Bloody Friday commemoration to go ahead despite Sinn Fein opposition

A DUP motion to organise “acts of solemn remembrance for all victims and survivors” of the IRA bombings of 21 July 1972 across the city was agreed by a council committee, only after an Alliance amendment which called for a separate day of reflection for all victims of the Troubles in Belfast.

At the council’s Strategic Policy and Resources Committee on Friday the amended motion was agreed by the DUP, Alliance, the SDLP, and the Green Party with 12 votes, against seven votes in objection from Sinn Fein. It will go to the full council in March for ratification, where it is expected to pass.

The original DUP amendment by Councillor Dale Pankhurst focused only on a 50th commemoration for Bloody Friday.

A Sinn Fein amendment, completely rewording the DUP motion, made no specific reference to Bloody Friday, and called for “the allocation of a day in Belfast, where all the people of Belfast, all the victims, all the families can remember our past.”

Councillor Ciaran Beattie, party group leader for Sinn Fein, said: “If this was a sincere attempt by the DUP to remember victims, then of course everyone would welcome it.

“But many see this as a crass attempt by the DUP to use victims for electoral purposes. Because if they were sincere about all victims they could have went to council last month and brought proposals about Bloody Sunday, when 14 people were murdered, or for December 4 last year, when McGurk’s bar was bombed, and 15 people were murdered.”

The Sinn Fein amendment, focusing on a broader commemoration, fell, with the DUP, Alliance, and the Green Party voting against it.

Nine people died on Bloody Friday, five civilians, two British soldiers, an RUC reservist, and a UDA member. At least twenty IRA bombs went off in the space of eighty minutes.

DUP Alderman Brian Kingston told the committee: “There certainly will be attention to this, it being the 50th anniversary of Bloody Friday this year.

“And it is rightly remembered for its callous disregard for people who were killed and injured that day.

“Of course there were many other bombings carried out in this city, and they should all be remembered, but no one should be surprised that there will be particular attention to Bloody Friday, because it is remembered as a particularly evil day.”

Alliance Councillor Nuala McAllister said: “Removing all of the reflection on Bloody Friday is not the right way forward, but I think a day of reflection is the way forward for Belfast, to reflect on all the victims of the Troubles.”

She added: “I don’t think we need to get into a political argument about how people remember their past.”

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