After the violence, finally the peace. They came in their thousands to rallies across Northern Ireland yesterday to protest against the murders of three members of the security forces by republican terrorists.
They were ordinary citizens for the most part – what you might call Ulster’s silent majority. Housewives, firefighters, office workers, teachers and carers. Catholics and Protestants and people of other faiths and no faith. These were the voices that you rarely, if ever, hear, because they have been drowned out by the guns, the marching feet, the jeering sectarian chants of decades of conflict.
So they stood together in silence, a great wall of silence pushing back at the 48 hours of mayhem that killed two soldiers and a police officer, a spasm of violence that left Northern Ireland staring back into its dark past.
The largest rally was in Belfast, but others were held across the Province, in Londonderry, Newry, Downpatrick and Lisburn. Ordinary people in extraordinary times were, yet again, staring down the violence and challenging it with their silence.
Belfast has seen many rallies down the years. Not all of them were about peace, but this was one of the most affecting. It was from here that Ian Paisley, the Big Man of Intransigent Unionism, bellowed out his message of “Never, never, never” to a united Ireland in the mid1980s.
With the Union of Northern Ireland and Great Britain probably never more secure in its history – Sinn Féin operating British ministerial posts and urging its supporters to give any information on republican “traitors” to the police – silence was perhaps a more appropriate response to this week’s killings and a deadlier weapon.
Peter Bunting, the assistant general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, which helped to organ-ise the protests, said people were delivering a strong message that they did not want a return to bloodshed.
“This lunchtime, thousands of citizens are gathering to collectively share moments of silence,” he said.
“The trade union movement stands together with all citizens in solidarity to prevent any derailment of the peace process. The callous attacks of the past few days were an assault on every citizen who supports peace.
“Here in Belfast, and in Newry, and in Londonderry, and at spontaneous gatherings across our land, workers and their families are making clear their abhorrence at these murders and the direct threat to the peace process.”
A Scottish piper played a lament and then the crowds, stretching back down Royal Avenue, fell silent.
A few people wept soundlessly. Others clutched one another. Fathers jigged toddlers sitting astride their shoulders, gently urging them to join the silence.
Among the banners and placards were the messages: “A Better Life Together”, “An Injury to One is An Injury to All” and “Our Peace Our Future”. A couple of hard-looking men unfurled a simple message: “Combined Loyalists For Peace – Any Chance Lads?”.
“I am here today because I don’t want my teenage sons to have to grow up in the same Northern Ireland that I grew up in,” said Carroll Black, who recalled the battle-scarred city that she had to cross every day as a schoolgirl studying in the Falls Road.
“I grew up in an area where the police were the enemy,” said Aidan Kane, who was with his six-year-old son. “Now things have changed so completely for the better.
“If my wee lad here wants to be a policeman when he grows up, I’d be proud. I shouldn’t have to worry that some nut might shoot him for serving his community.”
The demonstrators received support from about 40 MPs and peers in London who gathered at St Stephen’s Gate at Westminster for a moment of silence.
The impromptu vigil, organised by the Labour MP for Blaydon, David Anderson, followed a series of tributes made in the Commons and attracted politicians from across the political spectrum, including former Northern Ireland secretaries Peter Hain and John Reid.
MPs and peers stood, eyes forward, resolute and silent, as Big Ben struck in the background.
“We are here to send a very, very clear message,” Mr Anderson said afterwards. “We are united and we will never ever give in.”
During Prime Minister’s Questions, Gordon Brown said that the vigils showed “the unyielding resolution to say with one voice that the peace that the people of Northern Ireland are building no murderers should ever be allowed to destroy”.
The Prime Minister sent his condolences to the families and friends of Sappers Mark Quinsey, 23, and Patrick Azimkar, 21, who were shot dead on Saturday by the Real IRA, and PC Stephen Carroll, 48, who was killed on Monday by the Continuity IRA.
David Cameron, the Conservative leader, said that the most important thing was that everyone in the Province worked with the Police Service of Northern Ireland to ensure the “callous killers” were caught, charged and convicted.
The Pope joined in the condemnation of the killings, describing them as “abominable acts of terrorism” during an address to pilgrims in St Peter’s Square, Vatican City.
Away from the rallies, an even quieter gesture was taking place. The parents of Sapper Azimkar and his girlfriend visited the scene of his murder at Massereene Barracks, An-trim, to lay flowers and tributes. One from his girlfriend said: “Never have I met someone as wonderful as you. This doesn’t seem real, it can’t be. You’ re my best friend, my soulmate.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/
