Support the Raytheon 9 on May 27

national | anti-war / imperialism | event notice Tuesday May 20, 2008 16:45 by Sara - Irish Anti War Movement

bus to Belfast will depart 7am from Royal Dublin Hotel

Bus to Belfast on May 27th!!!

For further info: www.raytheon9.org and www.irishantiwar.org for updates on the buses
For information on the buses and/or to book your ticket
call 087 2886646

As most people probably know by now the start of the Raytheon 9 trial was delayed and began on May 20th and not May 19th as we had originally thought.

While this did disrupt plans for the 19th we did get a small contingent up from Dublin for the start of the trial and we plan on getting a lively and large group up on Tueday 27th as will antiwar activists in Derry and Belfast.

The trial had been moved to Belfast because the Prosecution Service applied to have it moved; it argued that the Derry jury pool was 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.

For this reason it is hugely important to have a big protest at the courthouse in Belfast to show that the Raytheon 9 activists acted with public support in August 2006 and this support has increased in the almost two years since they occupied and decommisioned the Raytheon factory while Israel was bombing Lebanon with Raytheon-made components in their missiles.

Sitting in Belfast courthouse this morning it was clear now more than ever that this trial is about resisting war and the arms trade which benefits from war. It is about antiwar activists who were acting in defense of the people of Lebanon who were being massacred in places like Qana in 2006. And it is also about opposing the arms manufacturers like Raytheon who profit from this aggression.

We have to stand side by side in solidarity with our fellow-activists and show that they represent a movement that stretches from Derry to New York to Qana to Cairo to Australia and all around the world.

And as part of that movement we have to get to Belfast next week. So join us on the bus on May 27th!!!

For further info: www.raytheon9.org and www.irishantiwar.org for updates on the buses
For information on the buses and/or to book your ticket
call 087 2886646