Workers Solidarity Movement

For the last twelve hours Shell and the Gardai have been attempting to move some sections of a 500 ton tunnel boring machine to the remote site of Aghoos in Erris. Despite this, the effort has proven to be farcical, with protestors pulling off three road blockades under the noses of hundreds of Gardai. In the latest twist, the lorry, which has been on the road for twelve hours so far, failed to make a crucial turn on the last leg of its journey at the Aghoos / Bellinaboy Road due to its size, despite being in a specialist vehicle.

On Saturday the 28th of April, hundreds are expected to gather for Reclaim the Streets. People will be meeting at the Spire on O’Connell Street at 2pm, and the exact location of the event will only be disclosed on the day itself.

A soundsystem, DJs, face-painters and dancers will congregate to turn a small section of Dublin’s city centre into a carnival of hope and creativity. Donal Corcoran, one of the event coordinators comments “There hasn’t been a Reclaim the Streets party in almost a decade and it’s time that changed. This is about reclaiming public space and creating a positive atmosphere and a hub of entertainment for a few hours”.

Seven academics from NUI Maynooth have released this statement revealing the details of how GSOC treated them in the course of its 'investigation' into the Garda who recorded themseves threatening to rape a women in their custody to force her to give them her name and address.  The statement was published as part of response to GSOC's highly misleading interim report.

In this personal account Jerrie Ann reveals the exraordinary pressure she was put under by GSOC after Garda in Corrib accidentally recorded themselves discussing threatening to rape a women she had been arrested with during a protest against Shell's experiemntal raw gas pipeline construction in Erris. "The GSOC ‘Public Interest Investigation’ has to date served only to mislead the media and the public about the facts of the case, which are actually straightforward"  This piece was written as an appendix to the Shell to Sea report on the GSOC interim report.

"The UNITE trade union has formally pledged its support to the Campaign against the Household Charge. It will urge its members not to register and support national and local protest movements where it has a density of members around the country. - "The following comes from the UNITE circular today 24/2/12

In Belmullet district court on Monday 20th February, 6 campaigners were convicted of a total of 13 charges between them with fines totaling 3,035  euros. While this went on, local residents blocked Shell's haulage route  between Bellanaboy refinery and the compound in Glengad.

On Monday February 20th the Belmullet courthouse in Co. Mayo will be full of campaigners opposing the Corrib Gas Project. Nineteen people are facing 80 charges between them for civil disobedience, and this week has been set aside as a special sitting for the campaigners.

“Your letters have sparked riots in the maximum security wing of my heart” - Sideshow Bob, the Simpsons!

On 21st April 2010 I was convicted of assaulting a number of Gardaí in relation to Shell to Sea protests and sentenced to 6 months imprisonment. Remission for good behaviour means that prisoners will have their sentences reduced by a quarter, once you keep your nose clean. I was given credit for 2 weeks time served previously in 2009, before I was bailed out pending my appeal.

So I spent 4 months in jail from April to August in the summer of 2010. 

Art - a Composite of Van Gogh's 'Exercise Yard' & Munch's 'Scream' by Prisoner Mick Connors.

"Once the corporations gain the benefit of the public paying the costs and taking the risks, they want to monopolize the profit. And the intellectual property rights, they’re not for small inventors. In fact the people doing the work in the corporations, they don’t get anything out of it, like a dollar if they invent something. It’s the corporate tyrannies that are making the profits, and they want to guarantee them."

Rossport Solidarity Camp reports that Shell has begun the work on the Landfall Valve Installation at Glengad beach where the off-shore pipe coming from the Corrib gasfield will be connected to the onshore pipe in the tunnel that is being dug under the estuary.