May Day, lets make it a day of Peaceful celebration

national | summit mobilisations | press release Friday April 23, 2004 18:09 by Patricia McKenna MEP - Member of the European Parliament mckennap at iol dot ie European Parliament Office, 43 Molesworth Street, Dublin 2 00353 1 6616833

An appeal by Patricia McKenna, Green MEP for Dublin, to respect the tradition of peaceful protest and to make May Day a day of peaceful celebration.

May day is a day of celebration and festivities. May day in Dublin will be
a day to welcome the people of the ten new countries who are joining the
European Union. We want to see that they are treated fairly as equal
citizens in the new Europe.

I hope that those coming to Ireland, to take part in any of the events
organised for that day, do so in a spirit of peace and celebration.

Irish people have a tradition of being able to both celebrate and protest
peacefully and we want to maintain that tradition. Indeed, to do otherwise
would only play right into the hands of those in authority who would wish to
restrict our right to freedom of expression.

Everyone taking part in mayday
activities should do their utmost to ensure that it is a family fun day of
celebration, peace and entertainement.