US Consulate in Belfast closed down by peace activists

Die-in & blockade calls for an immediate end to the US military occupation of Iraq

On Monday 20th March, the 3rd anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, peace activists from the Belfast-based Justice Not Terror Coalition staged a ‘die-in’ at the main gate of the US Consulate in Belfast.

On Monday 20th March, the 3rd anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, peace activists from the Belfast-based Justice Not Terror Coalition staged a ‘die-in’ at the main gate of the US Consulate in Belfast.

‘This symbolic and totally nonviolent action will, in effect, blockade and close down the entrance to the Consulate for a period of time. We will be re-enacting an everyday scene from the streets of Baghdad, Samarra, Fallujah and other Iraqi towns and cities under US and UK military occupation’, said JNTC member Mark Chapman.

The morning’s activities kicked off with Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Nobel Peace Laureate and Kevin Cassidy, Chairperson of the Peace People meeting and delivering a letter to US Deputy Consul John Carveille, explaining the reasons for the peaceful protest and requesting a meeting with Consul Howard Dean Pittman.

The die-in at the main gate of the Consulate created an effective blockade and fake blood poured around the entrance brought home the everyday toll of life in Iraq under US occupation. Bell-tolling as Iraqi, US and UK war dead from the last 3 years were remembered and their names were read out created a solemn occasion.

Later there were speakers and poets at the main gate and a reading from Weinberger’s anti-war article ‘What I heard about Iraq’, as part of the international anti-war reading action.

‘On this the 3rd anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Iraq we gather together to remember all those who have been killed, and to call for an end to the US-led invasion and occupation. We call also for people to continue to mobilize and use nonviolent resistance to end the occupation of Iraq’, said Mairead Corrigan Maguire.

‘The human cost, mostly to Iraqi civilians, is testimony to military madness. Over 100,000 Iraqis, over 2,000 USA Soldiers , and over 100 UK soldiers, all killed, and untold thousands injured’, she said.

Justice Not Terror Coalition in Belfast is co-ordinating nonviolent resistance actions to the occupation of Iraq throughout 2006 in support of the Global Call to Action (http://globalcalliraq.org). These are planned for March 20, May 1 (International Day of the Worker), August 9 (anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki), September 11 (anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the U.S.) and December 10 (International Human Rights Day).