Victims of State Violence Meet Belfast Mayor

Following their meeting with Belfast Mayor Naomi Long the relatives for people killed by State forces have released the following statement through Relatives for Justice;

Speaking after the meeting Relatives for Justice Chairperson Clara Reilly said:

”This was an important and constructive meeting which we very much welcome and whereby the Mayor listened fully to the views expressed by the delegation of relatives and understood fully the exclusion of people affected by State violence in civic spaces from across the community.

 ‘We believe that today has begun a dialogue whereby the Mayor, the Council and the Good relations Unit within it, can begin a positive dialogue aimed at addressing the issues we raised around equality of recognition, memorialisation and importantly addressing the deficit in terms of our particular experience being actively excluded.

Concluding Pat Quinn, whose 19 year-old brother Frank Quinn was murdered on August 9th 1971 along with 10 other civilians, added;

‘There was agreement that City Hall and other civic spaces need to more accurately reflect the breadth of experience of the citizens of Belfast affected by the conflict rather than being a cold house for the bereaved and injured of British army and State violence. The task now is about taking that work forward to conclusion.’