This article is from page 8 of the 2012-10-09 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 8 JPG
SHANNON anti-war protester, Margaretta D’Arcy, had planned to scatter the ashes of Booker Prize-shortlisted playwright John Arden on the runway at Shannon Airport on Sunday, but was prevented in doing so.
Seventy-eight-year-old Darcy, who has protested at Shannon Airport on a regular basis since the beginning of the war in Afghanistan more than 10 years ago, managed to scale the fence at Shannon Airport on Sunday with fellow protester Niall Farrell.
The protest was undertaken to highlight to use of unmanned drone attack craft in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The pair managed to occupy the runway at Shannon Airport for 15 minutes before they were apprehended by security.
Ms D’Arcy was the long-time partner of the late John Arden, who passed away earlier this year. The pair were regular visitors to Shannon and recently performed a play about the Ralahine Commune, a co-opera- tive society founded in Newmarketon-Fergus in 1831.
In a statement released to the media, Dette McLoughlin, of the Galway Alliance Against War, said Shannon Airport had been used for special extraordinary rendition flights.
“Over the past 11 years, Shannon Airport has been transformed into a US military base, literally into a Warport. Millions of armed US troops, millions of tonnes of weaponry travel freely through Shannon, including the killer drones that daily rain down terror and death on the peoples of Afghanistan and Paki stan,” she said.
“Shannon Airport has been an integral part of the CIA’s illegal “extraordinary rendition” programme. It is known that the kidnappers and torturers of a number of victims of the CIA have travelled unhindered through our country. This makes consecutive Irish governments guilty of colluding in torture as well as mass murder.”
A Garda spokesman said two people were arrested, then released without charge. A file has been sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.