Tensions high for Bush visit

[struggle4progress]

TEMPORARY prison cells, an interrogation room and a makeshift courthouse are just some of things in store for the thousands of protesters that plan to take part in this weekend’s anti-Bush demonstration.
<snip>

Edward Horgan who is a spokesperson for both Anti-War Ireland and Peace and Neutrality Lines said that the gardai and security personnel "will ensure they justify the excessive security and the huge costs involved, by arresting a quota of demonstrators despite their peaceful approach”.
<snip>

Thousands of peace activists and anti-war groups from all over Ireland will be attending the demonstration, including The Midwest Alliance Against Military Aggression, Grassroots, Peace and Neutrality Lines, Anti-War Ireland and Stop Bush Campaign. But is unsure whether they will gain admittance to the stronghold of Shannon.
<snip>

Approximately 700 US secret service personnel are being backed up by more than 3,800 gardai and 2,000 members of the Irish Defence Forces during the President’s 18-hour visit to Ireland.
<snip>

http://www.limerickpost.ie/dailynews.elive?id=5276&category=Daily-Thu


Protestors, protectors gear up for Bush visit

<snip>
It is likely, however, that Ahern's success in Europe will be marred by protests against Bush. Over 100,000 Irish people took to the streets last year in protest at the war in Iraq and the Irish government's decision to allow U.S. warplanes to refuel in Shannon airport.
<snip>

Protesters began gathering near the area Tuesday and set up a so-called "peace camp" in Limerick. Defence Forces began digging in around Shannon airport and are preparing to put in a place a ring-of-steel-type security cordon.
<snip>

One senior counsel has said that Bush should be arrested by gardai when he lands if it is proven he had knowledge that Iraqi prisoners were being tortured. Fergal Kavanagh QC said that as Ireland had incorporated the UN Convention against Torture Act, any individual proven to have been complicit in the torture of prisoners could be convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Religious representatives from the Christian, Muslim and Buddhist faiths have all planned protests against Bush's stay. Fr. Frank Brady of the NGO Peace Alliance said: "George Bush is portraying the American people as dishonest, deceitful and untrustworthy. I don't think that that is fair. I think we need to protest and raise our voices."
<snip>

http://www.irishecho.com/newspaper/story.cfm?id=14757

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. I like the idea of arresting Bush

And at least we know the media over there will cover the protests. Does anyone know if F911 is playing in Ireland yet? That would go a long way to recruiting even more protestors, I think.

[struggle4progress]

3. Yes, Boosh in cuffs would make my eyes twinkle. eom

[0007]

6. I like the idea of junior being arrested and when I think about it

I get all giddy and happy to think justice is finally coming around.

Then I'm bought back to reality and my hopeful ways.

[Racenut20]

2. 6,500 guards and troops.

I wonder how many Clinton, Reagan, & Kennedy had when they visited and played the ropes intermingled with the people?

[struggle4progress]

4. Googling yields:

You, sir, are no Kennedy, Reagan or Clinton
http://www.iht.com/articles/526262.html

Rolling out the green carpet
Visiting U.S. presidents have gotten mixed receptions in Ireland
http://www.irishecho.com/newspaper/story.cfm?id=14758

[SoCalDem]

5. When Clinton went to Ireland.. a contrast

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1847407

[MaineDem]

8. The contrast is startling! (nt)

[SoCalDem]

11. Clinton needs to plan an Ireland "book tour"...like next month

The contrast would be AMAZING....:evilgrin:

[struggle4progress]

13. Loved the photos! The Clintons really like people. It shows.

And people reciprocate.

[FreakinDJ]

7. Bush is the Big "A" in Anti-Americanism

Just brings out hate where ever he goes

[dand]

9. Thats the problem with the Irish,

no compassion for war criminals.

[dbt]

10. And they've got this THING about royalty, too!

:evilgrin:
dbt

[SoCalDem]

12. "You sir, are no Kennedy, or Reagan, or Clinton".. ( a must read)

http://www.iht.com/articles/526262.htm

[Loonman]

14. The Irish hate Bush and love Clinton

There's evena Clinto statue in Ireland.

[Maeve]

34. The Ballybunnion Clinton statue--see it here

http://www.ireland-photo-library.co.uk/albums/kerry/pages/392.htm

[2Design]

15. countries are paying a high price to have our war criminal

come to their country...

I am surprize they just don't tell him to stay home...they have a big bill for all this

[leesa]

20. So do we.

[Geo55]

16. Maybe shrubby

can recruit some leprechauns to help out with some middle east policies.....couldn't hurt

[struggle4progress]

17. When Irish Eyes Ain't Smilin: More Links

Ireland Ready for Bush
<snip>
A massive police operation involving 4,000 officers is also being mounted outside the walls of the exclusive Dromoland Castle Hotel in County Clare, where the president will spend the night before jetting off to attend a UN summit in Turkey on Saturday afternoon.
<snip>
Police, with water cannons on standby, have warned the expected 20,000 anti-war demonstrators they will be held back half-a-mile and would be banned from the main road to Shannon Airport, where they will be kept outside the secure perimeter fence.
<snip>
Senior garda officers have told protest organisers they will be barred from marching on the main road to the airport as President Bush`s cavalcade will be travelling on the same route.
President Bush is expected to be on Irish soil for just over 18 hours but his visit is estimated to cost the state £2.1m.
http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-13138236,00.html


Protesters to greet Bush on first visit to Ireland
The traditional Irish greeting of Cead Mile Failte (100,000 welcomes) is unlikely to be reserved for President George W Bush when he arrives at Shannon airport today on his first visit to the Republic.
Instead an army of protesters lies in wait. Nearly 200 Dublin lawyers have called for his arrest for war crimes and the Irish TUC has denounced him as "a menace to world peace".
But the protests will make little difference to Mr Bush who will be whisked in an armoured convoy for the eight-mile drive from the airport, along a sealed road to the £900-a-night presidential suite at Dromoland Castle.
Unlike the previous presidential visitors, he will not be making any walkabouts during his 19-hour visit for the EU-US summit where he will discuss the Middle East and the fight against HIV/Aids.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/06/25/wbush25.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/06/25/ixworld.html


Army deploys 2,000 troops at Shannon
The army has begun deploying up to 2,000 troops, as well as heavy armour, around Shannon Airport in preparation for the visit to Ireland of US President George W Bush.
<snip>
Ahead of his visit to Ireland, Amnesty International has called on the Government to break the EU's silence on what it terms the ongoing breaches of human rights and humanitarian law by the US in its 'war on terror' and in Iraq.
<snip>
The letter asks the Government to call on Mr Bush to open the doors of its detention facilities to UN and other human rights monitors.
Commenting yesterday, the Tánaiste Mary Harney said that while the US was politically and economically important for Ireland, the Government would make it clear to Mr Bush that Ireland and the EU did not agree with him on many foreign-policy issues.
<snip>
http://www.rte.ie/news/2004/0624/iraq01.html


Shannon residents angered by security for Bush visit
A number of residents of Shannon in Co Clare have decided to boycott a pass system introduced by the gardaí for US President George Bush’s visit this weekend.
Anyone living or working inside the security cordon erected around the town has been asked to apply for a special pass to allow them to move around during Mr Bush’s visit.
However, many have refused to comply and others are planning to burn their passes in a protest tomorrow night.
One resident, Eilís McGettigan, said: “It’s an infringement on my right of movement, my right of freedom. I’m living here. I’m not the visitor. George Bush is. Give him a pass.”
http://212.2.162.45/news/story.asp?j=8312868&p=83yz9zz&n=8312982


Galway to protest against Bush's Irish visit
The Galway Alliance Against War will hold a demonstration on Friday against US president George W Bush's controversial visit to Ireland.
<snip>
"By joining the Galway demonstration, people will be taking part in one huge, national demonstration that will span the length and breadth of the country," according to a GAAW spokesperson. "It will be a strong message from the Irish people that we oppose Bush's belligerent foreign policy, which is a huge danger to world peace."
The organisers also want to convey their disapproval of the use of Shannon airport in Washington's war and occupation of Iraq. "The demonstrations are an important way of showing there is fervent opposition, not to the United States, but to the policies being pursued by the neo-conservatives in Washington," the spokesperson added.
<snip>
http://www.galwayadvertiser.ie/dws/story.tpl?inc=2004/06/24/news/47915.html


What the papers say
Bush visit
The Irish Independent says it is a "make-or-break" event for a man whose campaign for re-election is faltering.
It believes that it is Ireland's duty to tell the president some home truths, by expressing misgivings about America's foreign policy without diluting the friendship between the two countries.
A similar view is expressed by Bishop John Kirby, writing in the Irish Times. He believes that peaceful protest against the visit is not anti-American.
Rather, he says, it's in America's interest, "lest the world descend further into a spiral of violence".
<snip>
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/3835095.stm

[struggle4progress]

19. Irish batten down hatches for Bush

US president's visit expected to provoke big demonstrations
<snip>
Such is the furore that Bertie Ahern, the Irish prime minister, wrote a newspaper column on Ireland's close ties with the US in an attempt to calm it all down.
<snip>
Ireland's anti-war lobby is angry that the country, famed for its neutrality, is allowing US military aircraft to refuel at Shannon airport and Baldonnel airfield near Dublin on their way to Iraq.
More than 55,000 troops have passed through Shannon on almost 1,000 flights this year. Mary Kelly, a nurse, has been charged with causing $1.5m (£824,300) of damage after taking a hatchet to a US navy plane at Shannon. She faces a retrial in the autumn after a jury failed to reach a verdict on her case.
<snip>
Mary O'Rourke, leader of the Irish senate, said she had turned down the US embassy dinner to mark Mr Bush's visit. She said: "I have no animosity for the US but I have animosity for the president who pushed through the war policy in the absence of a UN mandate."
<snip>
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1246844,00.html
(includes schedule)

[arikara]

21. Makes me proud of my Irish ancestry

Bet the protests won't be reported in North America.

I'd never heard the Mary Kelly story before. I googled it and it was only reported on indymedia and some Irish media. And check this out, republican has a vastly different meaning in Ireland.

http://www.newrepublicanforum.ie/IRIB/archive/protestMonitor_archive/articles/activist's%20actions%20commendable.htm

[struggle4progress]

23. Thanks!

But I couldn't get your link to work. :(

Was this the link you were trying to post?

http://www.newrepublicanforum.ie/IRIB/archive/protestMonitor_archive/articles/activist's%20actions%20commendable.htm

<edit:> Well, heck, mine doesn't work either when I click from DU. Anyway, found it by googling "Mary Kelly" newrepublicanforum

[Bridget Burke]

27. Sounds like a good weekend in Galway.

I checked out some other articles at the Galway Advertiser.

Take the bus to the protest on Saturday morning.

Go to see Bob Dylan Sunday night. (His first performance in Galway.)

[happynewyear]

33. wow thanks for the tip Bridget Burke!

My friend is a big Bob Dyland fan. I'll have to let him know. :D

:kick:

[goforit]

18. Will this guy ever get the message that he's not welcome?

[Geo55]

22. Beginning of November n/t

[struggle4progress]

24. I don't think the warmonger cares whether he's welcome or not ...

... as long as he has his big armed posse with him.

[PROUDNWLIBERAL]

25. ARREST BUSH

Arrest Bush---put a hood over his head---place him in orange coveralls and turn the dogs loose on him---BRING IT ON!

[dbt]

26. O'Kick!

:beer:
dbt

[struggle4progress]

28. Labour Leader to take part in Anti-Bush Protest

"This is an opportunity for the people of Dublin and of Ireland to send a powerful message to the President of the United States. It is not enough for government ministers to tell the media that they are "shocked" at the level of human rights abuse that must be laid at the door of the American administration, while the Government as a whole goes through the motions of a "full and frank exchange of views" with the President.

"A massive, over-the-top and quite draconian security operation has been put in place to ensure that the President is fully insulated from even the hint of democratic protest. But the message must go out nevertheless that the people of Ireland fundamentally disagree with the prosecution of this war, which has made the world a less safe place, which has undermined the possibility of collective action within the United Nations, and which has established unacceptable precedents in foreign policy notably the precedent of pre-emptive and massive military actions undertaken by democratic countries to secure regime change in other countries.

"Tonight's protest is not a march against the American people, Irish people greatly value the links with America. It is a march against a dangerous and pernicious approach to the conduct of foreign policy, an approach that has already cost thousands of lives and given sustenance to an often barbaric response. The American President may not listen, but the American people will take note if the people of a friendly country like ours send the message that this approach must be replaced by a different policy and a different imperative. The strongest country in the world must begin again to work with others, to seek change through collective action, and to live by the rules of democracy that its soldiers die to defend."
<snip>

http://www.politics.ie/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=5673

[struggle4progress]

29. Three arrested after entering Shannon exclusion zone

Peace campaigner Ed Horgan was one of three people arrested today in Shannon where the Irish security operation for the US-EU summit was under way.

Gardaí confirmed three people were arrested on a boat at the Shannon Estuary, which is beside the airport where US President George W Bush will fly into later today.
<snip>

Mr Horgan, a retired army commandant from Co Limerick, launched a court action against the Government last year for allowing Shannon Airport to be used as a refuelling stop for US planes bound for Iraq.

A Defence Forces spokesman said gardaí were on board the naval ships patrolling the exclusion zone in the estuary near Shannon Airport.

http://212.2.162.45/news/story.asp?j=46554810&p=46555yyz&n=46555190

[struggle4progress]

30. Greens draw up arrest warrant for Bush

A symbolic citizen’s arrest warrant for US President George W Bush was drawn up by the Green Party today ahead of his impending visit.

Party leader Trevor Sargent said the US military and current administration were responsible for violating international law, as he made a final call on people to come out and protest.

Mr Sargent said: “I do think it is probably more important that Irish Americans in America who have a vote would make the point based on or reflecting the opinion that is now being expressed in Ireland.

“So whether directly this message gets to George Bush or whether it gets to Irish Americans. It is important to demonstrate so George Bush gets the feeling one way or another.”
<snip>

http://212.2.162.45/news/story.asp?j=146408300&p=y464x9z5x&n=146409287

[struggle4progress]

31. Waterford protest planned against George Bush visit

AS part of the ‘Stop Bush Campaign’, the Waterford branch of the Irish Anti-War Movement is to hold a protest in the city against the visit of George Bush to Ireland. The protest will take place on Friday, 25th June, at 7.00pm in John Roberts Square, and is a regional protest for the South East.

Speakers will include Brendan Howlin TD from the Labour Party; Bro. Columbanus of the Franciscan Friary; representatives of Sinn Fein, The Socialist Workers Party, trade unions and others.
<snip>

The Stop Bush Campaign is supported by SIPTU, ATGWU, CPSU, USI, The Irish Council of Trade Unions, The Labour Party, The Green Party, Sinn Fein, The Socialist Party, The Socialist Workers Party, Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, over 40 NGO’s and many others.

The Irish Anti-War Movement are calling on everyone across the South East to join the protest this Friday to reject George Bush and his brutal wars and reject Fianna Fail’s surrendering of Ireland’s neutrality.

http://www.waterford-news.ie/news/story.asp?j=14867

[Maeve]

32. Link to the Irish Anti-War Movement

http://irishantiwar.org/index.adp

Hope we get to see some pictures!

[struggle4progress]

36. Thanks.

If I remember right, baldearg yesterday also suggested

http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php

as a source.

[TLDHOME99]

35. kick

:kick:

[struggle4progress]

37. Thousands march in Dublin to protest Bush visit

Thousands of left-wing activists marched through the heart of the Irish capital today to protest the arrival of President Bush for a brief summit with European Union chiefs.
<snip>
"If we don't speak out, our silence will be taken as consent," Dublin Mayor Andrew Montague told the crowd. "This president lied to the world about the reasons for invading Iraq."
<snip>
"In my recollection, the last place people had to carry passes was under apartheid in South Africa," said Shannon resident Fiona Wheeler, who complained that the police and army deployments were costing a reported $4 million.
"This huge expense is sinful," she said. "Shannon does not have an ambulance service, but millions of euro are being spent to protect just this one man."
<snip>
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-dublin0625,0,7487287.story?coll=bal-home-headlines


Protestors mount anti-Bush march
<snip>
A crowd of more than 1,200 people marched from Shannon town centre to a site 100 yards from the entrance to the airport.
<snip>
Margaret Roymane from the Global Women’s Strike said that the marchers had received letters of support from all over the world. “This is the biggest global anti-war movement ever,” she said.
... the Socialist party councillor Mick Barry said scare-mongering about potential trouble at the march had deterred many people.
<snip>
Meanwhile, in Dublin up to 20,000 people marched peacefully through the city centre in protest at the visit.
<snip>
http://212.2.162.45/news/story.asp?j=108868024&p=yx886873x&n=108868784


Bush Says Europe Supports U.S. on Iraq
President Bush defended his decision to invade Iraq and insisted most of Europe backed the move during a tense interview Thursday on Irish television.
<snip>
http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/26-06252004-322040.html

[Cerridwen]

38. More info from the NY Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/25/international/europe/25CND-PREX.html

My favorite part:

"The leader of the Irish Senate, Mary O'Rourke, recently refused an invitation from the American ambassador, James C. Kenny, to attend a dinner at his home to celebrate the president's pending visit. Ms. O'Rourke expressed her disapproval of American prison policy at Guantànamo Bay and Abu Ghraib, and of the war in Iraq.

"Nobody denies we have an affinity with the United States, but that is a different matter from having an affinity with the president," Ms. O'Rourke said in Parliament this week."

[MaineDem]

40. God love ya, Mary!

Brava!!!

[Manix]

39. The personification of the "Ugly American".