Pine Gap Protest
Christian protesters arrested at Pine Gap
October 8, 2006 - 1:17 AM
The Sydney Morning Herald
A protest group says police have arrested five of its members outside the Pine Gap joint defence facility in Central Australia.
The self proclaimed Christian pacifists were arrested yesterday as they blockaded the entrance to the US defence base, near Alice Springs, in protest at its role in the Iraq war.
About 50 people took part in the demonstration led by the group Christians Against All Terrorism.
Spokeswoman Donna Mulhearn, who travelled to Iraq as a human shield, said the protesters erected a three metre wooden cross, pinned with the names of Iraqi war victims, outside the facility's gates.
Four men and a woman were arrested when they refused to break up a road blockade, she said.
A spokeswoman for Alice Springs police was unable to comment on the arrests.
Ms Mulhearn is one of four people on trial for breaking into the Pine Gap facility - a satellite tracking station - last year.
She said people had travelled from across Australia and from New Zealand to protest and lend their support to the court case, which began with preliminary hearings last week.
"In a way it (the protest) was a solidarity action ... in another way this is about people drawing attention to what Pine Gap does," she said.
"We're up for seven years in prison (for breaking into the facility) and we're very happy to face those charges. Our goal is not to stay out of prison, our goal is to draw attention to the role that Pine Gap has in the world, it's devastating.
"Our view is that Pine Gap could be transformed ... into a facility where this very sophisticated technology and satellite systems could actually be used in a manner that is not violent ... that could be far more beneficial to the world."
The protesters arrested included a 56-year-old Adelaide man, a 42-year-old woman from Yeppoon in Queensland, a 22-year-old Alice Springs man and two men, aged 28 and 22, from New Zealand.
AAP
Source from the Sydney Morning Herald: Sydney Morning Herald
October 8, 2006 - 1:17 AM
The Sydney Morning Herald
A protest group says police have arrested five of its members outside the Pine Gap joint defence facility in Central Australia.
The self proclaimed Christian pacifists were arrested yesterday as they blockaded the entrance to the US defence base, near Alice Springs, in protest at its role in the Iraq war.
About 50 people took part in the demonstration led by the group Christians Against All Terrorism.
Spokeswoman Donna Mulhearn, who travelled to Iraq as a human shield, said the protesters erected a three metre wooden cross, pinned with the names of Iraqi war victims, outside the facility's gates.
Four men and a woman were arrested when they refused to break up a road blockade, she said.
A spokeswoman for Alice Springs police was unable to comment on the arrests.
Ms Mulhearn is one of four people on trial for breaking into the Pine Gap facility - a satellite tracking station - last year.
She said people had travelled from across Australia and from New Zealand to protest and lend their support to the court case, which began with preliminary hearings last week.
"In a way it (the protest) was a solidarity action ... in another way this is about people drawing attention to what Pine Gap does," she said.
"We're up for seven years in prison (for breaking into the facility) and we're very happy to face those charges. Our goal is not to stay out of prison, our goal is to draw attention to the role that Pine Gap has in the world, it's devastating.
"Our view is that Pine Gap could be transformed ... into a facility where this very sophisticated technology and satellite systems could actually be used in a manner that is not violent ... that could be far more beneficial to the world."
The protesters arrested included a 56-year-old Adelaide man, a 42-year-old woman from Yeppoon in Queensland, a 22-year-old Alice Springs man and two men, aged 28 and 22, from New Zealand.
AAP
Source from the Sydney Morning Herald: Sydney Morning Herald
posted by Pax Christi @ Sunday, October 08, 2006
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