Republican News · Thursday 30 May 2002

London honours Connolly and Sands

BY FERN LANE

In the wake of Sinn Féin's historic electoral breakthrough in the recent elections to the Dáil, a march commemorating two of Irish republicanism's most important figures, James Connolly and Bobby Sands, was held in London Saturday 25 May.

Organisers of the march, the Wolfe Tone Society, were delighted with the 500-plus turnout. The March for a United Ireland was the first time that republicans in England have marched through London to commemorate the two men.

The occasion was also an opportunity for the republican community to show solidarity with other communities struggling for self-determination and with those battling against miscarriages of justice. Addressing the rally were representatives of the Palestinian, Kurdish and Turkish peoples. Other speakers included Sinn Féin's Pat McNamee, Labour party MP John McDonnell, and a representative of the Colombia Three campaign.

Peter Middleton, a spokesman for the Wolfe Tone Society, said: "It has been a really positive day and we`ve seen a large section of the Irish community joined on the streets by those from the Turkish and Palestinian communities."