Skip Nav | Home | Mobile | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Security | Support Us

World

IRISH EMBASSY OCCUPIED IN ANTI WAR PROTEST

Joss | 02.03.2005 12:35 | Anti-militarism | London | World

This morning, five anti war activists were arrested inside the Irish Embassy, in a solidarity action with the Pitstop Ploughshares. See press releases below.

PRESS RELEASE

For immediate release

ANTI WAR PROTESTORS OCCUPY IRISH EMBASSY IN LONDON

2nd March - Six British anti-war activists today occupied the Irish Embassy in London. They are protesting criminal charges against peace activists who will next week face a possible ten year prison sentence for physically disarming a US Navy Plane at Shannon Airport. Within a month of their action three of the four companies contracted to ferry US troops and weapons had left Ireland.

Just after the embassy opened for business, the protestors peacefully chained themselves together inside of the building in Grosvenor Place, whilst others have hung a banner reading, “PITSTOP PLOUGHSHARES: NOT GUILTY” outside.

Joss Garman, speaking for the demonstrators, explained, “The Pitstop Ploughshares – who damaged the plane at Shannon airport - acted to uphold International Law, and to prevent Irish complicity in genocide. Far from breaking the law, they were upholding it, because the war in Iraq was clearly illegal. It clearly isn’t right that peace campaigners should face years in prison, whilst Bertie Ahern remains at large.”

He added, “We wanted to add our voices to those of Desmond Tutu and Martin Sheen, in proclaiming, “Prevention of a war crime is not a crime.” In many ways, the runway at Shannon airport could be compared to the railroad to Auschwitz, afterall, 100,000 people are dead.”

For information/interviews:
www.warontrial.com
www.tridentploughshares.org

Notes to editors:
The Pitstop Ploughshares are Karen Fallon, Deirdre Clancy, Ciaron O'Reilly, Damien Moran & Nuin Dunlop, and will stand trial in Dublin’s 4 Courts from March 7th, for the disarmament they carried out on 3rd February 2003. They are charged with 2 counts of criminal damage totaling E100 & $2million. They face a maximum of ten years imprisonment, if convicted.

- ENDS -





PRESS RELEASE: 2nd March

Update: IRISH EMBASSY OCCUPATION ENDS WITH ARRESTS

Five anti-war activists who this morning barricaded themselves into the Irish Embassy in London have been arrested. The occupation of the embassy, which lasted two and a half hours, was in protest against Irish support for the war in Iraq. They were arrested for ‘trespassing on diplomatic premises.’

More specifically, the demonstrators from Ploughshares were demanding that the Irish government drop charges being held against the ‘Pitstop Ploughshares’ for disarmament of US Navy Plane, refueling at Shannon Airport, which was headed to Iraq.

A spokesperson for the group, Joss Garman, said, “This morning the protestors spoke with the ambassador and called for an end to Irish complicity in this illegal and bloody war.”

He added, “The Pitstop Ploughshares tried to prevent genocide, and uphold international law. Whilst they face prison, the real criminals like Bertie Ahern, remain at large.”

Notes:
The activists who occupied the embassy this morning were:
Milan Rai, Richard George, Bill Dawbarn, Maureen Ukairo and Zelda Jeffers
They are being held at Belgravia Police Station in central London, and are expected to be released later today.

- ENDS -


Links to mainstream media coverage:

 http://news.google.co.uk/news?hl=en&lr=&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2004-26,GGLD:en&tab=wn&ie=UTF-8&ncl=http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm%3Fid%3D4198592

Joss
- Homepage: http://www.warontrial.com

Comments

Display the following 2 comments

  1. UPDATE — R.
  2. more info and photos at... — peacenik

Publish

Publish your news

Do you need help with publishing?

/regional publish include --> /regional search include -->

World Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Server Appeal Radio Page Video Page Indymedia Cinema Offline Newsheet

secure Encrypted Page

You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.

If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech