Irish Defence Forces personnel guarding a US military aircraft at Shannon Airport drew their weapons after three pro-Palestinian activists allegedly breached security.
The protesters sprayed the plane with green paint, a court heard at a special sitting of Ennis District Court on Sunday, the Irish Times reported.
Detective Garda Colm Moriarty said the Boeing 737-700, operated by the US Navy Reserve, sustained criminal damage during what he described as a “planned and premeditated” incursion early on Saturday.
Kaspar Aiden Cantwell Strattra, 23; Emily Cathcart, 23; and Conan Kavanagh, 23 are all charged with criminal damage to the US aircraft on November 22.
They also face charges of damaging an airside vehicle barrier and trespassing on the main apron and a taxiway.
After being charged and cautioned at Ennis Garda station, Moriarty said Cantwell Strattra replied: “The use of Shannon Airport by the US military breaks Irish neutrality. The US is a belligerent power complicit in the genocide of Palestinians.”
Outlining the state’s case, Moriarty said it is alleged that at about 9.30am on Saturday, a Ford Transit van forced its way through an airside barrier before travelling at speed along the runway to “taxi 11”, where the US military aircraft had been parked overnight.
Gardaí and Defence Forces personnel had been deployed to protect the aircraft.
Moriarty said: “The van was pursued by airport police and was stopped at the side of the parked US aircraft. The members of An Garda Síochána called for assistance from the Defence Forces.”
He continued: “The Defence Forces had their weapons drawn briefly until the situation was under control. The Defence Force members assisted An Garda Síochána in apprehending the suspects.”
He told the court the van had been modified so the accused “had secured themselves into the van by putting chains and barriers in the doors and the windows”. Two of the suspects were in the rear and a hole had been cut in the roof, he said.
Moriarty said it is alleged that as gardaí and Defence Forces personnel attempted to enter the van, “two people emerged through the hole in the roof and sprayed green paint from a modified fire extinguisher on to the plane”.
During the 75-minute bail hearing, Moriarty said officers and soldiers required assistance from the airport fire brigade to break open the van. Gardaí later seized tools including spray paint, a lump hammer, a battery console and heavy-duty chains.
Judge Marie Keane remanded all three in custody with consent to bail to appear via video link before Ennis District Court on Tuesday, November 25.
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