An Phoblacht/Republican News   ·   Thursday October 26 1995

Sinn Féin rally in Ulster Hall

BY LAURA FRIEL

UNIONIST COUNCILLORS are determined to stop Sinn Féin holding a rally at Belfast's Ulster Hall next month. The rally which is scheduled for 8 November has been organised to update party activists on the peace process and will be addressed by Martin McGuinness.

The Ulster Hall, synonymous with unionism since it was opened in 1862, has been the venue for countless loyalist groups but, despite being a public building, to date has never been used as a venue for nationalists. An application by Sinn Féin to hold a rally at the hall, which seats over a thousand, has been accepted by Belfast City Council's Leisure Services Committee and the booking has been confirmed.

However, leader of the DUP group in the council, Sammy Wilson has said that he will do everything possible to stop the rally and overturn the booking. "This is a deliberate attempt to rub unionists noses in the dirt" said Wilson. Technically the booking could be cancelled if an extraordinary meeting of the committee was called.

Sinn Féin Councillor Fra McCann, who made the booking said that he failed to see how the meeting could be construed as "rubbing unionists noses in the dirt":

"For many years the hall and the city centre have been blocked to nationalists. As citizens, we are saying this is our city too and its public buildings, are our buildings as well."

In 1886, Lord Randolph Churchill addressed a rally at the hall urging thousands of Protestants to resist Home Rule. The first meeting of the Ulster Unionist Council was held in the hall in 1905. In 1912 Edward Carson spoke from a platform on the roof of the hall urging loyalist resistance. The hall was a favourite venue for the DUP's Ian Paisley in the1960s addressing loyalist congregations. In the 1980s Ulster Resistance use the hall for a show of strength. David Trimble was elected leader of the OUP at the hall last month. Commenting Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams said that the history of the Ulster Hall has "not always been pleasant, but things have to start changing and the reclaiming of the Ulster Hall by the excluded people of Belfast is an important step".