Security operation contains protesters

IT was clear from the moment we arrived at Shannon Town Centre on Saturday that gardaí had taken very seriously threats to pull down the airport perimeter fence.

As a mixed bag of anti-war demonstrators assembled for the afternoon protest, the garda helicopter hovered overhead, mounted gardaí took up positions outside the shopping centre and the entire gathering was recorded by a camera mounted on a garda patrol van.

The first group of demonstrators to set off along the route to the airport was up to 100 Grassroots Network Against War members.

They were led by protesters bearing white flags which, according to their website, indicated they would attempt to pull down the airport perimeter fence.

Behind them marched protesters carrying pink flags which we were told meant this group would observe "direct action" from a safe distance.

As the Grassroots protesters set off, a second protest organised by the Irish Anti-War Movement continued to assemble for a march on the terminal building.

On the route to the airport fence, the Grassroots protesters were in good voice chanting: "They've got daisy cutters, we've got axes" and "They kill children, we smash planes".

However, as they approached the airport perimeter fence, it became obvious that they were facing an uphill struggle to complete their plans to dismantle it.

As up to 50 of these protesters linked arms to form a human chain in front of the reinforced fence, they were easily outnumbered by gardaí, many of them dressed in riot gear with patrol dogs.

Their impossible task was reinforced by the sight of more gardaí behind the fence, a half-mile long trench and water canon on standby in the event of any trouble.

This protest passed off relatively peacefully following a few minor scuffles in which ten people were arrested.

The first protester to attempt to approach the fence was 50-year-old Limerick playwright Eamonn Murphy who was arrested and marched away to the comfort of a nearby garda van.

A spokesman for the Grassroots Network Against War who criticised the media for reporting on splits in the anti-war movement explained that the group did not have a leader and was non-hierarchical.

However, these apparent divisions were given further credence when a bigger protest organised by the Irish Anti-War Movement numbering some 400 people marched passed the human chain towards the airport terminal building.

Further along the route the picture of the true scale of the massive security operation was complete.

Gardaí with binoculars and hand-held movie cameras were on every available elevated position at the airport.

At the terminal building, the Irish Anti-War Movement gathered for their rally.

Part of this demonstration included a powerful exercise in which all the protesters were asked to lie on the ground for two minutes while noises resembling sirens at air raid shelters were sounded to simulate a bombing mission in Iraq.

One young graphic designer from Ennis had come to the protest with a life-size effigy of Taoiseach Bertie Ahern holding a badly burned Iraqi baby in his arms.

Robert Henderson explained that his creation, which was made from a mix of bamboo, papier mache, latex and chicken wire, was symbolic of the thousands of Iraqi children who could die in the event of a US-led war on Iraq.

Protesters were addressed by Richard Boyd-Barrett and Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins and the rally passed off peacefully.

After we were refused access by gardaí to the airport terminal to answer a call of nature, we decided to make our way back on foot towards Shannon Town Centre.

The sound of chanting protesters who remained outside the terminal could still be heard over the public address system: "I don't know but I've been told George Bush has got no soul."