Fly-in protest to Shannon airport

national | anti-war / imperialism | news report Friday March 17, 2006 02:28 by Fintan Lane - Anti-War Ireland

I thought that this story would be reported/posted by PANA or somebody more directly involved in organising the event, but it has hasn't happened, so I here is my very short version:

On Wenesday, 15 March, a fly-in protest (organised by the Peace and Neutrality Alliance) occurred at Shannon airport. Those who fly in were Roger Cole (PANA), Tony Gregory TD, Senator David Norris, John Maguire (Anti-War Ireland), Finian McGrath TD, John Gormley TD, A. O Snodaigh TD, Joe Costello TD, Joe Higgins TD, Fintan Lane (Anti-War Ireland) and Tommy Broughan TD. We boarded an 11.30 flight at Dublin and flew direct to Shannon in order to avoid the usual security attempts to quash Shannon protests,

We were joined by Jan O'Sullivan TD at Shannon.

As protests go, it was relatively uneventful, except insofar as it actually happened. It was a clever initiative by PANA that alllowed us to successfully avoid the clampdowns that have suppressed all protests at the airport since 2003.

On a personal note, it was nice to be part of an anti-war protest within Shannon airport terminal, having been banned from the entire county for a two-year period.

The struggle does on.

A protest was held within terminal and also outside the front door.

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