Guantanamo shame - A great stain on a great democracy

THERE were demonstrations in cities across the world yesterday — including Dublin, London and Belfast — to mark the sixth anniversary of the opening of the American detention camp at Guantanamo Bay.

US President George W Bush faced demands from politicians representing virtually every party on this island to close the notorious centre where hundreds of men are detained in conditions that are simply not acceptable to a civilised society.

In the Dáil, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Labour, Greens, Sinn Féin and the Progressive Democrats signed a petition urging the camp’s immediate closure. North of the border Ulster Unionist, Sinn Féin, SDLP and Alliance MPs and MLAs, as well as the Green Party’s Brian Wilson, Progressive Unionist leader Dawn Purvis and Independent Health Coalition’s Dr Kieran Deeny, added their names.