Dublin’s Lord Mayor to open Book of Solidarity for Aung San Suu Kyi
Dublin’s Lord Mayor, Councillor Emer Costello will open a Book of Solidarity at City Hall, Castle
Street on Monday 17th August 2009 at 1.00pm, calling on the Military Junta in Burma, to
immediately release Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest. The book will be open to the public for
signing on Monday 17th August from 1.00p.m to 5.00p.m, and from Tuesday 18th August to
Thursday 20th August 2009 from 10.00a.m to 5.00p.m.
According to the Lord Mayor, “Aung San Suu Kyi is a global icon of heroic and peaceful
resistance in the face of military repression, and she takes her rightful place in history amongst
other great civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King and Mahatma Ghandi who I know inspired her.
I am calling on the Military Junta in Burma to immediately release Aung San Suu Kyi from house
arrest.”
“I recall the great wisdom in the words of Aung San Suu Kyi when she said, ‘Please use your
liberty to promote ours’, in calling on people around the world to join the struggle for freedom in
Burma. Awarded with several international honours for her courageous and peaceful stance for
democratic reform and free elections in her Country, including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, she
was also conferred with the Freedom of Dublin City on March 18th 2000, by former Lord Mayor,
Councillor Mary Freehill.
“I am appealing to all Dubliners and visitors to the City, to sign the Book of Solidarity next
week in support of releasing Aung San Suu Kyi from imprisonment, and to express their abhorrence
for the plight of the Burmese people, living beneath the yoke of a military regime characterised by
cruelty for the past twenty years ”, says the Lord Mayor.
According to former Lord Mayor, Councillor Mary Freehill, “ It is now critically important with
the imminent elections in Burma, to keep the impetus behind the international campaign to release
Aung San Suu Kyi from imprisonment and to liberate Burma from military dictatorship, and return it
to a democracy”.
Lord Mayor, Councillor Emer Costello, Former Lord Mayor, Councillor Mary Freehill, Gearoid
Kilgallen, Chairperson Burma Action Ireland (BAI), and Niamh Rooney, Co-ordinator, will speak at
Monday’s event at City Hall.
Ends.
For further information please contact:
Dublin City Council Press Office at Tel:01 2222170/085 8150010 or email to info@dublincity.ie
Lord Mayor of Dublin, Councillor Emer Costello at Tel: 086 - 3831805
Notes to Editor
Text on Book of Solidarity:
Book of Solidarity
Calling for the Immediate Release from House Arrest of
Aung San Suu Kyi,
Freeman of the City of Dublin, Nobel Peace Laureate,
Leader of Burma’s National League for Democracy,
Prisoner of Conscience and
Champion of the Courageous And Peaceful Struggle
to Liberate her Country from Military Dictatorship
----------------------------------------------Programme for opening of the Book of Solidarity on Monday at City Hall:
Date: 17th August 2009
Time: 1.00 p.m
Venue: Rotunda, City Hall, Dame Street
Speakers:
Lord Mayor of Dublin Cllr. Emer Costello
Cllr. Mary Freehill (former Lord Mayor who awarded Freedom of City on 18th March 2000)
Gearoid Kilgallen, Chairperson, Burma Action Ireland
Niamh Rooney, Co-ordinator, Burma Action Ireland, reading from Aung San Suu Kyi writing
Book signing dates:
Monday 17th August 2009 from 1.00p.m to 5.00p.m
Tuesday 18th to Thursday 20th 2009 from 10.00a.m to 5.00p.m
Press Office, Dublin City Council, Block 3, Floor 3, Wood Quay, Dublin 8
Seirbhisi Corporaideacha, Comhairle Cathrach Bhaile Atha Cliath, BAC 8
T: + 353 1 222 2170 Fax: + 353 1 222 2681
Web site: www.dublincity.ie