LONDON - Five anti-Iraq war protestors opposed to the refuelling of US warplanes at Ireland's Shannon airport forced their way into the Irish embassy here Wednesday and chained themselves together, police said.
The two women and three men, all British, were arrested for entering a diplomatic compound without authorization, though an embassy spokesman said their protest was otherwise peaceful.
Police said they claimed to be part of an Irish anti-war group called the Pitstop Ploughshares, whose members are accused of causing 1.4 million euros (1.8 million dollars) in damages to a US Navy plane at Shannon, in the west of Ireland, in February 2003.
Five people go on trial in Dublin next week over that incident.
According to the Irish anti-war movement, the United States uses Shannon as a refuelling stop on flights to and from Iraq.
03/02/2005 15:29 GMT