Shannon demo report in today's Limerick Leader

The following article was published in the latest edition of the Limerick Leader, 4th October 2003.

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ANTI-WAR GROUP IN CALL FOR PROTESTS

Anti-war activists have called for further protests over the use of Shannon Airport for the refuelling of US military planes.

At its agm at the weekend, the Irish Anti-War Movement agreed to stage a protest in Shannon in November. It also announced its intention to “conduct an educational campaign aimed at Irish soldiers on the reality of the ‘war on terror’ and today’s application of UN peacekeeping.”

On Saturday, about 3,000 demonstrators gathered outside Government Buildings in Dublin to protest at Ireland’s involvement in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. During the protest, Limerick-based anti-war activist Edward Horgan handed back his army medals in protest at the continued use of Shannon airport by the US military.

Meanwhile, Dr Fintan Lane has pledged to turn himself in to the Gardai if he is not arrested within the next two weeks. Dr Lane is facing 60 days in prison for refusing to pay a E750 fine for his part in a mass trespass in Shannon last October. “I have said publicly that I am not paying a fine and I am not going to plead guilty in retrospect. If the authorities don’t contact me within the next two weeks to arrange a date for my detention, I will make contact with them myself,” Dr Lane said. “I don’t want this thing hanging over me any longer,” he said.

November’s march from Shannon town centre to the airport is designed to highlight what the group claims is the continuing use of Shannon for refuelling by the US military. “The airport is being used to facilitate the occupation of Iraq and it is also being used to facilitate the occupation of Afghanistan,” said Dr Lane. “The campaign against the refuelling of US warplanes at Shannon will continue, and it is clear that civil disobedience needs to be deployed more vigorously as a tactic. The Government has blood on its hands and is complicit in the killings of innocent civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan. Civil disobedience is a legitimate tactic when human lives are at stake,” he said.

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