Prisoner Support in Galway

galway | miscellaneous | press release Wednesday November 12, 2003 14:16 by Sylvia Pankhurst - Eco Soc

News report on various prisoner/defendant support activities organised by NUI Galway's (aka UCG) Eco Soc.

3 members of NUI Galway’s Ecology Society were subjected to a hippy hair shearing at last weekend’s Grassroots Gathering in Galway. This was in aid of the Salonika 7, people who have been imprisoned since the EU summit in Salonika last June, and was somewhat appropriate given that the EU summit in Ireland next year was a topic for one of the plenary discussions at the Gathering. 5 of these prisoners are on hunger strike, and have just come off thirst strike. Slight technical glitches, i.e. the lack of access to a functioning shaver, means at least two of the (ex) hippies are now wandering around with 6 or 7 different hair lengths. Over the weekend over four hundred euros was raised for the political prisoners, and more money was raised for the hair cut fund at different events, eg a Human Rights Conference in NUIG, the Carlo commemoration march in Dublin. The earlier monies are also going to the Martin Shaw fund – in aid of an activist injured by police action at the Evian summit, and to the Shannon Solidarity fund. Members of the NUI Galway Ecology Society have also managed to get articles pertaining to the Salonika 7 into one of Galway’s local newspapers and into the college newspaper SIN. Some of us have also travelled to Mary Kelly’s pre-trial hearing, had a solidarity picket during the Pitstop Ploughshares pre-trial hearing and we have organised two public meetings in Galway with Shannon defendants as speakers.

For more information on the Salonika 7 see:

www.anarchomedia.org

www.anarchistps.org