24 September 1998 Edition
Gardai question genetic protestors
By Robert Allen
The Gardai say they want to identify and question all the people who were involved in the public uprooting of genetically modified crops at a Co Wexford farm in June.
Gardai have tracked down four people who were involved and have taken statements from them. One man was not at his house when the guards called. They phoned eight companies in the town where he works, identifying themselves as Gardai, saying they were looking for him. He was subsequently asked to leave his rented property by his landlord.
Another man, who asked not to be identified, said the investigation was similar to police and legal actions in the US and England where activists have been campaigning against the corporate globalisation of the planet.
Gardai at Duncannon, Co Wexford, claim they want to identify everyone who attended the light hearted peaceful demonstration on 21 June. But they have refused to interview some people who have telephoned them, admitting to uprooting the beet, the Guards saying they have `no interest'. And they have not interviewed any of the politicians involved - TDs Joe Higgins (Socialist Party) and John Gormley (Green Party) plus MEP Nuala Aherne (Green Party).
The Gardai have denied that the biotechnology corporation Monsanto is using their influence on the investigation. ``It's being treated exactly like any other complaint.'' The Guards have said they are not using video footage shot on site by security guards paid for by Monsanto. The Garda said they did not shoot their own footage.
Asked why people had not been identified and arrested on the day, a Garda spokesman said there were too many people there and not enough Gardai. Eyewitnesses say that the Gardai threatened to arrest people several times unless they stopped digging up the beet, but they were not arrested. Guards at the site went through the motions of arresting author and organic farmer John Seymour and then pulled back. The following day they denied they had arrested anyone.
Last week at the High Court in London, Monsanto were granted injunctions against five genetiX snowball campaigners who had openly and accountably uprooted 200 GE plants at a site near Oxford in July.
The injunctions mean that any member of genetiX snowball will be in breach of the injunction order if they:
trespass on Monsanto land and premises;
uproot, destroy or otherwise damage or interfere with any of Monsanto's plants or crops at Monsanto sites;
plant or insert into the land or leave any crop or other article at a Monsanto site;
or attempt or conspire with another or others to do any such act.
Campaigners in Ireland fear that Monsanto will seek to achieve the same result by encouraging the 26 county state to prosecute. The Gardai in Wexford said a file on the case would be sent to the DPP.
The Gardai say they want to identify and question all the people who were involved in the public uprooting of genetically modified crops at a Co Wexford farm in June.
Gardai have tracked down four people who were involved and have taken statements from them. One man was not at his house when the guards called. They phoned eight companies in the town where he works, identifying themselves as Gardai, saying they were looking for him. He was subsequently asked to leave his rented property by his landlord.
Another man, who asked not to be identified, said the investigation was similar to police and legal actions in the US and England where activists have been campaigning against the corporate globalisation of the planet.
Gardai at Duncannon, Co Wexford, claim they want to identify everyone who attended the light hearted peaceful demonstration on 21 June. But they have refused to interview some people who have telephoned them, admitting to uprooting the beet, the Guards saying they have `no interest'. And they have not interviewed any of the politicians involved - TDs Joe Higgins (Socialist Party) and John Gormley (Green Party) plus MEP Nuala Aherne (Green Party).
The Gardai have denied that the biotechnology corporation Monsanto is using their influence on the investigation. ``It's being treated exactly like any other complaint.'' The Guards have said they are not using video footage shot on site by security guards paid for by Monsanto. The Garda said they did not shoot their own footage.
Asked why people had not been identified and arrested on the day, a Garda spokesman said there were too many people there and not enough Gardai. Eyewitnesses say that the Gardai threatened to arrest people several times unless they stopped digging up the beet, but they were not arrested. Guards at the site went through the motions of arresting author and organic farmer John Seymour and then pulled back. The following day they denied they had arrested anyone.
Last week at the High Court in London, Monsanto were granted injunctions against five genetiX snowball campaigners who had openly and accountably uprooted 200 GE plants at a site near Oxford in July.
The injunctions mean that any member of genetiX snowball will be in breach of the injunction order if they:
trespass on Monsanto land and premises;
uproot, destroy or otherwise damage or interfere with any of Monsanto's plants or crops at Monsanto sites;
plant or insert into the land or leave any crop or other article at a Monsanto site;
or attempt or conspire with another or others to do any such act.
Campaigners in Ireland fear that Monsanto will seek to achieve the same result by encouraging the 26 county state to prosecute. The Gardai in Wexford said a file on the case would be sent to the DPP.