25.6.09
Solitaire on the horizon,more arrests – the resistance continues – Solidarity!
The Solitaire, the huge pipe laying ship, that will lay the pipeline in Broadhaven Bay has arrived. If you were thinking of coming to Rossport this summer now is the time. Resistance continues whilst 200 Gardai and the Irish Navy are drafted in to facilitate Shell’s project.
As the Solitaires arrival looms large, the state ups the pressure with more frivolous arrests.
At approximately 5.30pm on Wednesday, two swimmers were arrested in Broadhaven Bay by the joint Gardaí and Naval force, for opposing Shell’s Corrib Gas Project. Both were quite a distance outside of Shell’s so-called ‘exclusion zone’ in the Bay when they were arrested by Gardai jumping towards them from RIBs (Rigid Inflatable Boats). The protest was against preparatory cable work being done before the arrival of the Solitaire. Neither protester was close to any machinery, or stopping any work from taking place. This brings to 22 the number of people arrested this month for opposing Shell.
This forms part of a larger pattern of arbitrary arrest, through which Gardai are seeking to repress peaceful protest against Shell’s disastrous Corrib Gas Project. Recent weeks have seen draconian attempts to remand first-time offenders to custody for relatively minor offences, along with very high bail money being demanded for protesters. The attempted criminalisation of campaigners raises very serious questions about civil liberties and the infringing on the right to protest.
Shell to Sea spokesperson Maura Harrington said: “The hundreds of Gardai and Naval personnel drafted into the area in the last 48 hours shows just how far the government will go to facilitate Shell, despite the fact that this project is completely against the interests of the people of this country. These latest arrests are merely the Gardaí and Navy trying to justify the immense and totally disproportionate force that has been sent down by the State to force this project through”
LE Emer is currently stationed in Broadhaven Bay and Navy RIBs crewed by Gardaí and Navy personnel are currently being used against protestors.
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The 24th of June began with an oppressive Garda presence in the Glengad area and ended with two swimmers from the camp being arrested in Broadhaven Bay this evening. Shell’s contracted pipe-laying ship the Solitaire began its journey to Glengad this afternoon and is expected to be in the bay by morning.
At lunchtime two squadrons of kayakers set out into Broadhaven bay as a practise run for actions when the Solitare arrives. Kayakers were confronted by a heavy Garda and navy presence supported by Shell security in rigid inflatable boats (ribs). Two kayakers were roughly handled, being dragged at speed by Garda ribs while Gardai hung on to their craft. All kayakers managed to return safely to the Solidarity Camp. At the same time the Irish naval vessel the LE Emer entered Broadhaven Bay, circled the bay and dropped anchor near Balyglass pier. This warship remains at anchor tonight in the bay.
In preparation for attaching the pulling cable to the Solitare one of Shell’s tug boats drew a smaller cable from the Glengad compound to one of the dredging platforms in the bay at aproximately 5:30pm. Two swimmers set out to investigage what was happening, supported by two kayakers. They were immediately met by Gardai, navy personnel and Shell security in a total of 18 ribs. Even though the swimmers did not enter the exclusion area they were surrounded by ribs and arrested at about 6 pm. The swimmers were put at some danger during the arrests by Gardai because of the lack of propeller guards on the ribs while they surrounded the swimmers. They also denied the swimmers the possibility of swimming back to shore by surrounding them with ribs before they arrested them. They were then taken to the Shell Glengad compound where they were held by Gardai for over 2 hours before being taken to Ballina Garda station for processing. One of the arrestees has since returned to the Solidarity camp but the other person is being detained in a care home in Galway because they are 2 months short of their 18th birthday.
In a further incident later on Garda parking cones were removed by locals and campers after it was discovered that Gardai had no legal basis for putting them there. Soon after, two van loads of Gardai arrived at the road outside the Solidarity Camp, claiming that campers and locals were blocking the road. A stand-off developed which lasted for over a half an hour. During this incident several local people identified a man driving a four wheel drive jeep on the road as the driver of the digger involved in the incindent at Pullathomas pier on the 11th of June, 2007; this was when numerous people were injured after a digger was driven through a crowd of local protestors. This was brought to the attention of the Gardai present but they chose to ignore this complaint, instead claiming that the assembled locals and campers were blocking the road.
There has been a heavy Gardai presence in the area throughout the area, including a public order unit stationed inside the Shell Glengad compound. Gardai have also been stopping trafic on the roads around Glengad checking for insurance, tax, etc. A mysterious white van with Mayo plates has been parked on the roadside during the daytime, adjacent to the Rossport Solidarity camp with the side door open, with someone in there taking photographs or carrying out some other type of espionage activity. The occupants of this van are remarkably camera-shy. Garda numbers in ribs on the bay have also increased markedly in the last 24 hours. All in all, the state is making an extra-special effort on Shell’s behalf here in Co. Mayo.
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Pat & Jonathan O’Donnell Arrested and Boats Commandeered by Gardai As Solitaire’s Arrival Imminent
June 25 2009
Fishermen arrested for the crime of fishing in Broadhaven Bay
In a reprise of last year’s repeated arrests on the waters of Broadhaven Bay, Shell’s Gardai have arrested Pat ‘the Chief’ O’Donnell and his son Jonathan while they were fishing in Broadhaven Bay this morning. Their two boats were commandeered by Gardai and brought to Ballyglass pier under tow and naval escort. Gardai claim that the two boats were ‘loitering’, the new term for criminalising fishermen exercising their rights to fish in their native waters. Pat’s brother Martin is currently still on the water in the bay fishing in his boat. Meanwhile the Solitaire is less than an hour away from arriving off Glengad.
Earlier this morning Pat and Jonathan O’Donnell were arrested by Gardai while exercising their right to fish in Broadhaven Bay, waters that Pat and his family have fished for five generations. Gardai boarded the O’Donnells’ two vessels, arrested the men for ‘loitering’, and brought their vessels under tow and naval escort to the nearby pier at Ballyglass. All this happened while Pat and his boat was under Garda ‘protection’. Jonathan has been taken to Ballina Garda station, but there is no word as yet of where Pat is detained. Pat’s brother Martin is still fishing in the bay at the time of writing.
In another development, a mixed group of thirty-five regular and public order Gardai have taken up a position on the beach adjacent to the Rossport Solidarity Camp, presumably in an attempt to prevent actions happening on the water today. When the Gardai were asked by campers and locals what lawful authority they had to do this they were not answered by any Garda.
The pipe-laying ship the Solitaire is due to arrive in Broadhaven Bay in an hour or so, as of the time of writing. The arrest of the fishermen and their processing by Gardai in distant stations is a blatant attempt to facilitate Shell’s project works in the bay with every underhanded method at their disposal. If there ever was a time to get to Mayo to support this community fighting back against state corruption and corporate greed it is now!