Marchers protest at US presence in Iraq
Up to 2,000 people marched through the streets of Dublin today to protest against the continued United States presence in Iraq.
Roads were closed to traffic and an escort was provided by the gardaí whose helicopter hovered overhead.
The Irish anti-war movement hailed the protest a success, but said it was disappointing that numbers did not match the 100,000 who turned out to protest in the city before the US-led invasion in 2003.
Chairman Richard Boyd-Barrett blamed “a huge wave of propaganda” which had convinced some people that the invasion had been justified by the recent elections in Iraq.
“The claim the US are sponsoring democracy in the Middle East is a terrible lie,” he said. He said the march was designed to remind the US that the violence in Iraq would continue until the 140,000 troops left.
Gardaí estimated the number on today’s march as possibly up to 2,000.
Similar protests took place today in over 100 cities across the world.
The march began at Parnell Square at around 2.30pm and went a along O’Connell Street.
Margaret Hynes-Travers, an elderly woman from Wexford, said she had marched with friends and relatives in the original protest before the war.
“We think it’s illegal for Bush to be in Iraq and he should get out,” she said.
Another marcher, Conor McLoughlin, from the Workers Solidarity Movement, carried a green, white and gold plastic hammer with the slogan “Hammered by the Irish”.
“That’s to show solidarity with the Ploughshares, who attacked the aeroplanes at Shannon. They had one of these hammers,” he said.
Ciaran O’Reilly, one of the five Ploughshare members who was charged with causing criminal damage to a US navy plane at Shannon two years ago, was among the marchers. The case is due to be retried in the Circuit Criminal Court later this year.
Silke, a 26-year-old German worker, who did not wish to give her surname, said she was very impressed with the protesters’ diversity in age and appearance.
“Here is seems more people support the movement and not only extreme people,” she said.
The marchers paused briefly outside the offices of the Irish Times on D’Olier Street and booed to protest at the newspaper’s use of the columnist Mark Stein.
“Socialist Workers Party member Dave Lordan said the protesters strongly disagreed with Mr Stein’s columns in favour of US President George Bush. “We’d like the Irish Times to sack Mark Stein,” he said.
The march was led by six women from the NGO Peace Alliance, followed by 10 protesters dressed in Guantanamo Bay-style orange jumpsuits.
NGO Peace Alliance spokesman Brendan Butler said the marchers were demanding the end of the use of Shannon Airport by US troops on their way to Iraq.
“We get money from the US government every time a US warplane lands in Shannon and every time US soldiers go in and buy duty free. It is blood money,” he said.
The protest concluded with speeches outside the Dáil.
