>From MCELROY@zodiac.rutgers.edu Sun May  2 19:45:38 1993

RALLY CROWD 'SPAT' ON PICTURE OF TEENAGE PLASTIC BULLET VICTIM
by Conor Macauley
Irish Times, Belfast. March 31, 1993

Relatives of children killed by the security forces in Northern
Ireland were abused and spat upon at a peace rally in Dublin, it
emerged yesterday.

A dozen people, whose sons and daughters have died at the hands
of  the RUC and British soldiers went to Sunday's peace protest
outside the GPO.

But s they and about 20 supporters joined the 10,000 strong
demonstration some of the crowd accused them of being IRA
sympathizers whose presence defiled the rally.

They were jostled and a placard bearing the picture of plastic
bullet victim Julie Livingstone--a 14 year old girl killed in
1981--was spat on. 

Mrs. Kathleen Duffy, whose son Seamus was killed by  a plastic
bullet in 1989, said they had been treated with 'contempt'. "We
were abused. We were treated with contempt. They asked us why we
were there on their day; they said we had no right to be there;
they shouted at us that we were IRA; they spat on Julie
Livingstone's photograph."

"Thanks be to God we went with dignity, and we walked away with
dignity."

In a statement issued last night, rally organizer Susan McHugh
expressed 'regret' at any 'unfriendliness' shown towards any
individuals or groups.

The families confirmed that one of the organizers left the
platform on Saturday to apologise. Street traders had given
flowers for their children's graves, they said.

The protest was organized in the wake of  the IRA bombing in
Warrington which killed four year old Jonathan Ball and Timothy
Parry (12). It called for and end to violence in the names of the
121 children killed in the trouble to date.

The Relatives for justice group, representing the families, asked
permission on Saturday for the parents to address the rally.
Spokeswoman Ann Bradley said it was refused on the grounds that
it might be seen as political and cause embarrassment to the
British government. Kathleen Duffy, the other relatives and Ann
Bradley all stressed that they were apolitical and opposed to all
murders.

They have sent sympathy letters to the Warrington bomb victims'
parents.

Mrs. Duffy said that while a lot of reactions had been adverse.
some had been sympathetic and emotional. But she said she could
not comprehend how somebody attending a peace rally could 'spit
on a fellow Irish person.'

While she supported the rally's sentiments, she said she could
not understand why, with chidden dying regularly in Northern
Ireland, it had taken the murder of two English children to
mobilize Irish public opinion.

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