Suppoprters of jailed peace protester Ms Mary Kelly today demanded her immediate release and called for a ban on US and NATO planes using Irish airspace and landing facilities.
Ms Kelly was jailed today after being charged with criminal damage to a US Navy plane at Shannon Airport early this morning.
"We deplore all acts of violence," the Shannon Peace Camp, of which Ms Kelly is a member, said in a statement today. "However, we support individuals who feel obliged in conscience to take non-violent direct peace-actions."
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Members of the Peace Camp
demonstrating outside Shannon Airport earlier this month |
The Camp said Ms Kelly was a "peace activist who last year risked her life to bring medical care to Palestinians trapped and under siege in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem."
Ms Kelly also received support from the Green Party leader Mr Trevor Sargent who said causing damage sometimes had a justification.
"It is sometimes justifiable to damage property if, for example, a door has to be forced to access a burning house to save life. In relation to the US war effort intent on killing innocent civilians in Iraq, there is in a similarway a legal excuse for non-violent direct action," he said.
He cited a case in Britain in 1996 when three women who damaged a Hawk fighter plane due to see action in East Timor successfully argued their action was justified.
"The Irish people who protest against the US military use of Shannon in preparation for war are acting in the interest of constitutional peaceful conflict resolution and are acting to save the lives of innocent people who happen to live on top of an oil rich country which the US wants to control," the Green Party leader said.