Security planning - Gardaí taking no chances after riots
Overall, some 500 gardaí, army and airport personnel were on alert when Air Force One landed at Shannon en route to America from a state visit to India and Pakistan to generate support for the dubious ‘war on terrorism’.
Yesterday’s security operation suggests gardaí were taking no chances following trenchant criticism of their lack of preparedness for street violence in Dublin.
During those riots, despite being outnumbered, some 300 gardaí displayed great courage in running battles with dissident republicans, drunken hooligans and opportunistic anarchists armed with petrol bombs and building site rubble.
At Shannon, only nine anti-war campaigners were on hand when the plane landed just after 2.30am. Kept outside the perimeter fence, they went unnoticed by Mr Bush who did not disembark during the 80-minute refuelling stop. Demonstrators see the use of Shannon for US troop movements as facilitating the war in Iraq where over 100,000 civilians, half of them children, have died. Despite White House denials, they also believe dozens of prisoners have passed through the airport on so-called ‘extraordinary rendition’ of CIA suspects for torture.
Let us hope that when Northern loyalists or nationalists march down O’Connell Street, the advance garda planning and the level of security provided for citizens will be on a par with that afforded to Mr Bush at Shannon.
