US military use of Shannon Airport must end : Senator Paul Gavan

SANAA, Aug. 14 (YPA) –  The Irish  Senator Paul Gavan in the Sinn Féin party called on the Government of Ireland to end the use of Shannon Airport by US military forces in light of the latest atrocities in the US-backed war in Yemen.

“Coalition airstrikes led by Saudi Arabia hit a bus carrying children in northern Yemen on Thursday, killing 29 children who were on their way back from a picnic,” Senator Gavan said.

“This is the latest atrocity in a horrific war being waged by the Saudi led Coalition. There is a direct line from these atrocities back to Shannon Airport,” he added.

Paul Gavan indicated that the US provides logistical and weapons support to the Saudis. US contracted military planes leaving Shannon regularly travel to states belonging to that Coalition- states such as Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan and the UAE, as well as Saudi Arabia itself.

“We also know from figures released under freedom of information that hundreds of permits for military munitions of war were approved by our Government last year, with many of these planes heading to these same destinations, Paul Gavan said.

“Did the missile that blew up these children pass through Shannon? The Senator asked, adding that it’s quite possible. Either way, it’s a shameful practice and a betrayal of the principles of neutrality”.

Senator Gavan was one of the dozens of protesters who attended the Shannonwatch vigil yesterday regarding the US use of Shannon Airport.

Senator Gavan continued saying that “every month a heroic group of people travels from near and far to highlight the ongoing abuse of our neutrality and complicity in a number of wars being waged by US-backed regimes across the Middle-East.”

He concluded by Saying ting that “their action stands in stark contrast to the silence of our political establishment who keep up the pretense that there is nothing to see here. It’s long past time when our Government should end it’s support for US Military use of Shannon Airport.”

Source: Sinn Féin

E.M