Some protesters went to Shannon with the aim of sitting on the fence, writes Deaglán de Bréadún
The whir of the chopper. Is this Saigon 1969 or the start of the movie Apocalypse Now? No, it's Shannon Airport in the sleepy east Clare countryside.
The helicopter circling dramatically overhead is part of a massive security operation that includes gardaí in uniform - or padded Robocop outfits - lined up on both sides of the perimeter fence to stop protesters breaking through.
A shallow trench has been dug and other gardaí in colourful gear are watching from rooftops.
Unlike previous embarrassing break-ins, this attack on the airport has been well-advertised.
The Grassroots Network Against War, a loose association of anarchists, environmentalists and peace activists, has been trumpeting its intention for weeks to engage in a "mass trespass" at Shannon on March 1st as a protest against war in Iraq.
This time, the guardians of the peace are extremely well-prepared. Crowd control is never an easy matter but it looks like security overkill, considering the gaggle of fairly genteel and even frail-looking protesters who march from Shannon shopping centre up the road to the airport.
Whatever else the Grassroots people have achieved, they have kept the crowd small at Shannon. Worried about alienating the middle-ground, leaders of Labour, the Greens, Sinn Féin and various peace organisations are staying away.
A non-violent protest organised for Shannon at the same time attracts only about 1,200 people compared to over 100,000 in Dublin on February 15th.
There are about 100 people in the Grassroots group, plus four gardaí following on horseback.
It's a medieval scene: there are police holding riot-shields and wearing helmets with visors, anarchist troubadours in patchy clothes playing drums and trumpets, well-groomed Garda Alsatians and ragged protesters' pooches. A branch of Canines Against the War?
Andrew Flood of the Dublin Grassroots Network Against War addresses the crowd through a megaphone.
Buses have been searched for offensive weapons, but he says gardaí ignored a fellow with a baseball bat until it was drawn to their attention by the organisers.
"It's very important this protest is non-violent," he says to applause. "The media have been working hard to whip up a frenzy that it's going to be violent." The protesters want to tear down the fence without getting into fights with the police, which sounds like a difficult feat.
A youngster wearing a black mask grabs a microphone and says in a strong east Clare accent: "I reckon the 'pigs' \ should just f*** off." An admiring group of boys with skateboards guffaw their approval. Asked later by The Irish Times if he has just come along for the craic, the masked youth replies: "Yes."
When the march reaches the fence, there is some pushing and jostling and a male protester is seized and taken away in a paddy-wagon. By the end of the day, six other men and three women will be taken in and charged with public order offences, the cases to be heard in Ennis District Court on Friday.
At this stage the demonstrators are nose-to-nose with the line of gardaí. In the back though, a woman with a supermarket trolley is giving out free sandwiches under the banner "Food not Bombs".
A Grassroots organiser sneers at the non-violent marchers who still have not left the Shannon shopping centre: "Is it okay to protest provided you don't have any f***ing effect whatsoever? Is that cool?"
Senator Timmy Dooley of Fianna Fáil is observing from a suitable distance with a member of the party press office. He congratulates gardaí for preventing the protesters breaking down the fence: "That's very welcome."
At the fence there are black- and-red anarchist banners and white flags of peace.
The largely good-humoured nature of the protest, apart from the minor scuffles and arrests, is summed up by a bearded man in a báinín hat and dark glasses who thumps a bodhrán and sings "I love the gardaí" which goes as follows: "They are people just like you and me, They wear shiny jackets, And they smile with glee, How I love the oul' gardaí."