Justice for Ciaron O'Reilly and the Pit Stop Plowshares
PIT STOP PLOUGHSHARES VIGIL
Friday 14th 12.30 - 1.30 pm
Outs ide Consulate General of Ireland
400 George St Sydney
Cnr King and George Sts
Before the illegal invasion & bombing of Iraq, five
members of the pacifist Catholic Worker movement made
their way into Shannon Airport and non-violently
disarmed a U.S. navy war plane in the early hours of
February 3rd. 2003. Their actions were inspired by the
vision of Isaiah 2:4 to 'beat swords into
ploughshares.'
The Pit Stop Ploughshares Deirdre Clancy, Nuin Dunlop,
Karen Fallon, Ciaron O'Reilly & Damien Moran spent 4
to 11 weeks in Limerick Prison. They went to trial in
March 2005 on two counts of Criminal Damage €100 and
$U.S.2.5million. Penalties, if convicted, carry a
maximum of ten years imprisonment.
The March '05 trial collapsed on the 6th day when
Judge O'Donnell called a mistrial, dismissed the jury,
and instructed the media not to report on the reasons
for the mistrial.
The October '05 re-trial collapsed on the 10th day,
after Judge Donagh MacDonagh agreed with Defence
counsel that his attendance at the Bush inauguration
in 2001 (amongst other meetings with Bush) was grounds
for his removal from the case, in that his role was
tainted with a 'perception of bias'.
Over 100 international & numerous Irish anti-war
activists converged on Dublin for both trials. They
were occasions for public witness against the war,
with evenings of celebration of the disarmament and
public meetings concerning ongoing Irish involvement
in the war on Iraq.
The Pitstop Ploughshares 5 returned to trial again at
Dublin's Four Courts on Monday July 10th 2006. The
trial is likely to run for two weeks.
http://www.peaceontrial.com
Ciaron O'Reilly -Australian peace activist and a
member of the pacifist Catholic Worker movement
(www.catholicworker.org). co-founder of Catholic
Worker communities in Brisbane and Liverpool, He spent
13 months in U.S. prisons with the ANZUS Plowshares
for disarming a B-52 Bomber in New York 1/1/90. He
spent 5 months in Darwin Prison with the Jabiluka
Ploughshares for disabling uranium mining equipment on
the Jabiluka Mine Site 6/8/98. He is the author of
Remembering Forgetting - A Journey of Nonviolent
Resistance to the War on East Timor (Otford Press,
Australia, 2001) Ciaron is a remarkable man of
phenomenal courage and conscience. He and four others
are looking at a maximum of 10 years in jail if
convicted for their "Ploughshare" action in faithful
defiance against the war. Their third trial in Dublin
is on July 10th. They are charged with "$US 2.5
million criminal damage without lawful excuse" to a
U.S. Navy war plane en route to the illegal invasion &
occupation of Iraq. The action took place at Shannon
Airport, the major pit stop & refueling facility for
the U.S. war machine's war on Iraq.( Pit Stop
Ploughshares disarmament action & reports on the first
two mistrials. www.peaceontrial.com)
Melbourne Vigil for Pitstop Ploughshares Held by Paul Saturday July 08, 2006 at 05:05 PM
Melbourne Vigil for Pitstop Ploughshares held at office of Honourary
Irish Consul Friday 7th July 2006.
On Friday evening it was uncharacteristically rainy in Melbourne, as
five of us gathered for an hour at the office of the Honourary Consul
to Ireland.
We were soon joined by an officer of the Federal Government's
Australia Protective Service and an officer of the State Government's
Security Intelligence Group. At first the federal officer thought the
state officer was part of our group, but once that was sorted out, they
were keen to establish that we would be gone by 6pm so that they could
immediately go home.
After they left we made signs and put out leaflets and were pleased
when Simon, a friend of ours, happened to be walking past and joined us
for a while and signed our petition.
We finished up at 6pm, got out of the cold wet evening
and heading back to our homes.
Pictures at the bottom of this page:
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/77054?
author_name=Paul&comment_limit=0&condense_comments=false#comment157690
-------------------------
The Pine Gap 6 have a new web site. Check it out:
http://www.pinegap6.org/
They go to trial in Alice Springs on Oct 3, 2006
www.indymedia.ie/article/77054?author_name=Paul&comment_limit=0&con...
