RETURNED PASSENGERS FROM MV SAOIRSE TO SPEAK AT IRISH SHIP TO GAZA PROTEST TODAY AT CENTRAL BANK AT 12.00PM.
IRISH ANTI WAR MOVEMENT – PRESS RELEASE 11 APRIL 2011
IRISH SHIP TO GAZA – DEMONSTRATION THIS SATURDAY
END THE SIEGE OF GAZA – LET THE FLOTILLA SAIL!
Sat. 9 July 2011, 12:00 Central Bank Plaza (March to Greek and Israeli Embassies)
Speakers will include returned passengers from the MV Saoirse.
In a statement released today the Irish Anti War Movement called for support for the demonstration today by the Irish Ship to Gaza campaign. The protest will begin at 12pm at the Central Bank Plaza and will march to both the Greek and Israeli Embassies calling for an end to the siege of Gaza and for the Greek government to let the Flotilla sail.
The IAWM statement noted that under US and Israeli pressure and diplomatic influence, the Greek government has agreed to become complicit in the illegal siege of Gaza. They have refused to allow the remaining boats from “Freedom Flotilla 2 – Stay Human” to sail on their humanitarian mission to Gaza – even forcing both the US and Canadian ships back to port at gunpoint. This comes on top of the identical sabotage of both the Irish and Scandinavian / Greek boats as they were docked hundreds of miles from each other.
Jim Roche IAWM PRO and one of the passengers on board the MV Saoirse said: “It seems the illegal and immoral siege of Gaza now extends across the Mediterranean Sea from the shores of Gaza to the shores of Greece. It is appalling that Governments around the world are willing to be so complicit in the subjugation of the Palestinian people and in the denial of their basic civil and human rights. This includes the Irish Government who has treated the Israeli Government with kid gloves in relation to not demanding safe passage for the flotilla and in not sanctioning Israel for its obvious dangerous and life threatening sabotage of the MV Saoirse.”
For further info contact:
Richard Boyd Barrett TD, Chair IAWM, Tel. 086 781 4520
Jim Roche, PRO Steering Committee, IAWM, Tel. 087 6472737
Claudia Saba, Steering Committee IAWM, Land Team ISTG 087 988 9244
www.irishantiwar.org
