Belfast Demo Attacked by PSNI

national | miscellaneous | news report Tuesday April 08, 2003 15:07 by Cllr Eoin O'Broin - Sinn Fein eoinobroin at hotmail dot com

Several peacefull protestors arrested

PSNI in full riot gear attacked and arrested seven anti war protestors at a peacefull demo in Belfast City Centre on Tuesday afternoon.

Republicans, socialists, greens, peace activitsts, community workers and trade unionists from across Belfast gathered outside the City Hall at 1pm on Tuesday afternoon to protest at the ongoing Bush/Blair war in Iraq.

A crowd of up to 300 people were in attendance.

People staged a 'die-in' for 10 minutes before holding a minutes silence for all those civilian casualties of the US/British war.

Following the 'silence', the body of the protest staged a symbolic and peacefull blockage of Donegal square. After several minutes the PSNI, in full riot gear, moved in, battoning and arresting seven protestors.

The crowd held their ground and refused PSNI provocation, chanting slogans and ensuring the sit down continued in a peaceful manor.

After several minuted, the PSNI retreated and the sit in continued.

By 3pm the crowd had dispersed.