Photo shows peace activists symbolically block the road into Shannon Airport at start of today's rally, in protest at it's use by the US military

At our Shannonwatch peace vigil today we had up to 200 people from all parts of Ireland, including North Donegal and West Cork, and a bus load from Dublin. It was a quiet and solemn occasion. Throughout the full hour of the peace vigil, peace activists read out one page each of the children killed in Gaza since 7 Oct 23, and in between each page other peace activists read out from lists of children killed from other countries, including Israeli children , children killed from other Middle East countries, and children killed by terrorists attacks in Western countries. In between each reading a peace bell was rung.

Over 5,000 Palestinian Children have been killed so far, including those still buried under the rubble of their destroyed homes.

What is happening now in Gaza is not just a war crime, it is genocide. And we are seeing it each evening on TV in our living rooms. We cannot say we are not aware of it, and this must compel us to do all we can to stop this genocide and prevent children and others being killed in wars of aggression.

While we could only read out a small portion of the over one million children killed due to wars in the Middle East since the First Gulf War in 1991, the names that we did read out symbolically represent all the children killed. Their deaths are not just statistics, and their all too short lives must be remembered, and importantly, accountability must be achieved for these crimes against humanity. And while our focus today was primarily on children, we cannot accept the killing of anyone in brutal wars of oppression.

May all the children, women and men killed now rest in peace, since they were not allowed to live in peace. 

Shannon Airport was still being used this weekend to refuel US military aircraft. On Friday evening US Navy C40A aircraft registration number 16-5832 arrived at Shannon from Sigonella air base in Sicily. It stayed for two overnights at Shannon and took off this Sunday morning at 10.15 am, and has since landed at Portsmouth in the USA.

Ireland is still complicit in the killing of children, through its ongoing support for the US military.