From committing to condemning…
DERRY Sinn Fein strongly condemned the recent attempt by dissident republicans to bomb a police station in the city. Councillor Maeve McLaughlin said: “On a local level this caused a lot of disruption for people living in the area. In the wider context, we believe that people involved in this type of activity are clearly misguided.” It shows the distance some republicans in the north-west have since 1990, when the IRA in Derry (scroll down) pioneered the use of ‘human proxy bombs’, in which civilians were forced to drive vehicles containing bombs to British Army checkpoints for detonation, causing outrage.
You’ve hit the nail on the head with that one, Gonzo. I suppose we should at least be happy that one faction of the ‘republican’ movement has seen sense.
Civilians, Gonzo. How many exactly.
MacLochlainn
ask willie mcguinness that question, james
Sorry Fartrick but I don’t now these individuals.
James.
What’s wrong James can’t you read a simple link?
The item clearly states on the night of 24 October 1990 three (3) civilians were sent out by the IRA on “proxy” bomb attacks, two survived one, Patsy Gillespie, a kitchen porter in an army barracks (gasp, horror!), was killed along with six soldiers at the Coshquin checkpoint outside Derry. His body was blown to smithereens and it was quite late in the day before it could even be confirmed he had died. The biggest article belonging to him was a tassle from a curtain tie from his living room which had been used by the IRA volunteers to tie him into his van.
This tactic was attempted again later in 1991, however the use of civilians to drive bombs to their destination was an old tactic but this was the first occasion in which the actual death of the driver was a deliberate part of the plan.
Charming eh, James? Lovely things the “Boys of the Old Brigade” did for Ireland, I can understand how you have to ask questions about this incident, you know it’s not something the Republican Movement likes to talk about these days. They prefer to sweep these sort of things under the carpet and tell us all about securocrats and obstructionist Unionists nowadays.
However some people from Derry don’t forget and when they see a prominent member of Sinn Fein sitting in classrooms talking to wee’uns and speaking of education policies some of us recall how that man’s brother was involved in some very strange activities on the afternoon of 24 October 1990 and how Patsy Gillespie’s wee’uns turned out decent young people despite the tender attention of the Republican Movement.
Tiocfaidh ar La
Harry, I agree with all that you wrote. Republicans do not like the idea that they, as well as the British army, brought about “collateral damage”.