19 March 1998 Edition
Kilted Brits hammered again
By Christy Ward
Since the British Army's Black Watch Regimental bagpipe band arrived in the US on 17 January it has been met at more than a dozen venues by angry Irish American supporters. In Seattle, Columbus, Akron, Chicago, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Boston, Philadelphia and other cities protestors urged those attending the events to rethink their support of a regiment that was responsible for the deaths of nearly a dozen innocent nationalists in the Six Counties.
In Uniondale, New York nearly 70 Irish American activists took part in a vocal protest on 6 March.
The demonstration at the Nassau Coliseum was attended by members of the Irish Northern Aid Committee, the Suffolk and Nassau County Ancient Order of Hibernians and other Irish American support groups.
Paddy Dolan, Coordinator for Noraid activities in the New York metropolitan area, said he was very pleased with the turnout.
``Just as we won't forget the horrors that Margaret Thatcher brought to Ireland and have met her at every possible turn in the US, we won't let the British Army dupe the American people into thinking this band is anything less than a British Army regiment responsible for the murder of innocent Irish nationalists,'' said Dolan.
``We are committed to challenging the British Information Service and the US media and their glossing over of this regiment's brutal death record in the north. We will not let these murderers go about the US unchallenged,'' Dolan said.
Dolan said activists chanted, `Black Watch murderers go home', and `Bagpipes in one hand, machine guns in the other'.
Protests will continue in the coming weeks.
Since the British Army's Black Watch Regimental bagpipe band arrived in the US on 17 January it has been met at more than a dozen venues by angry Irish American supporters. In Seattle, Columbus, Akron, Chicago, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Boston, Philadelphia and other cities protestors urged those attending the events to rethink their support of a regiment that was responsible for the deaths of nearly a dozen innocent nationalists in the Six Counties.
In Uniondale, New York nearly 70 Irish American activists took part in a vocal protest on 6 March.
The demonstration at the Nassau Coliseum was attended by members of the Irish Northern Aid Committee, the Suffolk and Nassau County Ancient Order of Hibernians and other Irish American support groups.
Paddy Dolan, Coordinator for Noraid activities in the New York metropolitan area, said he was very pleased with the turnout.
``Just as we won't forget the horrors that Margaret Thatcher brought to Ireland and have met her at every possible turn in the US, we won't let the British Army dupe the American people into thinking this band is anything less than a British Army regiment responsible for the murder of innocent Irish nationalists,'' said Dolan.
``We are committed to challenging the British Information Service and the US media and their glossing over of this regiment's brutal death record in the north. We will not let these murderers go about the US unchallenged,'' Dolan said.
Dolan said activists chanted, `Black Watch murderers go home', and `Bagpipes in one hand, machine guns in the other'.
Protests will continue in the coming weeks.