Labour MP raises sectarian attacks in Commons
British Labour MP John McDonnell has won cross-party support for a parliamentary Early Day Motion expressing ``extreme concern [at] the rising number of sectarian attacks, including pipe bomb, nail bomb and firebomb attacks, directed against Catholic homes in parts of Northern Ireland in recent weeks''. The motion has so far gained the support of 22 Westminster MPs, including Jeremy Corbyn, Ken Livingstone, Kevin McNamara, Norman Godman and a number of others from the British Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties.
McDonnell, secretary of the all-party Irish in Britain Parliamentary Group and a founder of the Friends of Ireland - Friends of the Good Friday Agreement group, brought forward the motion to raise awareness in the British House of Commons over the issue of the attacks, which, despite their level and intensity, have received little or no attention in the British media. The motion presses the government to take urgent action to bring the attacks to an end. McDonnell is also urging other MPs from all parties to sign the motion, and thereby send a clear signal of opposition to those would seek to undermine the Good Friday Agreement by perpetrating these attacks.
The full text of the motion, and signatories is as follows:
``That this House notes with extreme concern the rising number of sectarian attacks, including pipe bomb, nail bomb and firebomb attacks, directed against Catholic homes in parts of Northern Ireland in recent weeks; notes that 50 separate attacks have taken place since the beginning of this year, with particular intensity in Larne and north Belfast; is alarmed that these attacks, which have already caused serious injury in some cases, may result in fatalities
if they are not stopped; believes that the perpetrators of the attacks areseeking to undermine the peace process and the Good Friday Agreement, which enshrined `the right to freedom from sectarian harassment' for everyone in the community; and, in support of that commitment, calls upon the Government and the Secretary of State to take action with the utmost urgency to bring these attacks to an end.''
Signatories to date: John McDonnell; Jeremy Corbyn; Ken Livingstone; Bill Michie; Frank Cook; Bob Wareing; Peter Bottomley; Tony Clarke; Lynne Jones; Alan Simpson; Harry Barnes; Jim Dobbin; Harold Best; Tom Cox; Bill Etherington; George Galloway; Andrew George; David Drew; Kevin McNamara; Maria Fyfe; Kelvin Hopkins; Norman Godman.
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