dave7852
12-10-2005, 04:04 PM
From The Irish Times:
War protester gets 100 hours community service
An artist's impromptu one-woman "anti-war" protest at the sight of several armoured UN-peacekeeping vehicles driving down a street hampered efforts by an ambulance crew to tend to an injured garda, a court heard yesterday.
Ms Dearbhla Donnellan (30), Mona Lee Manor, Salthill, Galway, denied obstruction and breach of the peace when she lay down in front of the armoured convoy making its way down Dublin's Bachelor's Walk at 3 a.m. on November 22nd last.
Judge Gerard Haughton ordered her to do community service after saying that her high minded principles not only ignored the fact that the Army was involved in peace-keeping rather than war-making but also allowed her to interfere with medical assistance to a person lying injured on the ground.
Dublin District Court heard that Ms Donnellan, who was coming from the launch of an art exhibition, was gripped with anti-war sentiment when she saw several white armoured vehicles driving down the quays. They had come briefly to a stop while an ambulance crew attended to a motorcycle garda who had been injured in a traffic accident.
She believed that the armoured vehicles were tanks and that they were "going to Iraq".
"I have been involved in the peace movement for years and I felt strongly as I am very anti-violence and anti-military," she said.
When she stood in front of one of the vehicles, Garda Alison O'Neill arrived and told her to get off the road and that there was an ambulance trying to get to the injured garda. She refused to do so and was taken off the road but went back again and this time lay down in front of the vehicle. She was arrested but struggled and refused to get into a Garda car.
She was then handcuffed and as officers waited for a van to arrive to take her because of her agitated state, she started shouting anti-war slogans and calling for help.
Ms Donnellan denied she lay down on the road and said she sat down. She admitted making an abusive remark to the garda but claimed she was only shouting out because the handcuffs on her were tight and extremely painful.
Judge Haughton ordered that she carry out 100 hours of community service as an alternative to three months' imprisonment.
War protester gets 100 hours community service
An artist's impromptu one-woman "anti-war" protest at the sight of several armoured UN-peacekeeping vehicles driving down a street hampered efforts by an ambulance crew to tend to an injured garda, a court heard yesterday.
Ms Dearbhla Donnellan (30), Mona Lee Manor, Salthill, Galway, denied obstruction and breach of the peace when she lay down in front of the armoured convoy making its way down Dublin's Bachelor's Walk at 3 a.m. on November 22nd last.
Judge Gerard Haughton ordered her to do community service after saying that her high minded principles not only ignored the fact that the Army was involved in peace-keeping rather than war-making but also allowed her to interfere with medical assistance to a person lying injured on the ground.
Dublin District Court heard that Ms Donnellan, who was coming from the launch of an art exhibition, was gripped with anti-war sentiment when she saw several white armoured vehicles driving down the quays. They had come briefly to a stop while an ambulance crew attended to a motorcycle garda who had been injured in a traffic accident.
She believed that the armoured vehicles were tanks and that they were "going to Iraq".
"I have been involved in the peace movement for years and I felt strongly as I am very anti-violence and anti-military," she said.
When she stood in front of one of the vehicles, Garda Alison O'Neill arrived and told her to get off the road and that there was an ambulance trying to get to the injured garda. She refused to do so and was taken off the road but went back again and this time lay down in front of the vehicle. She was arrested but struggled and refused to get into a Garda car.
She was then handcuffed and as officers waited for a van to arrive to take her because of her agitated state, she started shouting anti-war slogans and calling for help.
Ms Donnellan denied she lay down on the road and said she sat down. She admitted making an abusive remark to the garda but claimed she was only shouting out because the handcuffs on her were tight and extremely painful.
Judge Haughton ordered that she carry out 100 hours of community service as an alternative to three months' imprisonment.