Peace rally condemns gunmen's 'crimes against humanity'

Gunmen who shot dead two soldiers and a police officer in the North have committed crimes against humanity, a peace rally in Belfast was told today.

Thousands gathered for vigils organised by trade unions at venues across the North at 1pm to demand an end to the renewed violence.

The crowds gathered outside Belfast City Hall observed a minute’s silence in memory of the security forces killed in separate attacks by dissident republicans.

Constable Stephen Carroll was shot dead by the Continuity IRA in Craigavon, Co Armagh, on Monday night and soldiers Mark Quinsey, 23, and Patrick Azimkar, 21, were shot by the Real IRA at Massereene Army barracks in Antrim on Saturday night.

After a piper played Abide With Me, trade union leader John Corey told the Belfast rally that the public rejected any return of violence.

“The trade union movement has always stood for peace,” he said.

“For this movement, no political cause in Northern Ireland justifies violence of any kind.

“For this movement, there is no justification for the murder of any person in this society.”

He said the Irish Congress of Trades Unions and the wider community stood shoulder-to-shoulder with political leaders at Stormont who had presented a united front against the gunmen.

He added: “So we show the world that is now watching, that the people of Northern Ireland absolutely and totally reject those that carried out those brutal crimes against humanity.”

Police today continued to question a 37-year-old man and 17-year-old youth about the murder of Constable Carroll.

They were arrested yesterday as police carried out searches in the Drumbeg estate which overlooked the small residential cul-de-sac where he died while answering a call from a distraught woman who had a brick thrown through her window.

Rallies were also held today in Derry, Newry, Lisburn and Downpatrick, with impromptu rallies also organised by trade unionists here.

Sympathies were expressed for the families of the murdered soldiers, as well as the relatives of Constable Carroll as they prepare to lay him to rest on Friday after noon Requiem Mass at St Therese Church in Banbridge, Co Down.

There were emotional scenes as the officer’s widow Kate tonight watched as a police escort brought her husband’s body back to the couple’s Banbridge home.

As people gathered in their thousands to demonstrate against violence, the same message was delivered by Taoiseach Brian Cowen in Dublin and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in the House of Commons.

Cowen told the Dáil, where politicians backed an all-party motion against the violence, that co-operation between police on both sides of the border had never been closer.

He said he would be joining the North's First Minister Peter Robinson and deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness in the US to continue the united front politicians have shown in opposition to the violence.

“It is important that the voices of the democratic representatives of the people are heard loud and clear at this moment, when the democratic institutions which have been established by the Irish people are being challenged,” he said.

“Those institutions are being challenged by a tiny and unrepresentative group of evil people who have no mandate and no support for their actions.

“Their actions are futile. They cannot succeed and they will not succeed.”

Mr Brown told MPs: “The peace marches today on the streets of Northern Ireland show what I saw in Northern Ireland on Monday and what we are seeing right across the country.

“The unity against violence of the people and their representatives; the defiance and the determination to stand up to the evil and criminal violence; and 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.”

MPs later held a rally against the violence outside Westminster, while a cross-community vigil is to be held tonight at the scene of the policeman’s murder in Craigavon.

A Peace Book was opened in Derry Guildhall by the Mayor Gerard Diver for people to register their revulsion.

Earlier today the Pope denounced the murder of the three security force members as “abominable acts of terrorism”.

Benedict XVI condemned the shootings by dissident republicans during an address to pilgrims in St Peter’s Square in Vatican City.

He said the murders seriously endangered the political process aimed at achieving peace and justice.