- Title: Border communities hold candlelight vigil as Brexit deal closer in sight
- Date: 16th October 2019
- Summary: BORDER BRIDGE BETWEEN LIFFORD, IRELAND AND STRABANE, NORTHERN IRELAND, UNITED KINGDOM (OCTOBER 16, 2019) (REUTERS) LOCAL RESIDENTS ON BOTH SIDES OF THE BORDER HOLDING FLAMES, WALKING ALONG BRIDGE LIGHTS / LOCAL RESIDENTS GATHERED ONG BRIDGE HOLDING FLAMES SIGN READING (English): "NO BARRIERS NO BORDER" MAN HOLDING FLAME CHILD WEARING HIGH-VIS JACKET HOLDING TORCH (SOUNDBITE) (English) CO-FOUNDER OF BORDER COMMUNITIES AGAINST, JOHNNY KELLY, SAYING: "We're all border residents, we all have great concerns about the impact of Brexit. We consider it to be undemocratic in the sense that the people of Northern Ireland didn't vote for Brexit in the first place. All the analysis out there demonstrates very clearly that any Brexit will have detrimental effect on the people and the economy of this island." VARIOUS OF LOCAL RESIDENTS HOLDING SIGN READING (English): "NO HARD BORDER" (SOUNDBITE) (English) SINN FEIN MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR THE WEST TYRONE UK PARLIAMENT CONSTITUENCY, ORFHLAITH BEGLEY, SAYING: "It's border communities like this which will be severely impacted in terms of free movement of people, free movement of goods and so on. So we're here tonight to send a very strong and clear message to the EU 27, particularly to the Irish government, that we want to ensure that there's no hardening of border, that the Good Friday agreement is protected and that our economy is protected for the people and businesses in the border community." LOCAL RESIDENTS GATHERED ON BRIDGE SIGN READING (English): "NO HARD BORDER" (SOUNDBITE) (English): CO-FOUNDER OF BORDER COMMUNITIES AGAINST, JOHNNY KELLY, SAYING: "Look there's no appetite in any community on this island to go back to the bad days of the past. Clearly there is no appetite, that people in border regions don't want it, I don't want it, I don't know of anybody who wants to go back to those days of the past. However, any hardening of the border I think has the danger of bringing about some civil unrest. That is not me scaremongering, I just believe instinctively that those possibilities are there on the back of changes in structure or hardening of any of the border regions on this island. And that is one of the reasons why we are so adamant that this should not be allowed to happen." PEOPLE LIGHTING FLAMES PEOPLE GATHERED ON BRIDGE
- Embargoed: 30th October 2019 21:12
- Keywords: Northern Ireland Brexit European Union Irish border vigil against Brexit Local MP local residents
- Location: BORDER BRIDGE BETWEEN LIFFORD, IRELAND AND STRABANE, NORTHERN IRELAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- City: BORDER BRIDGE BETWEEN LIFFORD, IRELAND AND STRABANE, NORTHERN IRELAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Government/Politics,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA001B1CMGCN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Border communities gathered on the border between the Irish town of Lifford and the Northern Irish town of Strabane on Wednesday (October 16) night in protest against UK's departure from the EU.
Holding flames and placards, residents on both sides of the border staged a candlelight vigil on a bridge connecting Ireland to Northern Ireland.
After another day of technical talks in Brussels, EU officials said an agreement had been reached on customs arrangements for Northern Ireland, 'level playing field' provisions on labour and environment standards.
But residents living on both sides of the border said they remained concerned that a hardening of the border would reignite divisions between local communities.
"There's no appetite in any community on this island to go back to the bad days of the past," said co-founder of the campaign group Border Communities against Brexit Johnny Kelly.
"However, any hardening of the border I think has the danger of bringing about some civil unrest," he added.
The conundrum for London is how to prevent the frontier becoming a backdoor into the EU's single market without erecting controls which could undermine the 1998 peace agreement that ended decades of conflict in the province.
(Production: Gerry Mey, Iona Serrapica) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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