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FORMER BRITISH SOLDIERS are holding a rally in Belfast today against the decision to prosecute some retired security officers in relation to killings in Northern Ireland during the Troubles.
A counter-demonstration by republicans has also been organised in the city.
The protest organised by Justice for Northern Ireland Veterans (JFNIV) is against what it alleges is a “legal witch-hunt” against former soldiers who served during the Troubles.
There is a strong security presence outside City Hall this afternoon due to the large crowds.
According the The Irish News, up to 500 protesters attended the rally in support of British army veterans.
The newspaper also reports that around 200 participants stood on one side of the police line “flying tricolours and holding placards accusing soldiers of committing murder during the Troubles”.
While a number of Union flags were waved in the air, speakers called for an end to what they alleged was unfair treatment of ex-security force members.
Last year, two former soldiers were informed they will be prosecuted for allegedly murdering an IRA member in Northern Ireland more than 40 years ago.
The IRA member, Joe McCann was shot dead in Belfast on 15 April 1972.
The two soldiers, now in their 60s, were members of the Parachute Regiment patrol in the 1970s.
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US getting involved in another situation that has absolutely nothing to do with them. Seems there the only country that can invade others without consequences.
@Roy Dowling: So Russia should be allowed to invade Ukraine without any repercussions? Interesting.
@Roy Dowling: You don’t think security matters that impact the NATO block borders have anything to do with the United States? Not sure you know much about anything.
@Seán Ó Briain: What repercussions did the US suffer when invading countries in the middle East? The us invades who they like and the world keeps quite?
@Seán Ó Briain: how many countries have the US invaded ?Seems like the usual suspects like UK, Nato and the EU have done a good job over the last few years to provoke there pal Vlad. Anyways I’m sure the grub is plenty full and the drinks flow long into the night at the various get-togethers.
@Will: Putin blameless I’m sure. Have a read of a book called Red Notice by Bill Browder and educate yourself as to what really goes on in the corridors of power in Russia.
@Roy Dowling: Isn’t Ukraine quite near to Nato countries? And isn’t the US something to do with Nato?
@Bill Spill: Russia itself borders NATO countries and it’s ally Belarus also borders NATO countries. Didn’t see the US having issues there. US is like a bully getting upset because another bully has started picking on weaker countries. They want to be the only bully.
@Roy Dowling: so you can’t answer the question
@Roy Dowling: So when you say they are getting involved in a situation that had absolutely nothing to do with them, what do you mean?
@Roy Dowling: you wouldn’t be speaking English now if it wasn’t for the US.
@Splat: Given that our mother tongue is Irish, would it really matter if we were speaking a language other than English now?
@Roy Dowling: Haaaaa. Putin doesn’t give a Sh11te about sanctions….
@Roy Dowling: The president begged the US to help. Stop your lazy anti-Americanism.
@Roy Dowling: ffs! One was a response to domestic terrorism that killed thousands on their soil. The other I’ll give you was to settle a score for Bush’s daddy.
@David F. Dwyer: how innocent you put it
This is all the world needs right now.
@Ciarán FitzGerald: what the world needs now, is love, sweet love
@Ciarán FitzGerald: we need. The Donald back now,!
@Martin Scaldbag: scaldbag
Don’t think Putin really worries a lot about sanctions. Already a lot of sanctions in place, has not stopped him taking parts of Georgia and the Crimea. Slap wrist threat.
@Denis K: yeah was thinking that and if he did invade he could get his mate in Belarus to come in from the North hit on 2 sides,all doe that could drag Poland in then
U S Has invaded and caused more wars than any nation …And who exploded 2 Atomic bombs
@John Mc Auley: Just curious as to where you got that information from? I’m not a supporter of or apologist for the U.S. by the way it’s just that it doesn’t seem to accord with historical fact. I’d imagine some far older European nations may be way ahead of them in that regard. Lots of countries have exploded two atomic bombs by the way. The U.S. though is obviously the only nation to use them in a war situation and the context of why they did needs to be considered.
@John Mc Auley: only 2?
Smells of Hitler invading Czechoslovakia . The west huffed and puffed then as well and we all know what happened
Join NATO Ukraine, get it over with
With Sleepy Joe at the helm Russia, China, N Korea and Iran can do whatever they want. The time has never been better to strike than with a pensioner struggling to read a tele-promt sentence at the wheel.
Mr. Putin can read between the lines. The Western alliance knows his little games and applies their own. If Russia wants a war they will get a war. The truth is this: The NATO build up is massive too. Putin is behind it. Russia wants Ukraine. Ukraine doesn’t want him! And all this nonsense with Belarus and Poland. Who do you think is behind it? Didn’t Hitler do the same? The thing is NATO can do tremendous damage to Russia as 465 nukes are aimed at every military target and at every Russian city including Moscow as the first site to highlight the power of the west! The Hitler says are gone. No tanks! No ships. Nukes and it will happen. This man Putin is playing with a deadly flame. Out he goes with his hidden 200 billion in hidden bank accounts stolen from the Russian people. He is a very presumptuous man and he will be humiliated in front of his own people.
@James Arnold: That all sounds great. But, there is an ego there that super edes everything you said. Putin will push as many buttons as he can until no more can be pushed. Then he’ll back pedal a little until the west think they have a victory. He annexed the Crimean without so much as a strongly worded email. He’ll try and reunite the old USSR states and increase the sovereign and fiscal strength of the union by whatever means possible. He is on a long mission and wont stop at a few pointing fingers from weak western leaders.
I have been studying international warfare for three years. The power of nuclear weapons are about 1,000 times greater than those bombs dropped on Japan. The old days of trenches and infantry are over. No soldiers needed at all. No planes needed either. It’s nuclear warfare. And Russia will be decimated first. All it takes is a command. The whole country is destroyed
@James Arnold: ye need to chill out on the comments guy
@James Arnold: All it takes is a command and the whole world is destroyed.
Sanctions shmanctions, sanctions are useless.
I have been studying international warfare for three years. The power of nuclear weapons are about 1,000 times greater than those bombs dropped on Japan. The old days of trenches and infantry are over. No soldiers needed at all. No planes needed either. It’s nuclear warfare. And Russia will be decimated first. All it takes is a command. The whole country destroyed all because of a little tiny man who murdered others and cared nothing for his own i.e. The Kursk for example and this little man needs to use a toilet like the rest of us. He may be loved by his own but he has successfully deceived his own. A disaster.
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