May 2001
Many thanks to all those who supported the family of murdered Belfast teenager Peter Mc Bride family in yesterday's Day of Action. In London activists managed to get into the Ministry of Defence HQ in Whitehall, unfurl a banner and distribute leaflets. After half an hour the group was removed from the building by the Metropolitan Police whose response was non-confrontational. As this was a flying picket the group quickly moved on to demonstrate outside a nearby Army recruitment office forcing its closure for the duration of the protest.The group then held brief pickets outside the security gates at Downing St and at the main entrance to the House of Commons. In Bradford supporters distributed leaflets and in Birmingham a two hour vigil was held in the city centre.
In Sydney, Australia a protest was held at the British Consulate. A delegation met with the Deputy Consul-General, Fergus Cochrane-Dyet, and delivered a strong protest message while reminding him that this was the third demonstration to the Consulate about the McBride case in less than a year and that the group would continue to come back for as long as it was necessary. A lunch-time public protest meeting was held outside the Consulate's office and hundreds of leaflets were distributed outlining the issue and calling on members of the Australian public to send a protest email to the British Ministry of Defence. The MOD email address was published in the leaflet. AAI, with the support of a number of Australian MPs and trade union leaders, has written to the British High Commission in Canberra seeking a meeting. The letter was signed by Paddy Gorman, President Australian Aid for Ireland, on behalf of :Paul Lynch, Labor MP for Liverpool,Deirdre Grusovin, Labor MP for Heffron,Jim Anderson, Labor MP for Londonderry,Tony McGrane, Independent MP for Dubbo,Grant McBride, Labor MP for The Entrance,Colin Markham, Labor MP for Wollongong,Ernie Page, Labor MP for Coogee,Peter Primrose, Labor MP in the NSW Upper House,Damian O’Connor, Assistant State Secretary Australian Labor Party NSW,,Maurie O’Sullivan, General Secretary Public Service Association of NSW,,John Maitland, National Secretary Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union,Paddy Crumlin, National Secretary Maritime Union of Australia,Brett Collins, Justice Action Australia.
In the USA activists distributed the email address and phone numbers of the British Information Office on the internet and called for messages of protest to be forwarded.
In Germany, the Frankfurter Rundschau, a national daily newspaper, last week carried an article on the campaign to have the Scots Guards convicted of the murder of Peter Mc Bride removed from Germany where they are presently based. The petition launched there by supporters of the Mc Bride family has received international support from Ireland, England, Scotland, USA, Dubai, Australia, Sweden, Italy, Israel, Hongkong and Austria.The signatures will be handed over to the German Foreign Ministry and the British consulate in Germany at the end of June. You can sign the petition...see details at users.datarealm.com/pfc
John Spellar MP, the Minister of State for the Armed Forces who sat on the second Army Board which decided to retain the Scots Guards, can be emailed at public@ministers.mod.uk.
PM Tony Blair MP can be emailed at remote-printer.Hon_Tony_Blair@441718399044.iddd.tpc.int
The British Information Service in the USA Public.Enquiries@newyork.mail.fco.gov.uk
Request a response to your email.
The final day of the hearing of the judicial review by the Mc Bride family challenging the MoD decision is on June 25 at the High Court in Belfast. As outlined in earlier emails a decision was made not to hold protests in the North due to the unexpected delay in legal proceedings.