NI veterans ramp up protest activity in the heart of London

The mainly GB-based veterans groups involved are angry that a number of former soldiers are being pursued through the courts based on a re-examination of historic files – without any new evidence being produced.

Umbrella group the Northern Ireland Veterans Movement (NIVM) continues to argue that process is almost exclusively focussed on military veterans, and that former IRA terrorists were given a de facto amnesty as part of the peace process.

Earlier this week, around 100 NIVM protestors staged a three-hour blockade of the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) building at Horseguards Road in London demanding to know why the government hasn’t yet implemented the statute of limitations bill that was promised last year.

In June 2021, the NIO said a new round of talks would take place “to establish an agreed collective way forward on Northern Ireland legacy issues in light of the concerns raised,” and added: “The talks will have as their objective to find an agreed way forward that will allow implementing legislation to be introduced in both UK and Ireland by the end of this autumn.”

Just weeks later NI Secretary Brandon Lewis pledged that new legislation would be in place “by the end of the autumn”.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said a new bill being progressed through the Commons will allow Northern Ireland to “draw a line under the Troubles”.

Brandon Lewis later said the autumn deadline had been missed, but that he was hopeful it would be introduced before Christmas. The NIVM is now concerned that – with one veteran on trial in Belfast at the minute and other prosecutions in the pipeline – the government will not change the law before the NI Assembly elections next month.

Speaking to the News Letter following the main protest at Parliament Square on Friday, NIVM spokesman Paul Young said: “There were about 600 bikes, from all over the UK including Northern Ireland, and about 200 on foot.”

Mr Young said further protests were being planned, and said the disruption caused at the NIO building on Monday was “nothing compared to the inconvenience and destruction of lives affecting our veterans who are getting hauled up [to court],”

He added: “Until Brandon Lewis stands at the dispatch box and presents his bill to Parliament, we will carry on protesting and not believe a word that they say. They march us up to the top of the hill and then they kick our feet from under us and kick the problem down the road.”

Earlier this year, Mr Young said if the promised legislation is implemented “there will be no more show trials, no more legacy inquests costing millions of pounds,” and added: “The NIVM will scrutinize every detail of the proposed bill to ensure that the legislation truly offers the protection for which veterans have been campaigning.”

Many victims’ groups, and a large number of military veterans based in Northern Ireland, have voiced their opposition to what they claim would be an amnesty that will allow those responsible for terrorist atrocities to escape justice.

All of the main political parties in Northern Ireland are also opposed to the bill.

Sinn Fein’s Gerry Kelly has called the government’s proposal an “insult to victims” and said they should be withdrawn.