Prisoners continue dining hall protest

Republican prisoners who have barricaded themselves into a dining hall at the North’s top security jail continued their protest today.

Twenty-eight inmates blocked the doors of the room at Maghaberry Prison in Co Antrim yesterday – the day republicans traditionally commemorate the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin against British rule.

A suspicious object was thrown out into the corridor at the outset of the incident at around 10am but bomb disposal officers later declared that it was not a viable explosive device.

The prisoners, who had been attending a Mass service in the hall, remained there overnight as supporters called for them to be granted political status inside the jail.

The incident is centred in the Roe House area of the jail, where republicans are housed away from other offenders.

It is understood there are only limited supplies of food inside the hall and no access to running water.

A cancellation of prison visits yesterday has been extended through today and tomorrow.

The demonstration comes as dissident republicans continue to launch attacks throughout the North.

This morning a van was hijacked and set alight in Armagh, while reports of a suspicious object on the railway line near Lurgan disrupted train services between Belfast and Dublin.

On Saturday, a dissident car bomb was abandoned outside Crossmaglen police station in Co Armagh.

The vehicle, which was packed with containers of flammable liquid, failed to detonate.

Later, a small crowd gathered at Creggan Cemetery in Derry as dissidents marked the Easter rebellion.

Around 100 people watched as a masked man purporting to be from the Real IRA read out a brief statement.