Greens Criticise Media Coverage of Shannon Actions

national | miscellaneous | news report Tuesday February 04, 2003 20:12 by Graham Caswell - Green Party caswell at indigo dot ie

Green Party Press Release

The Green Party today demanded that the full truth be disclosed about the break-ins at Shannon airport.

Green Party Chairman, John Gormley T.D., said that there had been a great deal of lies and distortion which he believed would prejudice the impending court cases of the protesters. "It has been widely reported that a Garda in Shannon was assaulted and subsequently hospitalised. If this incident had any basis in fact it would have been totally condemned by the Green Party.

However, no charges for assault have been brought against the accused and it has now been confirmed that the Garda in question was not hospitalised. It is deplorable that there are certain sections of the media that would behave in such a irresponsible fashion."

"Last week it was also widely reported that over 500,000 euro worth of damage was inflicted on a US military aircraft. Again, it is our understanding that this estimate is greatly exaggerated. These lies and distortions have been used to undermine the case of the Anti-War movement. It is therefore vital that the protesters do not continue to play into the hands of the warmongers and their allies. The Green Party has called on any protest to adhere strictly to a passive resistance code. We cannot afford to lose the battle for the hearts and minds of ordinary people."

Mr. Gormley said that it was now quite clear that truth had, once again, been the first casualty of this war. "However, the Greens are confident that in the long term, the essential truth of our message will persuade people that this war is fundamentally wrong and unjustified."