6000 join protest march in Belfast

Press, 15 August 1984, Page 10

6000 join protest march in Belfast

NZPA-Reuter Belfast About 6000 people held the biggest demonstration seen in Belfast for three years to protest against the death of a man on Sunday when Northern Ireland police opened fire using plastic bullets. A political row also grew, with the police chief in the British province denying his men had used excessive force as they tried but failed to arrest Martin Galvin, a leader of the United States-based Irish Republican fund-raising group Noraid banned by a British Government order. Organisers said yesterday’s peaceful march was to mourn the death of Sean Downes, a 22-year-old man killed by a plastic bullet on Sunday, and to underline the

rights of free assembly and speech. Police officers firing plastic bullets and wielding batons on Sunday charged a crowd which included women and children gathered to hear Mr Galvin, the publicity director of Noraid. Mr Galvin, who eluded the police on Sunday and went into hiding, did not appear on the march but in a message read out to the crowd he attacked what he called a premeditated murder by the police and pledged Noraid’s continued support for the republican cause.

Yesterday’s demonstration was the biggest seen in the city since hunger strikes in 1981 when 16 republican prisoners fasted to death.

The police and British troops, keeping a low profile, were out in force along the route through a Catholic area of west Belfast.

Gerry Adams, president of the Sinn Fein political wing of the Irish Republican Army, which is fighting to end British rule in Northern Ireland, said Sunday’s police action was aimed at preventing Mr Galvin from speaking. Britain’s Northern Ireland Minister, Mr James Prior, Was due to return from holiday today for urgent talks with officials about the incident.