12/01/2009

Gaza Protests Slammed

A city centre protest over the Gaza conflict has been slammed by the DUP who condemned the march as "anti-Israel and 'pro-Hamas".

They said that the presence of a Spanish Eta member - Juan Ignacio de Juana Chaos who is still wanted in Spain - was wrong.

They were also angry that the IRA's Brighton bomber Patrick Magee was there along with IRA Maze escapee Bobby Storey.

Stormont Junior Minister Jeffrey Donaldson called on the march organisers, the Irish Congress of Trades Unions (ICTU), to "apologise to the people of Spain" for the presence of fugitive de Juana Chaos, who is on bail fighting extradition back to Spain.

Robin Newton East Belfast DUP MLA (pictured) also said that Sinn Fein's solidarity with the people of Gaza event - in an event for the steps of Stormont today - is yet "another bigoted act of blinkered hypocrisy".

See: Peace People Return To Belfast

(BMcC/JM)

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