PROTESTS ARE TO be held each Friday in Dublin, Galway and Limerick in a bid to keep the case of jailed peace activist Margaretta D’Arcy in the media spotlight.
The 79-year-old, who is undergoing treatment for cancer, was arrested at her home in Galway during the week after she refused to sign a bond to keep away from unauthorised zones at Shannon Airport.
She had previously been sentenced to a suspended three-month jail term for trespassing at the airport, but the sentence was activated after she declined to sign the bond. D’Arcy had been protesting the use of the airport by the US military.
Around 150 people turned out for a protest calling for the activist’s release at the Department of Justice in Dublin yesterday. Smaller numbers turned out for demonstrations in Galway and Limerick.
The Irish Anti-War Movement‘s Jim Roche said that demonstrations would be held at the same locations each Friday in an effort to pressure Justice Minister Alan Shatter to make a statement on the issue.
“There was quite a large number in Dublin yesterday, ranging in age from students to people in their 70s, so there’s wide support for this cause — it goes beyond people who would normally turn out for an anti-war demonstration.”
Yesterday’s protest at the Department of Justice [Photocall Ireland]
Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams has also called for the immediate release of the veteran activist. He said in a statement that the writer and film-maker was “not a criminal and poses no danger to the public”.
“Jailing an elderly person, with Parkinson’s disease, who uses a Zimmer Frame and who is receiving treatment for cancer, is not something that any reasonable person could view as being just,” Adams said.
Meanwhile, musician Dylan Tighe and writer and actor Donal O’Kelly have drafted a letter to protest against what they call the “outrageous jailing” of D’Arcy.
They’re calling for supporters to sign the letter via Facebook — so far it’s been shared 191 times.
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