Widespread Protests at Bush Visit

national | miscellaneous | news report Monday April 07, 2003 22:59 by George Row gh_row at yahoo dot co dot uk

thousands march on Hillsborough

As George Bush II's plane was setting down at Belfast International Airport thousands of people were protesting against his visit near Hillsborough and across the the North of Ireland.

Monday 7th April, on the outskirts of Belfast.

As George Bush II's plane was setting down at Belfast Airport thousands of people protesting against his visit were trying to reach Hillsborough Castle, the traditional residence of the Governor of Northern Ireland (when there was one). In advance of tomorrow's meeting between Bush and Blair the village of Hillsborough had been turned into what the American advance party insisted on calling a "Sterile Zone". No one has been allowed into the village unless they could prove they lived there and then only on foot.

The first image here shows a selection of banners which were on display at Hillsborough.

A crowd of around 4,000 or more people had quickly been assembled with coaches bring people coming from all parts of Ireland. At first they were corralled in Sprucefield near the shopping centre and near the marquee set up for the world media. At this point they mixed with shoppers, chalked slogans on the pavement and talked to the media. Eamonn McCann of the AntiWar Coalition was interviewed by the BBC NI Radio News. Interviews were also screened on the local Television news with other people who had mounted protests elsewhere across the North of Ireland.

As the crowd assembled there were people from all walks of life, from many political groups and from none. There was a carnival atmosphere. There were many colourful banners.

At 6:00 pm the march set off along the main road (the A1?) towards Hillsborough village. There was frequent and obvious support coming from the traffic moving along the road in the opposite direction. One marcher who had travelled the eighty miles from Derry to be there, said "I'm a member of Foyle Ethical Investment Campaign. We have been campaigning against Raytheon an American missile manufacturer who have a plant in our city. There are people here from all over. Its a good crowd, a great mix of people. It contradicts the assumption that this is an inward looking place which can be taken for granted." Many other people in the crowd had walked out from other parts of Belfast to participate. A fleet of buses had made the journey from Dublin.

The march organisers, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, had set up a stage for a rally near a roundabout approximately half a mile from Hillsborough. When the march reached the rally point the largest part of the crowd pressed on down the road towards Hillsborough. About four hundred metres from Hillsborough Castle itself the march was confronted by a huge force of police in full riot gear lined across the road and blocking their path.

The visible police were in front of line upon line of police landrovers set across the road. The marchers sat down in the road and there were some tense moments as a stand-off developed. For about thirty minutes these marchers continued to protest in front of the menacing police lines. They held a "die-in" outlining each other's bodies in chalk and writing: "This person has been liberated". They chalked anti-war slogans on the ground and chanted. Eventually these marchers returned to the rally point for speeches.

The speakers at the rally included veteran Civil Rights campaigner Eamonn McCann of the Socialist Workers Party, Mitchell McLaughlin Chairperson of Sinn Féin and Alex Attwood for the SDLP. Eamonn McCann lambasted Bush and Blair for their hypocrisy in calling on politicians here to use only political means while feeling free to use the bomb and bullet themselves when they do not get their way in international institutions.

Both the SDLP and Sinn Féin speakers reiterated their intention to "join in demonstrating our repudiation of this unwarranted war on Iraq" and criticised the cynical stage management of the meeting as a "war and peace summit".

Justifying their decision to meet Bush and Blair about the Northern Ireland political process, they each made statements to the effect that their determination to achieve progress here would not prevent them from registering their views on the war. Both called upon their supporters to continue to voice their opposition to the war. Mitchell McLaughlin said: "This evening we join people from across the country outside Hillsborough and tomorrow we will convey our opposition to the war on Iraq directly to both the British Prime Minister and the US President when we meet them."

At the time of writing the protestors were rejoining their buses to return home having given a taste of the opposition to the war summit of Bush and Blair.

Earlier in the day there were protests across the North of Ireland against Bush's visit.

For example in Derry there were several protest actions which centred around "icons" of the city. They included dressing two statues by the river in Derry in protest tee-shirts; a protest outside the local hospital and overnight the famous wall with the slogan "You Are Now Entering Free Derry" was draped in black for the duration of Bush's visit.

The tee-shirts fitted on the statues had slogans which read: "Ireland - War Criminal Bush out" and "Iraq - War Criminal Bush out" and the statues had a broken missile strung between them. The protestors at the hospital assembled around a statue of the Celtic goddess Macha made links with hospitals in Baghdad. They were amongst the protestors who were interviewed on the local BBC evening TV news. Macha was an anti-war goddess who in Irish myth and legend cursed the warriors of Ulster with labour pains.

The first image here shows a selection of banners which were on display at Hillsborough. They were sent by mobile phone image capture at the scene. The earlier protests are shown in the other photos here. This report was mostly compiled from information provided by telephone by participants in the march.