This article is from page 14 of the 2007-12-04 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 14 JPG
FIVE people were questioned by gardai in Shannon on Friday night following a disturbance earlier at Shannon Airport during which an Airport Police Officer was allegedly AISSALUD Kee b
The incident occurred at around 3pm when the four men and one woman, all from Lithuania but with addresses in Nenagh, County Tipper- ary, allegedly presented themselves in an intoxicated state at a check in
desk prior to their scheduled flight to Kaunas, Lithuania’s second larg- est city.
Airline staff refused to allow the passengers board the aircraft and ar- rangements were made to have their luggage returned to them. The group then agreed to make alternative ar- rangements and fly from Dublin on Saturday. However, a row broke out after their luggage was returned to them and one bag appeared to have been damaged.
A garda spokesman confirmed,
“There was a public order incident at Shannon as a group of passengers who were booked on a Ryanair flight to Kaunas arrived at the check in desk in an intoxicated manner. There was an exchange of words between members of the group and airport staff and one Airport Police Officer was assaulted. The assault was minor in nature but the group were later ar- rested under the Public Order Act.” According to one eyewitness, “They were very rowdy but we couldn’t make out what was going on. Two
Airport Police Officers arrived and tried to calm the situation but that didn’t work. They called for more help but when they asked the group to leave the airport, they wouldn’t. They were eventually removed from the building with their luggage one by one. Then the guards arrived and the five people were handcuffed and RCo he Ale
“When they were removed from the terminal, the door was locked behind them and people had to enter and leave through another door which
was heavily manned by security staff. The argument went on for quite a while,” the eye witness said.
An interpreter was sought by gardai to aid them in their questioning of the five. A garda spokesman confirmed that all five were charged with Pub- lic Order offences and were released on station bail later that evening. It is understood that none of the five was charged with the alleged assault. All five are now due to appear before the next sitting of Shannon District Court in Ennis on December 13.