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Pub bombings rally to be held in secret
Nov 20 2004
By Emma Pinch, The Birmingham Post
A public rally by Loyalists on the 30th anniversary of the Birmingham pub bombings is to be held at a secret venue today after fears of clashes with rival groups.
The British Ulster Alliance, which is opposed to the Good Friday peace process, wanted to stage the rally close to a permanent plaque at St Philip's Cathedral erected in memory of the 21 people who died in the 1974 atrocity.
But it was refused permission by the cathedral while West Midlands Police and Birmingham City Council also discouraged the BUA from holding the event in any other public place for fear of the disruption it could cause.
The National Front and the BNP indicated they would join the rally but the BUA claimed other groups, sympathetic to the Republican cause, threatened the appearance of a "welcoming committee".
A BUA spokesman said it had decided to stage it at an indoor private venue and all 150 tickets had been sold. Maureen Mitchell, a survivor of the pub bombings and a member of the Glencree Centre for Reconciliation, a support group for people closely linked to the history of Northern Ireland troubles, said she would prefer the rally not to take place at all.
"If they are going to do it at all, it is preferable that they hold it somewhere where it isn't pushed into people's faces," she said.
Meanwhile, hundreds of people of all faiths will be at St Philips Cathedral tomorrow at 4pm to mark the anniversary.
The Lord Mayor of Birmingham Coun Mike Nangle, the city's first Irish-born Lord Mayor, said: "As first citizen, my message to the families is that I will be grieving with them at the cathedral, along with James Eames, Lord Mayor at the time of the bombings, who did a great deal to reach out to the families affected."
