Irish Republican News · August 10, 2012

British soldier’s message of hate

The SDLP has said a serving British soldier has desecrated the memory of those who died on Bloody Sunday by posting an offensive slogan on the internet.

The Royal Irish Regiment (RIR) soldier’s Facebook page - which has since been removed - included a Parachute Regiment emblem with the words: “F*** Bloody Sunday’ above it.

SDLP victims spokesperson Colum Eastwood says the serving soldier - who he named - should be dismissed from the British Army “without delay.”

The Foyle Assembly member, who is a member of the Bloody Sunday Trust, said: “I have seen photographs of this man’s Facebook page and the disgusting banner he has put across the top as a ‘cover image’.

“Prime Minister David Cameron has described the actions of forces on Bloody Sunday as ‘unjustified and unjustifiable’ and I regard this image in the same vein.

“To trample on the memory of those who were shot dead while trying to protect civil rights for all, and to do so in such an offensive and craven manner is, frankly, abhorrent, and makes me sick to my stomach.

“This cannot even be called thoughtlessness as posting anything on your Facebook page requires a conscious decision.

“The families of Bloody Sunday at the very least deserve a full and unequivocal apology and I hope that will be forthcoming immediately.

“However, if the Ministry of Defence want to prove that they agree with David Cameron’s assessment of the forces’ actions on Bloody Sunday, they should dismiss this man from the army without delay.”

In a statement, a spokesman for the British government said: “The views expressed by this individual are categorically not those of the Army nor the Ministry of Defence.”

In March of this year, a Protestant teenager in Derry created a controversy after he posted an equally shocking Facebook comment about Bloody Sunday.

After Derry City’s soccer defeated their Linfield rivals, Christopher Middleton wrote; “They my have won tonight but we can take concilation in the fact the Paras beat them 13-0 on a Sunday many years ago ;-)”

Middleton, who’s from the nationalist cityside, said he had been forced to leave his home over the controversy, but later apologised for the comment.

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