- Title: UNITED KINGDOM: THOUSANDS PROTEST IN BELFAST AT THE LATEST IRA ATROCITY
- Date: 12th February 1996
- Summary: BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND (FEBRUARY 12, 1996) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. SV BELFAST CITY HALL 0.03 2. SV CROWDS GATHERED 0.07 3. SV PEOPLE HOLDING CARDBOARD WHITE DOVES 0.21 4. SCU ANN CARR, WOMEN TOGETHER PEACE MOVEMENT, SAYING PURPOSE OF RALLY IS TO STATE THAT PEOPLE OF NORTHERN IRELAND WILL NOT STAND FOR THEIR CHANCE OF PEACE TO BE SHATTERED
- Embargoed: 27th February 1996 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND
- City:
- Country: United Kingdom
- Reuters ID: LVAAW8H2XP7BD6I61HJ9BQYLP3NE
- Story Text: Thousands gathered in the centre of Belfast on Monday (February 12) to demand that violence should not be allowed to return to the streets of Northern Ireland.
Holding paper doves of peace in the air, they held a one-minute silence for the victims of the London bombing.
Two people were killed and more than 100 were injured when the IRA's half-tonne truck bomb exploded in a busy London commercial district, wrecking five office buildings and causing an estimated 150 million pounds (230 million U.S.dollars) damage.
Up to 6,000 shoppers and office workers gathered outside City Hall for the hastily arranged show of opposition to the IRA's (Irish Republican Army) return to violence.
Anne Carr, co-ordinator of organisers, Women Together, won applause when she sent out a strong message for an end to violence.
"We call on the men and women of violence to lay down their guns and bombs so that we continue to build the new and peaceful future we desire for our precious children, grandchildren and our generations yet to be born," she told crowds.
"Let not one more human life be lost, our people have suffered too much.We want peace and we want it now.We will not let our future be destroyed by ruthless and futile violence." Speaking in Belfast, head of the Democratic Unionist Party the Reverend Ian Paisley urged the British government to cease any contact with the IRA and its political wing Sinn Fein."The only way the IRA can rejoin the democratic process is by paying the price to join the democratic process -- by surrendering their weapons," he told a news conference.
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