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Whilst recognising that loyalist protests may have their roots in fear and bitterness over what has been happening to their parts of the community, the General Board of the Presbyterian Church has commended all those seeking a resolution to the disputes across the interfaces in Belfast, calling for an end to all violence and harassment which it describes as a feature of life in interface areas of Belfast.
Meeting in Belfast today (10th October), the General Board, the Presbyterian Church's most representative body outside its General Assembly, said it did not believe that rioting, verbal abuse, attacks on the police and intimidation were legitimate forms of protest and believed that the protest at Holy Cross Primary School should stop.
The Board also expressed 'regret' that the Government of the Republic of Ireland has planned the reburial of ten IRA men executed in 1921 as a State occasion without taking into account its possible impact on Northern Ireland.
The full text of the Board's resolutions are as follows:
Issued by Stephen Lynas, Presbyterian Information Services. Info@PresbyterianIreland.org
- The General Board condemns without reservation the terrorist attacks on the United States of America and conveys its sympathy to the bereaved and injured of many countries, to the people of the United States and prays for wisdom and courage, appropriate to the complexity and seriousness of the challenge, to be given to political leaders.
- The General Board, aware of the dangers of international terrorism, encourages the Irish and British Governments to pursue policies which will both restrain and overcome national and international terrorism, while being aware of the dangers of encouraging support for the very things they seek to remove.
- The General Board does not believe that rioting, verbal abuse, attacks on the police and intimidation are legitimate forms of protest and believes that the protest at Holy Cross Primary School should stop.
- The General Board commends all those who are seeking a resolution to the disputes across the interfaces in Belfast and commends them to the prayers of the Presbyterian Church.
- Believing that the work of journalists is of singular importance in a free society the General Board condemns the murder of Martin O'Hagan and conveys its sympathy to his family and to the National Union of Journalists.
- The General Board records again its repudiation of the violent activities of loyalist paramilitaries and especially condemns the attempt to car bomb Ballycastle during the Oul' Lammas Fair, which could have been an atrocity on the scale of the Omagh bomb.
- The General Board agrees that the Church and Government Committee should forward its response to the NI Human Rights Commission's discussion document on a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland.
- The General Board regrets that the Government of the Republic of Ireland has planned the reburial of ten IRA men executed in 1921 as a State occasion without taking into account its possible impact on Northern Ireland.
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