Over 4,000 bikers to join ‘Rolling Thunder’ rally for Soldier F in Bloody Sunday trial

Thousands of veterans and their supporters will join the ‘Rolling Thunder ride for Soldier F’ rally as it makes its way into London on 12 April.

The Public Prosecution Service recently decided there was enough evidence to prosecute ‘Soldier F’ for the murders of James Wray and William McKinney, who were shot at the 1972 civil rights march in Londonderry.

However supporters of army veterans have expressed alarm at elderly ex-soldiers facing prosecution so many decades after the events.

Organiser and English veteran Harry Wragg told the News Letter that the rally came from “a rant” he recently put on his Facebook.

“It is unfortunate that soldier F is the focus of our protest because what we are doing is not aimed at any victims or the Bloody Sunday families,” he told the News Letter.

“Our government is no more than turncoats and willing to stab its veterans in the back.

“Why feelings are so high is because a man [in his late seventies] is now facing charges relating to events 46 years later.”

“The Troubles in Northern Ireland were horrendous, there were hate crimes and crimes against humanity but our veterans were sent in as peacekeepers.

“The government can’t expect to employ people as soldiers and then 46 years down the line say ‘we are going to let you be prosecuted’. The PSNI are in the same position if they shoot someone.

“The government don’t listen to anyone. I said in my video that people were saying they wouldn’t stand for it but nobody ever does anything, so I suggested we take to our motorbikes for a noisy protest in London.”

Harry served in Northern Ireland in 1981 with the Royal Corps of Transport when a friend was killed in a bomb attack on a Saracen.

“I found the whole thing horrific. Over the years I have collected numerous military vehicles and I have been offered numerous Saracens but I have never bought one as a result. The whole thing was too horrific.

“I could never get my head around the things that the IRA could do to their own people.”

He volunteers that Marine Alexander Blackman was rightly convicted of murder after his head-cam footage recorded him killing a wounded Taliban fighter in Afghanistan in 2011.

“That is fine, but 30 or 40 years later how will you ever know in any shooting who shot the bullet? Is it possible to have a fair trial for such cases? Are witnesses still alive, what can they remember and what about the possibility of witness tampering?”

The rally is open to all forces veterans and their supporters, including people from Northern Ireland, he said.

“If soldier F is given life he will have to serve life but you can’t have one rule for him and another for the IRA.

“If the Good Friday Agreement allowed terrorists out to walk free after killing many people then why should veterans not be given the same rights?”

‘Rolling Thunder ride for Soldier F’ has its own Facebook page where supporters are organising.

The ride is attracting riders from all across the UK and it plans to take over the plaza opposite Buckingham Palace for a brief time on 12 April.

“We are planning to make as much noise as possible in London, to be seen and heard - and then ride back out again,” said Mr Wragg.

He and his team of a dozen administrators are working closely with the Metropolitan Police to ensure the event runs as smoothly as possible.

The event has four main meeting points between 11am and noon;-

1) Clackit Lane Services on the M25

2) Heston Services on the M4

3) London Gateway Services on the M1

4) South Mimms Services on the M25