Two members of Galway Palestine Solidarity Campaign were amongst a group of three activists arrested by Gardaí on Saturday, March 30, following an attempt to approach a United States Air Force military aircraft that had landed in Shannon Airport.
Raising the Palestinian flag and a banner which said 'US military out of Shannon', GPSC members, Aine ní Threinír and Aindriú de Buitléir and Longford artist, Eimear Walshe, attempted to approach two Boeing military aeroplanes following their arrival into Shannon from Istanbul, Turkey.
According to flight trackers, since March 26, the 09-0540 Boeing C-40 United States Air Force plane had, in the days prior, visited Egypt, Cyprus and different locations in Turkey, before landing in Shannon on March 30, to refuel before returning to a US air base in Maryland. The group state that they believe that the aircraft had also visited Lebanon in the days leading to its arrival in Ireland.
'Land Day'
Holding signs which stated 'US military out of Ireland' and a Palestinian flag, the trio attempted to approach the planes which were situated in an area of the airport known as the 'apron'. Shortly after this attempted approach ní Threinír, de Buitléir and Walshe were arrested by Gardaí.
Following their arrest, the group who have been coined 'The Shannon Three', were taken to Shannon Garda Station where they were kept for six hours in Garda custody. Supporters of the trio's cause shortly arrived shortly after, gathering outside of the station where they began to sing ' pro-Palestinian chants'.
In the following hours, ní Threinír, de Buitléir and Walshe, were taken to Nenagh District Court for a special hearing, and were later charged with a public order offence and their bail conditions were set. The group were given a scheduled date of April 24, for their hearing, which will take place at Ennis Courthouse at 10:30am. Conditions of bail included 'not going beyond the gantry at Shannon Airport until the upcoming hearing at the end of the month'.
"The significance of taking this action on Land Day is not lost on the Palestinian movement," said de Buitléir while standing outside of Nenagh District Court following his release. He added, "We have to do more. Every day we have to do more. We need to keep the pressure on the Irish Government. We need sanctions now and we need US warplanes out of Shannon.
"We reiterate our call for immediate Irish Government sanctions to stop the genocide and urge everyone to join the upcoming Shannonwatch national mobilisation rally on April 14."
Months of protests
The Easter protest on Saturday, March 30 coincided with 'Land Day', an annual event which commemorates the first large scale political protest by Palestinians on the same day in 1976. The uprising occurred after Israel published its plans to expropriate '20,000 dunams (4,940 acres ) of land in Galilee', among which were a number of Palestinian villages and farms. These plans led to a reactionary mobilisation of citizen led demonstrations in protest of the decision, with Israeli military and police attending the protests and resulting in violent clashes. As a result, six Palestinian people were killed by Israeli authorities and hundreds were injured.
For the past five months the sight of protesters showing their solidarity with Palestine the airport has become commonplace, with mass sit-ins taking place in recent weeks. The purpose of these demonstrations is, as the group say, 'to protest the US military's use of the airport'.
Longtime protesters of US military use of Shannon Airport, Shannonwatch, have been continuously monitoring 'military flights and rendition-linked flights in and out of Shannon and through Irish airspace' for two decades. Shannonwatch first recorded US military planes at Shannon during the 2003 US war on Iraq and Afghanistan.
The group claim that in 2023, Ireland 'allowed 258 US planes carrying weapons' to make use of the airport, and report that 'at least four US warplanes travelling from Lydd Airport (also known as Lod Airport ) in Tel Aviv, Israel have landed at Shannon in recent months'.
Last week, Tánaiste Micheál Martin announced Government plans to formally join South Africa in its ongoing International Court of Justice (ICJ ) case against Israel, built on the grounds that the nation of Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza. Despite GSPC and Shannonwatch welcoming the decision, the groups say that the Irish Government's 'refusal' to inspect US aircrafts goes against its 'legal obligations to prevent genocide, not to aid or assist in the maintenance of the illegal situation and to cooperate to end it'.
In a statement released by GSPC, the group said, "There can be no business as usual under genocide. Instead of adopting effective measures in line with its obligations under international law, Gardaí arrested the three solidarity activists who were protesting complicity in the genocide."
