IRELAND: The three main organisations involved in the anti-war movement here have rejected suggestions of a split.
The assertions come as two of the groups have opted to stay away from this afternoon's protest at Shannon airport while the third, the Irish Anti-War Movement (IAWM), will attend.
The two other main organisations, the Peace Alliance and the Peace and Neutrality Alliance (PANA) will instead attend a prayer vigil outside the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin at 2 p.m.
They, with Trócaire, organised the anti-war march in Dublin on February 15th, attended by an estimated 100,000 people.
Other sections of the anti-war movement, including the Labour Party, the Green Party, Sinn Féin and Trócaire, are staying away from today's Shannon protest amid concerns about possible violent confrontations with the Gardaí and the Defence Forces.
The concerns centre on plans by one group - the Grassroots Networks Against War (GNAW) - to pull down the perimeter fence and stage a "mass trespass". They are calling this "direct action". Mr Chekhov Feeney, a Dublin member of GNAW, described it as "mass non-violent civil disobedience".
There will be two strands to the protest, identified by different flags. Those behind white flags will take part in the attempt to take down the fence - which the army were protecting last night with a three tier high wall of razor wire - while those behind pink flags will "support the action but ... not ... take part".
Mr Richard Boyd-Barrett of the IAWM said media focus on so-called direct action had been blown out of all proportion. He appealed to as many people as possible to attend, adding that the fact that other groups were attending the Dublin vigil instead was not an indication of a split.
"The broad coalition against the war has always been a loose coalition of groups, each having a right to its own independent thinking and to come together on such events as the enormously successful march in Dublin two weeks ago," he said.
Speaking on RTÉ, Mr Boyd-Barrett said he did not support the dismantling of the perimeter fence, though when asked to condemn it he said: "What's to condemn?".
Mr Roger Cole of PANA said the alliance had never planned to attend the Shannon protest so it was not a question of them pulling out. He said PANA would have nothing to do with direct action; PANA was non-violent "because it's right and because it works".
Mr Joe Murray, director of AfrI, said it would not be at the Shannon protest. "It's not that we are boycotting the Shannon. The three groups came together for the march on the 15th and now we have gone back to our separate ways."
Gardaí in Dublin are expecting about 150 at this afternoon's vigil while Shannon gardaí are expecting "in excess of 2,000".
