NI Nobel laureate arrested

NI Nobel laureate arrested

Mairead Corrigan-Maguire (right) kisses fellow Nobel Laureate Jody Williams at the protest

A Nobel Peace Prize winner from Northern Ireland has been arrested in an anti-war protest in the United States.

Mairead Corrigan-Maguire was arrested at a non-violent prayer protest against the war in Iraq outside the White House in Washington on Wednesday.

More than 60 people who crossed a police line were handcuffed and detained at Lafayette Park, opposite the home of the US President.

Jody Williams, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for campaigning against land mines, was also detained along with two bishops.

Ms Corrigan-Maguire said the protesters had no regrets.

"A lot of preparation and prayer went into this. We all knew we were committing non violent civil disobedience," she said.

"But really we feel so very strongly that this war is immoral, unethical and unjustified.

"People are dying who don't need to die, soldiers and little children.

Mairead Corrigan-Maguire: "In Northern Ireland we were encouraged to resolve our problems with dialogue"

"We really have followed our conscience and refuse to remain silent in the face of what is evil."

The Belfast woman had planned to stage an anti-war protest outside the White House until Good Friday on 18 April.

"In Northern Ireland we were encouraged to resolve our problems with dialogue and I would like to see that happen here," she said.

Protest organiser Marie Dennis said that Ms Corrigan-Maguire had prepared herself through prayer for the moment of arrest.

"She said as she was being arrested: 'I carry out this act of non-violent civil disobedience against the Iraqi war, because, as a Christian, I am called to be faithful to the gospel of non-violent love and action' ", said Ms Dennis, who is vice-president of Catholic group Pax Christi International.

In 1977, Mairead Corrigan was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with Betty Williams.

A year earlier, the two Belfast women had founded the Peace People Movement.

The people-driven organisation saw thousands of ordinary Catholics and Protestants take to the streets demanding an end to violence.

It was formed after a car being chased by the security forces veered off the road, killing the three young children of Mairead Corrigan's sister.