 Break the siege
of Rossport
10/11/06
A number of éirígí activists travelled to Erris, Co Mayo today to support
the Shell to Sea protests. While the major protest of the day was at the
site of the proposed refinery in Bellanaboy there were two additional,
smaller protests outside of the two quarries supplying stone to the
Bellanaboy site. The éirígí activists joined one of these protests at
Lennon’s Quarry in Glencastle. Beginning at about 6.30am the protest
continued for about four and a half hours.
During this time there were a number of sit-down protests as activists
attempted to prevent lorries from the quarry making their way to Bellanaboy.
The Garda reaction to this peaceful protest was both violent and
indiscriminate with protesters repeatedly kicked, punched and manhandled by
the Gardaí as they cleared the road. By lunchtime one protester was in
hospital with a suspected broken nose and countless others were nursing
bruises, cuts and muscle strains.
Speaking at the protest éirígí Chairperson Brian Leeson slammed the Garda
tactics saying that “the sit-down protest is a long established, legitimate
form of non-violent direct action, used by political activists the world
over. It is, by its very nature, peaceful, placing the protesters in an
entirely exposed position that represents no threat to the Gardaí. Despite
this the Gardaí have responded with brute force by quite literally kicking
the people off the road.”
Encouraging more people to become involved in the Shell to Sea campaign he
continued “for those who believe in a more equitable and just Ireland there
is no battle of greater importance, at this time, than the issue of the
Corrib Gas and the manner in which it is proposed to exploit it. Not only
have the Dublin government effectively given away the gas, it is now clear
that they are also willing to use the forces of the state to ensure that
untested and unsafe technology will be used to process it.
They, and their friends in the oil companies, hope that they can break the
Shell to Sea campaign by besieging a small isolated community on the west
coast of Ireland. They fear the development of a major nationwide campaign
focused on the entire issue of Irelands’ natural resources and on how and to
whose benefit they are exploited. It is for people in Dublin, Belfast, Cork
and elsewhere to ensure that such a campaign develops. The people in
Rossport and the surrounding area are already doing their part, challenging
the government and Shell on a daily basis; it’s now up to the rest of us to
do the same and ensure that the siege of Rossport is broken”.
|
