Geldof snub, but he’d like scroll back
BOB Geldof has returned his Freedom of the City of Dublin scroll over his unhappiness over Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, claiming: ‘She is a murderer.’
Mr Geldof said that handing back the award was a ‘small personal gesture’ in protest of the suffering of the Rohingya people in Myanmar.
As he walked to City Hall yesterday morning, he told reporters: ‘I’m here to talk about genocide and mass murder and the rape and the abuse of children.’
Ms Suu Kyi also has the freedom of Dublin.
Mr Geldof said he did not want to have his name removed from the scroll but that it was the most and the least that he could do.
He said of the Myanmar leader: ‘She has let us Dubliners down, she has let Ireland down because we thought she was one thing and we have been duped. She is a murderer.’
Ms Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. However,
He gives up honour in angry protest
she has been criticised for not doing enough to stop the ‘textbook ethnic cleansing’ of the Rohingya people of the country’s northwestern region.
Mr Geldof said that if Ms Suu Kyi’s name was ever removed from the scroll then he would like his award back.
He said that given that he was able to return his scroll then the city council should be able to remove Ms Suu Kyi’s name just as easily.
Mr Geldof added: ‘I want it back but that’s up to them.
‘That is up to the city council and if it wants to remove her name I’d like to have it back, but then they’d have to find a mechanism for that.’
Dublin’s Sinn Féin Lord Mayor, Mícheál Mac Donncha, criticised Mr Geldof as he still holds an honorary British knighthood.
He said: ‘Regarding Mr Geldof, I find it ironic that he makes this gesture while proudly retaining his title as Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, given the shameful record of British imperialism across the globe.
‘Mr Geldof last year grossly insulted the men and women of the 1916 Rising in the centenary year, when he compared them to so-called Islamic State, causing offence to Dubliners and Irish people generally.’
Mr Mac Donncha said that removing the award from Ms Suu Kyi was a possibility and that the issue was still under discussion.
He remarked: ‘Consensus was not reached among the groups on the city council. The matter is not closed.’