3am yesterday but they were people who were largely drunk and all were unconnected to the protest.

Sources have confirmed there were no issues for gardai clearing the blockade in the capital, which had started on Tuesday morning as part of a nationwide demonstration against the rising fuel prices.

And gardai stayed on the scene all day yesterday, escorting the tractors and other vehicles that had blocked off central Dublin for almost a week.

As small demonstrations continued yesterday across the country, sources have revealed details of the massive operation, named 'Plain Porch', to clear the main blockades.

It's understood the three main operations in O'Connell Street, Galway docks and the Whitegate oil refinery in east Cork required some 1,500 gardai between Friday night and yesterday.