Photo Op Ambushed

national | anti-war / imperialism | news report Monday June 28, 2004 20:15 by Terry - Galway Grassroots Network (personal capacity) galwaygrassroots at yahoo dot com

Report on Saturday's Ambush demo at Shannon

Blocking roads, surrounding armoured cars, etc...

The assembly point for Saturday’s demo was to be Bunratty castle, this we had chosen in order to have a publicised fall back for both the Friday night AWI demo and the Saturday Ambush demo, should there have been the massive exclusion zone talked about. One suggestion had been a red zone stretching from Clarecastle to Cratloe.

That morning in the peace camp there were two simultaneous meetings, one an assembly of all campers and the second a meeting of delegates from Galway Grassroots, Dublin Grassroots, and the bike tour.

We had appointed these delegates with the specific task of mapping out a route for the march, and then seeking general approval for it. The latter was forthcoming from campers for an assembly point at the camp and for marching up the N18 north -westward in the direction of the section of the N19/N18 blocked off for the Bush entourage. If seriously stopped the plan was to pick another access way to Shannon warport.

This meant that we had chosen as our route the same pathway as Bush et al.

Thus we were aiming to simultaneously disrupt the summit, highlight the use of Shannon airport as a pitstop of death, and to challenge the state’s security zone, it’s supposed right to impose authority on us.
Something for all the family as it were.

To do so we had to not take the state approved road into Shannon, which we had taken at the previous night’s demo.

In regard to organisation, flexibility and a system of decision-making on the day was the only possible way to go, as we never know before hand what we are going to face.

For instance widely discussed in the run up to the Ambush was such possibilities as a far wider exclusion zone, our buses being stopped and turned back, and a far larger turn out of protesters.
So decisions had to be made on the hoof.
We had to have contingencies and flexibility.

So we assemble at the peace camp at the Clonmoney fly-over, the head of the march formed by the Mid-west Against Military Aggression banner, next a cluster of red and black flags, and alas but a solitary green and black.

Heading off up the open road with energy and enthusiasm, a zeal only slightly tempered with a little trepidation, the stock of hooters recently acquired from Catalonia added a celebratory cacophony to the chants of ‘Whose Streets? Our Streets!’.

As we advance up the Dual Carriageway a desultory attempt is made to stop us, police hurriedly erecting a steel crowd control barrier. A few people run to it’s sides, a few more run to it and hop over, or push it aside, and we are through, the path cleared for the main body of protesters.

As we approach the junction and flyover of the N19/N18, the section of road reserved for the leaders of the free world, a more serious attempt at blocking our path is made.

About one hundred riot cops sealed off both lanes of the road.

We fan out across both lanes.

Here we drum, dance, do street theatre, or wander about confusedly while probes are made into the adjoining fields.

They had little capacity there to stop us on the Shannon side, but advocates of this route didn’t get a critical mass for such an attempt.

At this time the phones of the spokespeople start buzzing – ‘Why are you blocking the media?’

It appears the American press corps was re-routed from Ennis to Drumoland along our road. This being a means of avoiding the Dublin Catholic Worker/Galway Drummers performance of Macbeth, the various autonomous actions, and the IAWM protest, all taking place in Clarecastle. As it happened the media that went through Clarecastle, according to today’s Independent, were delayed for all of 30 seconds, those that took the detour ran straight into the ambush.

Colum Kenny writes in the Sunday Independent: “So much for the ring of steel. The Irish organisation of President George Bush’s visit turned into farce yesterday when scores of journalists were kept late for the final press conference. A 15-minute straight journey became a two-hour nightmare as the official buses full of media were brought on a massive detour of Co Clare in order to miss the protestors – only to find that the protestors had outsmarted gardai and blocked the roads. It all meant that the President of the United States was delayed and the press conference started half an hour late”.

The Prime Time special live from Drumoland showed the American press corps running to take their seats, and this was the headline news across the United States i.e. protestors delay summit press conference, with mentions elsewhere, e.g. Lebanon, Turkey, Mexico, Portugal.

Now as riot police resolutely blocked our path, as had previously been agreed it was time to find an alternative route.

We turn; head back down the N18 in the direction from whence we had came, back towards the peace camp.

At Ballycasey Beg, we turn and go cross country through wasteland at the rear of the industrial estate at Smithstown, and reaching a Lufthansa building ran straight into two Irish Army armoured cars. Breaking through the so-called “security cordon”.

Refusing to be intimidated by armour or lines of balaclava clad riot cops, the mood was festive and celebratory as well as defiant.

We expressed our feelings about the ridiculous coercive apparatus unveiled by the Irish state by surrounding and blockading the two armoured cars.

Finally making our way down to Drumgeely, where an IAWM rally was being held, we were somewhat parched, bedraggled and tired from the day’s, weekend’s, week’s or month’s exertions. The mood was one of exaltation and excitement. Probably the best demonstration in Shannon since the mass trespass on October 12th 2002, or perhaps even the best.

Some things worth remembering:

The political context in which this took place restrained the repressive capacity of the state – it was clear police had softly softly orders – and this was only because of the extent of popular support the protests had.

This support didn’t translate into as a high a turn out as could have been for the protests at Shannon, admittedly Friday had a decent enough turn out by Shannon standards, all things considered, but Saturday’s ambush didn’t – in any case this was probably a good thing as larger numbers could well have been beyond our organisational capacity (read: one megaphone).

The action worked because it wasn’t planned, pre-announced, or organised. Accidents, spontaneity and general chaos produce results.

Finally the 3 people in a boat, who breached the security cordon according to Garda, plus the woman who was to play Lady Macbeth and was arrested on a harassment charge, as well as one person arrested on Friday night in unclear circumstances, all these people will need support. Our naval unit makes it’s next court appearance on July 9th.