Successful demo at Shannon (with photos)
national |
miscellaneous |
news report 
Saturday August 17, 2002 19:20
by John Jefferies - The Workers' Party (Cork)
wpcork at eircom dot net
15 Fr. Mathew Quay, Cork
US Military landings and refueling challenged
Crowd demonstrate opposition to refueling and landing of US military war planes at civilian airport in "neutral" Ireland.
Approximately 150 people converged at Shannon Airport, Co. Clare this afternoon (Saturday) to protest at the granting of refueling and landing rights to US military planes by the Irish Government.
A large garda presence was evident at the external gate, about a mile from the main airport building. However the peaceful demonstrators broke through the garda cordon in a non violent manner. A number of those present spoke outside the main arrivals terminal where the crowd gathered. A number of people lay down on on the roadway and after initially attempting to move them the gardai changed their mind. There were many cameras on them and they were obviously afraid of a repeat of the negative publicity they got after their carry-on at the Reclaim the Streets earlier this year.
Some speakers referred to the irony that the Garda Siochana (Guardians of the Peace) were manhandling peaceful protesters while a serious threat to peace - the US military aircraft - were welcomed by the goverment.
Shortly before the protest started a US Hercules C-130 military plane landed at Shannon. It took off about an hour and a half later. Apparently they were alarmed at our presence.
Comments (14 of 14)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14These protests are laughable while the British military holds a firm grip on a substantial section of Ireland.
The 'workers' party was an invention of Eoghan Harris, now a leading Unionist supporter.
Mary Kelly clearly needs some psychiatric help.
The people involved in the protest at Shannon are to be congratulated, their protest was anything but laughable. It let the ruling elite in our country know that we are not all asleep and will continue to protest against the participation of our country in crimes against third world countries.
England's presence in Ireland is 800 years of crime against a third world country.
Or are you just a hurler on the ditch?
Do you expect the same group of people to be protesting in Shannon and Belfast and London at the same time?
Are there any other campaigns that were left out?
Knocking a good campaign sounds like sour grapes.
If we were up in Belfast some other tosser would be saying, "why don't you watch your own backyard with the US airforce coming through it"
If you wan't to make a comment about the North do it on a relevant news item. The Shannon demo, funnily enough, did not increase the British hold over Northern Ireland.
from the reports, it looks like Aer Rianta very very put out by the demo, and that's some measure of effectiveness considering the density of police jackets in the photos.
Congrats and thanks to all involved in this demo.
in my short time here i have been impressed by the amount of resistance in Ireland to this ugly stupid war, and I think you for it & ask you to continue the struggle.
- an american
Excellent work lads. As for Tom Maguire (is he the former Mayo TD who blessed the Provos foundation in the 1970s (being the only surviving member of the Second Dail) only to give legitimacy to RSF a few years later. I thought he died aged 104 but maybe not.
Eoghan Harris left the Workers Party in 1990. So they're still responsible for him are they? So by that logic the Omagh Bombers (who left the Provos) are still their responsibilty.
At least the Workers Party went up to the Shannon demo. The Provos were too busy being wined and dined at Stormont and Downing Street, having taking the Queens shilling. At least the Workers Party are still republicans.
nationalists expose themselves again.
the demo was excellent even if the barstool birgade don't like it.
"low lie the fields of athenry"
celtic muppets!
2:45 last night, a very large and exremely loud aircraft came out of Shannon going east. No idea what type it was.
about 2:50 when it flew over my house, too high for a good ID, but it was so friggin' loud and big.
A serious bit of jetpower. Our work is far from done.
If the airplane was unusually large and also failry noisy it probably was an Antonov 124, more than likely operated by Volga Dnepr Airlines (see http://www.vda.com.ru/). They have had a maintenance base at Shannon for years. These very large cargo aircraft are chartered by all kinds of companies around the world to carry heavy loads, such as the first of the then new railway engines for Iarnrod Eireann (from Canada to Dublin). These are not military aircraft; if you have problems with their noise that is fine, but noise was never yet a threat to Irish neutrality.
We can ring Aer Rianta and Volga Dnepr.
If Aer Rianta say there was no flight at all then it was probably a C-5 Galaxy transporter.
military planes of course, do not have to comply with civilian engine noise standards.
other people got a better look than I did and the description doesn't seem to match the Antonov -which I am very familiar with.
I would think it very unlikely that the An-124 would have left Shannon at that time.
Volga-Dnepr Airlines operations in Afghanistan
The strong performance of the company overall was attributed by Alexei Isaikin, the airline's Chairman, to the continued boost in demand for lift capacity to support operations in Afghanistan.
http://www.vda.com.ru/eng/news.shtml
I checked further and the Antonov's may not be bringing war materials. They were hired by the UN World Food Program to lift 8 trucks, which it says were for bringing food. (let's hope the war didn't prevent them getting it to the most needy)
Now THAT IS the type of stuff we want happening at Shannon.
Of course, depending on business ethics, they might bring food one week and marines the next, we won't know unless we check.
I will check more into Volga Dnepr to see if they have any other contracts going that way.
If Volga Dnepr are bringing aid to Afghanistan then it is an ironic contrast to the US military using the same airport.
Jim Minty, their PR guy is ex-US Air Force.
If they're moving jeeps and tanks they're not going to tell you.
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