Thursday January 01 1970
Support the Raytheon 9 on 1st day of trial, May 19. bus to Belfast will depart 7am from Royal Dublin
dublin |
anti-war / imperialism |
event notice 
Thursday May 08, 2008 17:45
by Kieran O'Sullivan - Irish Anti-War Movement
The Raytheon 9 will appear in court in Belfast on 19 May. The Irish Anti War Movement is organising a bus to go to Belfast to support these antiwar activists.
The campaign will be bringing witnesses from Lebanon and will be using their trial to highlight the real criminality- Israeli aggression in Lebanon and Palestine and the arms manufacturers that benefits from this aggression.
The trial has been moved to Belfast because the Prosecution Service applied to have it moved; it argued that the Derry jury pool is likely to know too much about the campaign against Raytheon, including the non-violent direct action taken on 9th August 2006 and that any jury from Derry might be too sympathetic to the action and/or intimidated by the level of support for the Raytheon 9 because of all the protests held outside the courthouse over the almost two years since the nine were arrested.
We have to make sure there is a big, vibrant and noisy crowd at the courthouse on the 19th so join the bus to Belfast!!!
The background: In August 2006 following a public meeting hosted by The Derry Anti War Coalition, at which Joshua Casteel, former Abu Ghraib interrogator was speaking, a decision was made by all present, to take action.
At the same time Israel was attacking Lebanon, killing thousands and injuring more.
There was a protest at the Raytheon factory in Derry and 9 activists from the DAWC managed to get in, occupy and close down the factory in Derry.
Raytheon is one of the largest arms manufacturers in the world. It supplies guidance systems for many of the missiles and bombs used by US and Israeli forces. In 2006 Raytheon systems guided the Qana bomb to the bunker where it blasted and crushed at least 51 people to death .
For further info: www.raytheon9.org
For information on the buses and/or to book your ticket
call 087 2886646
Comments (5 of 5)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5Yet another delay to the Raytheon 9 trial. Protest Tues 27th instead
There has been yet another delay to the trial of the Raytheon 9. It is expected to start on Tues 20th or Wed 21st but we won't know until Monday which day. So, we will let you all know as soon as we do. But we do want a big protest outside the Court early on in the trial. So, do try to get to Belfast on Tues 27th. Monday 26th is a bank holiday in the North, so there will no court that day. The IAWM is reorganising its buses for that day so contact them for details.
Sorry to all those who had booked a morning off work on Monday - but this seems to be the way these trials go. Hope people can get Tues morning 27th off!
I have heard a few rumours that Raytheon are considering closing their Derry plant.
Is this just smoke without fire or is it a real possibility?
Lets hope it is.
The trial is starting for sure now tomorrow morning, Tuesday 20th May. There are few carloads travelling from Derry, at least one from Dublin and we hope that there will be a few people from Belfast there so there is a presence on the first day of the trial.
We know it's been a pain for all the people who had booked off Monday 19th....but we hope you can all make a big effort to get up to Belfast on Tues 27th to protest outside the Laganside Courts (opposite the Waterfront Hall). The IAWM are organising buses again and there is a bus travelling from Derry on that morning also.
I'm attempting to sustain a daily solidarity vigil at the Dublin GPO with the Raytheon 9 action on trial in Belfast. I have to work around shift work and other commitments but have managed most daze in the past week.
Over the course of the past week I've been able to tell folks who've stopped from Australia, U.S.A., England, Ghana, Poland, France, Colombia, Venuezala and various parts of Ireland about the works of Raytheon and the Raytheon 9 action. I've sold 8 copies of the Raytheon 9 booklet.
Today - first day of trial/Tuesday going by the comment above - I will be at GPO from 5pm-7pm with a placard reading
"Disable the War Machine!
Free the Raytheon 9
on Trial in Belfast!"
www.raytheon9.org
-if anyone wants to join me, give me a text to confirm what time I'll be there or go solo with your own sign whenever you can!
-I will also have the Raytheon 9 booklet available for purchase for 3 euro
if you're after a copy. It's a good resource on NVDA, Raytheon and the war on Lebanon. http://www.indymedia.ie/article/87408
If you're passing drop by, I don't bite (much!)
Jamie
"I have heard a few rumours that Raytheon are considering closing their Derry plant."
There was a story printed in last weeks Derry journal where they were approached by a reporter and asked if they were making Derry staff redundant, but I believe all they said was that due to the present economic situation they had a reduction in workload but had no plans on laying people off because of it.
There again you never know. There's a good chance a lot of that public money and grants which went into the Raytheon coffers has since dried up and we've seen other companies pull out of NI as soon as that happens. Maybe that combined with the changing political climate and pressure from DAWC, IAWM and others will see an end of the evil empire's presence in Derry.
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