LAST UPDATE | 17 May

THREE WOMEN HAVE been arrested following a protest at Shannon Airport this afternoon.

The women made their way onto the runway and spray-painted a plane red in a protest against the use of Irish airspace by the US.

A female garda was injured during the course of the arrests and has been taken to hospital. Her injuries are non-life threatening.

The plane targeted is an Omni Air International plane. The protestors managed to spray-paint the nose of the plane red before their protest was cut short.

Civilian airline Omni Air International transports troops for the US military and is the largest carrier of military personnel through Shannon.

In a statement, a garda spokesperson told The Journal: “Three females, aged between 20 and 50 years breached the perimeter fence and caused criminal damage.

“The three women were arrested at scene and are currently detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984 at Garda stations in Co. Clare.”

Palestine Action Éire said that the three women were “[working] as part of this network” that the activist group is part of when they carried out the protest.

The group said that the three women involved in today’s protest “allege that the Omni Air Boeing 767-300 CRAF that landed at Shannon Airport today is supplying troops and munitions to active warzones in the Middle East, including Israel and Yemen.

“They claim that this is in direct violation of Ireland’s constitutional commitment to neutrality, and in breach of international law”.

The group linked the protest to investigative work undertaken by news organisation The Ditch.

The Ditch has reported extensively on the US’ use of Irish airspace to allegedly transport munitions to Israel, where they are used against Palestinian people in the conflict raging in Gaza.