1,000 protest farmers' jailing

AROUND 1,000 people joined a protest in Castlebar in Co Mayo yesterday over the jailing of five farmers who stopped the Shell Corrib gas pipeline from going through their land.

The protest is the latest in a series over the laying of a nine kilometre high-pressure pipeline from under the Atlantic off the Mayo coast to a inshore refinery at Ballanaboy.

The afternoon rally was organised by independent Mayo TD Dr Jerry Cowley who said public support for the men's cause was also building right across the country. He had visited the men over the weekend and they were bearing up well considering the circumstances.