"The rule of law has broken down in Portadown"

 Rosemary Nelson in her last press interview before her murder 

Nationalist Leader Injured In RUC Attack (Wed/Thu, 17/18 March, 1999)

Grief that only justice can heal (Wed/Thu, 17/18 March, 1999)

Sun lifts spirits for St Patrick‘s day celebrations (Wed/Thu, 17/18 March, 1999)

Referral of Finucane Investigation to John Stevens
(Pat Finucane Centre, Press release, Friday 19 March 1999)

Nationalist Leader Injured In RUC Attack

Breandan MacCionnaith, the spokesperson for the Garvaghy Road Residents‘ Coalition and a member of the Craigavon Council was injured in an RUC assault last night on the Garvaghy Road in Portadown, County Armagh.

MacCionnaith had just cut short a U.S. speaking tour to attend the wake of Rosemary Nelson, who was murdered on Monday in a car bomb attack outside her home.  Nelson, a close friend of MacCionnaith, was a human rights lawyer and a prominent defender of the rights of the tiny nationalist community. Since the highly contentious Drumcree parade was routed away from the area last summer, Garvaghy resident have been subjected to continuous intimidation by the local Orange Order.

A combustible situation in the area last night was ignited by scores of loyalists hammering giant ‚Lambeg‘ drums outside an Orange Hall just a short distance from the Garvaghy Road and taunting nationalists with sickening chants of „Where‘s Rosemary?“

Members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary in full attack gear, supported by 50 to 60 Landrovers were arriving in the area when MacCionnaith was called away from Nelson‘s wake by local residents.

Arriving with Joe Duffy, another Independent Nationalist member of the council, he approached the RUC men dressed in assault gear.

MacCionnaith asked to speak to the senior member of the RUC and was told to, „F*ck off,“ and was then hit across the face with a night stick, breaking his glasses, and leaving him with blood streaming from his left eye.

„In her last press interview Rosemary gave before her murder, she said that the rule of law had broken down in Portadown,“ said MacCionnaith, as blood dripped from his face following the attack.  „That has been proven tonight.“

Councillor Duffy was also struck across the face, and he was pushed to the ground, suffering a possible broken arm. Both men were taken to the hospital for treatment, but left the emergency room shortly after arriving when they discovered they had been followed by car loads of Orangemen and Unionists who were massing outside the hospital, which is located outside the tiny nationalist enclave.

A number of other residents had been arrested by the RUC and others had been injured. A 14-year-old boy had his fingers smashed and a photojournalist was hit in the back of the head by a member of the RUC. There was also an unconfirmed report that a young boy was injured when an RUC Landrover jumped a curb and ran him down.

Orangemen today denied they had provoked the trouble, saying they had gathered at the Orange Hall to celebrate St Patrick‘s Day.
 

Grief that only justice can heal

Thousands of mourners turned out today to pay their respects to murdered human rights lawyer Rosemary Nelson in her home town of Lurgan, County Armagh this morning. Mrs Nelson died when a booby-trap bomb blew up under her car near her home in Lurgan, Co Armagh, on Monday.

Crowds lined the route of the cortege today as it left Mrs Nelson‘s home and made its way through the nationalist Kilwilkee estate towards St Peter‘s Church, where around 1,500 mourners had gathered.

The funeral cortege wound silently through the crowded streets in one of the biggest funerals in Lurgan in living memory.

Friends and family carried the coffin past the spot where her silver BMW car was destroyed by the blast. Mrs Nelson‘s children Christopher, 13, Gavin, 11, and Sarah, eight, linked hands with their father, Paul, as they walked behind the coffin. Pupils dressed in their green school uniform lined the route as the cortege approached Tannaghmore primary school, where Sarah heard the bomb go off. Black flags were hung on the nationalist Kilwilkee estate in Mrs Nelson‘s memory.

Among mourners were the members of Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition who were injured by the RUC last night. Other mourners included Roisin McAliskey, SDLP Assembly member Brid Rodgers and Ormeau Road residents‘ spokesman Gerard Rice, who helped carry Mrs Nelson‘s coffin.

British lawyers, Michael Mansfield QC and solicitor Gareth Peirce, who defended the Birmingham Six, were among those gathered for the funeral. Many solicitor firms and some courts were closed today as a mark of respect for Mrs Nelson.

Also present was and Diane Hamill, whose family had been represented by Mrs Nelson after their brother, Robert, was killed by a loyalist mob in Portadown in 1997.  Sinn Fein‘s Bairbre de Brun and Gerry Kelly cut short their trip to the United States to fly back for the service where they joined fellow Assembly members, Dr Dara O‘Hagan, Francie Molloy and Conor Murphy.

Dr.O‘Hagan, a close friend of Mrs Nelson and one of the first on the scene after the bomb exploded,  described Mrs Nelson as „a passionate campaigner for Human Rights for all in the North of Ireland.“

„Despite constant intimidation and numerous death threats from both RUC and Loyalist sources Rosemary preserved in her quest of building a better and more just society for all. Her work was an inspiration to all of us. Her work for vulnerable communities such as the Garvaghy Road Residents and for those who suffered the most grave of injustices like the Hamill family was legendary. She was a ‘voice for the voiceless‘.

„Rosemary was a wonderful, warm and caring woman. Those who knew her have lost a generous friend. All of us on this island are poorer without her.“

Father Kieran McPartlan in an address at the funeral service said the killing was „a cowardly murder of a young defenceless woman“.

He added: „Those who bear the responsibility for her death must be brought to justice and made accountable for their evil deed.“

„The shock waves of Rosemary‘s death have stunned so many people in Lurgan and its surrounding areas and have had enormous ramifications across Northern Ireland and further afield,“ he said.

„Rosemary was a true friend to everyone. I asked why would anyone want to take away the life of a lady who did so much good for her family and her community. Rosemary was so dedicated to her legal profession. Our community has lost a tireless worker for human rights.

„Rosemary represented and respected people from different traditions.  A friend of the people, her murder strikes at the very heart of the legal and justice process in society.

„It is absolutely necessary that an independent inquiry be set up to investigate the circumstances surrounding the appalling death of Rosemary Nelson.“

Sun lifts spirits for St Patrick‘s day celebrations

Tens of thousands of people gathered on an extraordinarily spring day in Belfast to defiantly celebrate the city‘s embattled St Patrick‘s Carnival, pausing for a minute‘s silence in memory of murdered human rights lawyer Rosemary Nelson Festival organiser Caitriona Ruane paid tribute to the campaigning lawyer describing her as „a wonderful brave woman“. She also asked the crowds to remember the mourning residents of Lurgan and the Garvaghy Road who, because of the tragedy, felt unable to join them in Belfast for the celebrations.
Ruane described the festival as a „huge success“ despite the infamous withdrawal last month of funding for the event by Belfast city council. Unionists had demanded the parade be deprived of a promised #50,000 grant because of the presence of Irish tricolour flags at last year‘s parade.

Defiant as ever, the city‘s nationalist community were entertained by Latin rhythms, Brazilian dancers and jugglers as local community group displayed the costumes they had completed in art workshops throughout the city.

It was only the second year a St Patrick‘s Day parade took place in Belfast, and it drew thousands of people into the city centre for a vibrant and colourful celebration under blue skies.

Floats and marchers toured their local areas in the north, south, east and west of the city before making their way to the centre to parade past a stage outside City Hall.   The theme for the parade was „Earth, Fire and Wind“ and the children were dressed as fish, fairies, snakes, swans, trolls and trees. The sound of salsa, reggae, rock and traditional Irish music filled the city streets.

Black taxis emblazoned with shamrocks and balloons led the west Belfast parade, which also featured a gay and lesbian organisation and Gaelic youth teams.

The carnival committee is already planning to make next year‘s millennium St Patrick‘s Day parade „the biggest and best event this city has ever seen“.
 

Referral of Finucane Investigation to John Stevens

The Derry based Pat Finucane Centre has criticised in the strongest possible terms the decision announced today by RUC Chief Constable Ronnie Flanagan to refer the recent British Irish Rights Watch report into the murder of Pat Finucane to the Deputy Commissioner of the London Metropolitan Police, Mr John Stevens, for investigation.

Spokesperson for the centre, Martin Finucane, brother of the murdered solicitor, said, „The British Irish Rights Watch Report was presented to the two governments on the same day as the publication of a petition signed by over 1200 lawyers worldwide calling for an independent and international inquiry into the murder. The report itself contains serious allegations regarding the role of the RUC in the 1989 killing. It is clearly unacceptable that the RUC Chief Constable should have any role in referring the report to Mr John Stevens. There is an obvious conflict of interest given the nature of the allegations. Previous investigations into allegations of collusion by Mr Stevens have yet to be published and we have no confidence that Mr Stevens is the appropriate person to carry out a proper investigation. Indeed John Stevens is probably the most inappropriate person to lead any new inquiry. This has seriously undermined confidence in the Secretary of State‘s judgement. The final decision should never have been left with the RUC Chief Constable.

Nothing short of an international and independent inquiry into the murder of Pat Finucane will be acceptable. Given the similarities in the circumstances leading up to the murders of Pat Finucane and Rosemary Nelson earlier this week it follows logically that the RUC should also be removed from any investigative role in the case of Rosemary Nelson.

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