Five anti-war protesters found not guilty yesterday of criminally damaging a US navy aircraft at Shannon airport said they will use non-violent means to close down the airport if the US miltiary keeps using it.
"The Government has no public mandate to turn Shannon into a petrol station for the US war machine," said one of the five, 46-year-old Ciaron O'Reilly at a press conference in Dublin.
"We want to get Shannon airport closed down until it is demilitarised. We will blockade the airport, occupy its runways and encourage workers there to strike," he said.
The other activists, Nuin Dunlop (34), a US citizen; Damien Moran (26); Karen Fallon (35); all of Rialto Cottages, Rialto; and Deirdre Clancy (36) from Clontarf applauded the jury for acquitting them.
"I salute the jury, they sent out a strong statement yesterday," said Ms Clancy "It was a very important decision and it reflects public opinion on US intervention in Iraq."
Ms Dunlop said she was relieved the Irish people had spoken.
"Our motivation for what we carried out at Shannon on February 3rd 2003 was simple. It stems from a belief that all life is sacred, every Iraqi life is as sacred as a US life or an Irish life. Every life has something sacred in it. If everyone knew this within themselves there wouldn't be war."
The five also called for a public apology from Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Minister for Social and Family Affairs Seamus Brennan.
"We were slandered by Seamus Brennan who claimed that we assaulted and hospitalised a garda. The garda himself denied this. Bertie Ahern accused us of taking violent action and said violent peace activists were a contradiction in terms," Ms Clancy said. "We call on Bertie Ahern and Seamus Brennan to retract these statements, to publicly come out and apologise."
The group's solicitor Joe Noonan said the jury's decision was a wonderful conclusion to the case.
"The State could not convince one person on that jury that these people were criminals, that they didn't have lawful excuse for what they did," he said. "There was a deliberate attempt to crush them by people we pay to know better."
The group called on all sectors of Irish society to resist the use of Shannon by US military.
"Eleven thousandtroops go through Shannon every day. The Irish government is participating in this war and has made Ireland a terrorist target. Bertie Ahern has acted in a cowardly fashion and we will pay the price," said Mr O'Reilly.