Fury as IRA bomber leads St Patrick's Day parade

One of America’s biggest St Patrick’s Day parades was going ahead today, despite a bitter split over the presence of a convicted IRA bomber.

Brian Pearson was chosen to be grand marshal of the giant parade in Pearl River, 25 miles from New York, which is the second biggest in the state after New York city’s celebrations, and one of the largest in the US.

Pearson, 50, was granted political asylum in the United States in 1997 despite the objections of the American government, after spending 12 years in prison for blowing up two RUC police stations.

But his presence has prompted an unprecedented boycott of the parade by police and firefighters’ organisations who do not want to be associated with terrorism in the wake of the September 11 attack.

Dozens of residents of Rockland County, where Pearl River is located, died in the collapse of the twin towers and many of the Irish-American firefighters and police who were to march in the parade lost colleagues and themselves narrowly escaped death.

Patrick Frawlyer, a member of the police honour guard which usually leads the parade but will this year be absent, and president of the Orangetown Patrolman’s Benevolent Association, said:

‘‘There were much more appropriate choices.

‘‘This decision has stirred up strong emotions in our community during a sensitive time when we all need healing in light of recent events.

‘‘This in no way reflects on the character of the individual selected, but rather on the organisation people may affiliate him with.’’

Cy Hughes of Nanuet, president of the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH) in Rockland County, told the New York Journal News that being named grand marshal was the highest honour the group could bestow.

Mr Hughes said the parade had been dedicated to the victims of September 11 and the Northern Ireland peace process and said the grand marshal was there to reflect ‘‘the wishes and values of the AOH membership and the Irish community of Rockland County’’. And Pearson, who works as a carpenter in America, defended his presence at the head of the parade.

‘‘I think it’s difficult to understand, coming from people who live in a free society, to think it’s controversial for anyone to defend their own people and fight for freedom,’’ he told the New York Journal News.