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Ditch British Armed Forces Day

16/06/10

éirígí general secretary Breandán Mac Cionnaith has called on councils in the Six Counties to refuse to mark British Armed Forces Day in response to the findings of the Saville Inquiry.

The British government’s Armed Forces Day is set to be marked by the raising of a British military flag at Belfast City Hall and other council buildings in occupied Ireland on Saturday, June 26.

The families of the Bloody Sunday dead were yesterday [Tuesday] vindicated in their long campaign for justice when the Saville report admitted that all 14 victims were innocent and British prime minister David Cameron was forced to apologise in the British House of Commons.

Mac Cionnaith said: “Following the publication of the Saville report, I would challenge anyone to mount a defence for the flying of a British armed forces flag over a council building in Ireland. The British army, by the admission of the British establishment, murdered 14 innocent people, 14 peaceful civil rights marchers in Derry and engaged in ‘unjustified and unjustifiable actions’.

“The marking of British Armed Forces Day anywhere in the Six Counties would be a slap in the face to the Bloody Sunday families and to all those who have lost loved ones at the hands of the British army.”

Mac Cionnaith continued: “The only morally correct option is for any council who had planned otherwise to now refuse to mark British Armed Forces Day. This would serve as a recognition by elected bodies in the Six Counties of the suffering of the victims of British army violence.

“If Belfast City Council and other bodies prove themselves incapable of such a simple gesture, éirígí will be going ahead with its demonstration at Belfast City Hall on June 26.”

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