Irish Anti - War activist begins hunger strike in Limerick Prison.
national |
anti-war / imperialism |
news report 
Tuesday February 17, 2004 23:56
by paul o toole
Anti-War activist Eoin Rice goes on hunger strike over additional unreasonable bail demands.
Anti-war activist Eoin Rice refused to adhere to an additional bail condition banning him from Co. Clare, imposed
by judge Mangan in Tulla Co. Clare on Friday 13th. The additional bail condition was
added to an already agreed bail, without any request from the prosecution and was
instigated solely by judge Mangan. Mr. Rice refused to adhere to this additional bail
on the grounds that EU. legislation prohibits the internal exile of a citizen of a state
within that same state. He was remanded to Limerick prison.
Mr. Rice has begun a hunger strike on arrival at prison.
He was originally arrested on a traffic violation on the morning of December 6th on
his way to the national protest at Shannon airport. After hours of being held at
Shannon Garda station where Mr. Rice alleged he was severly physically and verbally
abused, and items removed from his person not returned - camera film and audio
recordings etc - a special sitting of Tulla district court was convened at six o’clock on
the Saturday evening of his arrest, an unusual event for a traffic violation.
Mr. Rice contends he has been harassed by the Gardai for protesting at Shannon, for
his opposition to the Irish state permitting US warplanes carrying 118,000 armed
troops and munitions on our soil and through our civilian airport . Most of these
munitions have been banned by the UN. and the Geneva Convention- Napalm,
Cluster bombs, depleted-uranium radioactive tipped patriot cruise missiles etc...
Comments (14 of 14)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14press releases and newswire gossip is fine but ultimately useless.
What should be done, here in side the Dublin Pale to bring attention to Eion's jailing and hunger strike?
Does the media know of this issue?
Do the good TD's know anything about this?
Anyone up for a solidarity hunger strike in front of Dail?
Eion's plight is directly connected with the fact that dozens have been banned from Co Clare. His civil liberties, or lack thereor, are our civil liberties.
we need to do something.
"Depleted-uranium radioactive tipped patriot cruise missiles?". This is nonsense.
Depleted-uranium is used in bullets and cannon rounds - not as 'tips' for missiles. It is used because it is extremely, extremely heavy (like lead), not because of its residual radiation. Although DU weapons are not dangerously radioactive before they are fired, they produce fine, slightly radioactive dust on impact, which is probably very toxic and is hard to clean up.
A patriot missle is an anti-missle missle - in other words it shoots down attacking missles. It is a defensive weapon and is of no danger to anyone who isn't flying at mach 3. Because it is defensive it is not banned by any international convention and because it is intended for battlefield use rather then strategic use it is not even banned under the now defunct Anti-Ballistic-Missle (ABM) treaty. It also has nothing to do with cruise missles, which are not ballistic and which are offensive in nature.
Spouting nonsense diminishes the impact of your piece and reduces your credibility. Eoin Rice and his cause (i.e. the illegal use of Shannon as a de facto American base) deserve serious support.
I hope this helps.
DU is used in (some) Cruise missiles - although as a counterweight, not as a tip.
While it's true that the Patriot system is an "anti-missile" missile system it's not true to say that it's entirely defensive. It is intended to help make possible the style of warfare in which you simply rain down explosives, DU, napalm and whatever else you can think of on your enemies (and their civilians) with impunity (the so-called Powell Doctrine). Also, the latest generations of the patriot system are effectively part of the son-of-Star-Wars NMD programme, the only rational for which seems to be to create a LESS stable world.
The original post on ER's jailing said he was going to the High Court to get Judge Mangen squashed - any news on this?
I didn't know that about DU used as a counterweight on Cruise missiles. Makes sense, though. The stuff is weirdly heavy.
No news on Eoin. I wonder if this case is perhaps not the best mechanism by which to continue to challenge the government on the use of Shannon by the US. Judge Mangen's 'barred from clare' mentality seems merely comic.
On a broader note: Why is it so difficult to get the public to pay attention to this? Irish people seem to disapprove of the war and of what the American's have been doing. There have been enough events, etc to give the press something to report. Why no outrage?
I don't agree with him but I still admire his courage. How many more young men have to die before the squares in the Dáil see where it's at ?
Eoin was a fine young man - although a little unkempt.
May he rest in peace.
He's not dead yet, Desmond! In fact he probably isn't even terribly hungry at this point.
(That reminds me - time for a late-nite snack...)
In Germany, they first came for the communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Catholic. Then they came for me -- and by that time there was nobody left to speak up.
-Martin Niemoller
Owen appeared in the Corafin District Court today. He was remanded over to Ennis District court on the 27th of Feburary.
Owen again demanded a reason from the jugde for making extra bail contitions but Jugde Mangan ignored him and the Garda Inspector advised Owen to stay quite.
Fairview Against the War is calling a picket of Dail Eireann from 11am to 2pm on Thursday February 19th in support of Eoin Rice. Eoin is currently on hunger strike in Limerick prison to protest against bail conditions imposed by Judge Mangan. Please support and publicise widely.
she saw me in the background of a photo outside dublin castle i pointed out in the picture relating his bruising encounters with the police, her reaction to that was if this really did happen it would be on the front page, why wasn' it.
"
there is no problem with humans compared to say turkey , sure don't have concerns with turkeys human rights record, things ain't so bad in ireland so thre is _no_ problem ???
"
oh well all poets (myself included) do.
though I don't like mine @ all.
:-)
At Thursday's Dáil protest it was great to see friends from all shades of the anti-war movement coming together in solidarity with Eoin. It was a lively group and brought back memories of last year's protests because of the way it alerted the public and got support from them and some loyal members of the Oireachtas.
Again two school outings gave us the thumbs up - always a good sign.
About 25 took part.
The news at 9.20 a.m. from the Governor of Limerick prison was that Eoin was still on hunger strike and had been, since he came into the prison. Further protests are planned for Friday and after.
Well done to everybody who attended the picket!
I hope that everybody also remembers to write to Owen to help break down that sense of isolation one feels in prison. Send a card if you don't have time to put a letter together, but do send him something. And don't forget to put 'prisoner of conscience' or 'political prisoner' after his name.
Owen Rice,
Prisoner of conscience,
D-Wing, Limerick Prison,
Mulgrave Street,
Limerick.
Start scribbling.
DU can be used in ALL munitions incl missiles. It is used for penetration. Contrary to your belief and sarcasm DU is the most poisonus metal on the planet. On impact it fuses into millions of radioactive particles -any minute particle can be injested by breathing it in the lungs ,by swallowing unseen airborne particles or through a cut in the skin. One tiny particle can cause a cell mutation -then you have CANCER .the village of Safwan has 47% cancer with none before the first invasion of Iraq. More than 180,000 US soldiers suffer GW Syndrome since 1991 12,000 US. soldiers who got back alive have died. It also poisons the earth and food chain for 4.5 BILLION years...is this what you mean by 'slightly radioactive dust' in your posting.
....a crime against God and a crime against humanity......Prof. David Rokke Nuke physist .Who has 5thousand times the normal level ammount of R.A in his body....
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