Global Women's Strike Cacerolazo at the Weekly Anti-War Picket of the Garda Station, Galway

national | miscellaneous | news report Wednesday April 09, 2003 15:43 by Global Women's Strike Galway - Global Women's Strike womenstrike8m at server101 dot com 087 7838688

Gardai Forced to Stop Work Due to the Noise!

Women from the South of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and England picketed Mill St Garda Station again this Wednesday in Galway. Women called on the Gardai and the army to refuse to do the work of protecting warplanes at Shannon or of arresting and harassing people for civil disobedience, when there are war criminals going unpunished in the White House, 10 Downing St and the Dail. Joining the pots and pans protest held in Barcelona every night, along with the one led by Women Oppose War outside the Dail today and so many by women in Argentina and Venezuela in recent times for their very survival, we made an enormous noise with our pots and pans, whistles, chanting and singing.

Global Women's Strike Cacerolazo at the Weekly Anti-War Picket of the Garda Station, Galway

Women from the South of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and England picketed Mill St Garda Station again this Wednesday in Galway. Women called on the Gardai and the army to refuse to do the work of protecting warplanes at Shannon or of arresting and harassing people for civil disobedience, when there are war criminals going unpunished in the White House, 10 Downing St and the Dail.

Joining the pots and pans protest held in Barcelona every night, along with the one led by Women Oppose War outside the Dail today and so many by women in Argentina and Venezuela in recent times for their very survival, we made an enormous noise with our pots and pans, whistles, chanting and singing. This was interspersed with stopping to hear bits of anti-war news such as the fact that many conscripts in the Greek army have issued a statement refusing to serve in the war or to help NATO or US personnel in Greece. Women called on the Gardai and Army to follow their lead.

The Gardai ordered us to stop using the megaphone because it was 'interfering with their work' and 'we can't hear people on the phone'. But we learned from two women who came out of the station that they had been waiting for a couple of hours in the immigration section because the Gardai dealing with them had gone off for lunch without informing the women!

We had been chanting 'Gardai, Army, You can't Hide, You're Supporting Genocide' through the megaphone but after this, we started with the pots and pans and they really regretted asking us to stop with the megaphone because we became so much louder! The picket got lots of support from passing cars and schoolchildren. Women who couldn't make it to join us also rang the picket to check on our progress and with news updates. Others rang the Garda station to warn the Gardai not to arrest us or do anything to us. Eventually several special branch, detectives and uniformed Gardai came outside and stood around watching and talking about us. Presumably, they couldn't work because of the noise!

The picket this week was part of several days of actions in Galway by women, children and men. NO War Criminals will hijack our movement worldwide or our history and our struggle in Ireland by claiming to 'bring peace' to this island, as though this could justify their long list of war crimes in Iraq or anywhere else. And the movement in Ireland, North and South, has also told those who would be our alternative leaders such as those in the Republican movement in Ireland that they cannot run with the hare and hunt with the hounds. There will be no peace and no justice and no victory for all of us on the island of Ireland which is not also a victory for our sisters and
brothers in other parts of the world against the same violence.