There was disappointment in Derry today after Crown Prosecutors
confirmed that they will not prosecute 15 British soldiers in connection with
Bloody Sunday.
A hunger protest by republican prisoners ended today after Palestinian
prisoner Dr Issam Hijjawi was transferred to Roe House, the section of
Maghaberry jail where political prisoners are housed.
Protests in support of hunger striking prisoners are due to take place
in Belfast and outside Maghaberry Prison on Saturday, where a
solidarity camp is to be established.
The family of Seamus Ludlow, who was shot dead in County Louth in 1976,
have announced that an independent police investigation is to take place
into his murder.
Legislation introduced at Westminster is set to shore up the legality of
murders and other crimes committed by state agents and informers in
Britain and the north of Ireland.
An attempt to boost the reputation of the former Fianna Fáil
leader Charles Haughey with an allegation that former IRA leader Seán
Mac Stiofáin was a double agent has been rejected by a former colleague.
There are fresh protests against the institutional sectarianism of the
BBC in Ireland as infamous radio and TV presenter Stephen Nolan
continues to generate intense anger among nationalists.
Politicians on both sides of the Atlantic have this week called
for the current Garda Commissioner, former RUC Assistant Chief Constable
(ACC) Drew Harris, to resign from his post over his past connection to
collusion in the north of Ireland.
The Irish Republican Prisoners Welfare Association have said they are
gravely concerned at the “medieval” behaviour of the Maghaberry prison
regime towards Palestinian prisoner Dr Issam Hijjawi.
A transatlantic war of words has broken out over the British
government’s move to break the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement and its
protections for peace in the north of Ireland.
A historic turning point in the long battle against state censorship in
the 26 Counties was reached this week when ‘Unquiet Graves’, the story
of the loyalist Glenanne Gang and their links to the British Crown
Forces, was finally aired by state broadcaster RTE.
A west Belfast Catholic woman has described how the unionist
paramilitary UDA turned up at her door in March to force her out after
her housemate became involved in a dispute with neighbouring residents.
Countries around the world are re-examining their post-colonial identity
after Barbados moved to remove the English queen as the head of state.
The island has said that it is planning to become a republic as it moves
to withdraw from the Commonwealth and “leave its colonial past behind”.
There is concern that far-right groups are taking advantage of the
coronavirus crisis to build support for bogus ‘patriot’ organisations
involving fascists, loyalists and English Brexiteers.
The President of Ireland Michael D Higgins has said Britain must face up
to its history of reprisals in Ireland, and that the sack of Balbriggan
100 years ago was rooted in assumptions of racial superiority.
The political clock has been turned sharply back as the world grapples
once again with a British government acting in bad faith on Ireland and
blithely reneging on peace deals.
A mother-of-three has had to leave her home in south Belfast after being
assaulted by loyalists when she refused to hand over her child’s
Catholic friends for a punishment shooting.
Protests are being organised nationwide in support of Dundalk republican
Liam Campbell, who is facing extradition to Lithuania on arms charges
despite never having been to the country.
The only surprise about the British government’s unilateral plans to
legislate for its own version of the procedures for operating the Irish
Protocol in the Withdrawal Agreement is that anyone is surprised.
The British government has been accused of creating a “rogue state” as
it published a bill to violate the Irish protocol of the Brexit
Withdrawal Agreement, an international treaty.
Reports that legislation is to be introduced by the British government
to “eliminate the legal force” of parts of the Brexit Withdrawal
Agreement, and specifically in relation to the border through Ireland,
have sent shock waves around Europe.
The latest proposals for dual Irish and English language street signs in Belfast were voted down this week as the leader of the supposedly cross-community Alliance Party claimed that the sight of the Irish language in public is “contentious”.
Just days after a senior member of Saoradh was named as an MI5 agent, a republican activist revealed three individuals who identified themselves as members of the “security services” had tried to recruit him.
Relatives for Justice have appealed for information to help a family who were targeted in a sectarian fire bomb in 1976 in which three lives were lost.
Efforts are underway to save a building which played a pivotal role in the Easter Rising and the War of Independence in Dublin, the home of the 1916 martyr known as ‘The O’Rahilly’.
The killings near Drumnakilly, County Tyrone, of brothers Martin and Gerald Harte, and Brian Mullen, three local IRA Volunteers, took place on 30th August 1988, 32 years ago this week.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson intends to establish a Centenary Forum and a Centenary Historical Advisory Plan as part of his government’s plans to mark 100 years of the Northern state.