Peace March in Shannon

national | miscellaneous | news report

Tuesday January 21, 2003 18:32

by Niall O Brolchain - Galway Green Party

niallob at esatclear dot ie

Cappagh Road, Galway

091 596680

Personal account.

Personal account of the peace march in Shannon on Saturday 18th January.

Along with thousands of other people from around the country, my family and I travelled to Shannon on Saturday 18th January from Galway to take part in a peace march. As a veteran of many peace marches in the past I found the atmosphere at this one to be quite different.

It was different because of the tangible sense of being part of the conflict itself. Marches to the Dáil from Parnell Square via O’Connell Street in Dublin always seem far removed from the field of combat and somewhat academic in nature. In Shannon we could almost smell the conflict.

We could nearly reach out and touch the plane registered in Afghanistan with the American flag painted on it. We could actually reach out and touch the hundreds of stoney faced Gardaí who lined the route of the march.

A group of students from Trinity College in Dublin shouted ‘one, two, three, four, we don’t want your bl#*@y war’ and ‘two, four, six, eight, we are not a US state’. Most of them would have been about seven or eight years old when I last heard that chant, marching through Dublin to protest at our Governments support for the previous conflict in Iraq all of twelve years ago.

In Shannon last weekend there was a very sombre atmosphere. This was not just a token protest. There was a real sense of anger and frustration present as the Gardaí watched us with expressionless faces to the sound of an ever-present helicopter overhead and the beating of countless drums. There was a feeling that even Irelands pretence of genuine military neutrality was all but gone.

On the way to the airport, we stopped at the ‘peace camp’, a collection of tents and a small caravan on a patch of grass beside the main road. Speeches were made but it was difficult to hear what was going on. A bedraggled looking Mary Banotti with a mobile phone attached to one ear asked me where John Gormley was. I was surprised to see her there.

For the next twenty minutes or so I talked about women’s issues with a lady from Galway as my wife and three children marched beside me.

When we reached the airport, politicians from various parties made speeches. These included John Gormley, Patricia McKenna, Michael D. Higgins and Joe Higgins, who all made brave attempts to be heard above the din. I was disappointed not to hear Mary Banotti speak.

Tempers were getting frayed. A bunch of anarchists arrived and started trying to annoy the police. An Iraqi lady who now lives in Galway tried to get into the airport but the Gardaí barred her way. A group of Americans protesting against the war tried to help her out as did many other people but to no avail.

Another lady from Galway commented on the Green Party placard I was holding suggesting I should write the slogan “we told you so” on the bottom.

The anarchists tried to break through the wire fence around the airport and the police ran after them with truncheons raised.

We left at that point and attempted to go for a cup of tea in the Great Southern Hotel. There was a heavy security presence at the door and they wouldn’t let us in.

Instead we trudged back to Shannon town secure in the knowledge that we had at least made an effort to stand up for what we believe in.