3,000 join Downing Street march to demand an end to Ulster troops witch-hunt
THOUSANDS of veterans have marched on Downing Street to demand an end to the ‘cowardly witch-hunt’ against troops who served in Northern Ireland.
They delivered a strongly-worded letter to Prime Minister Theresa May, calling on her to halt new investigations into historical killings during the Troubles.
In Glasgow, around 200 veterans took part in the campaign as they marched to support former comrades.
Up to 1,000 veterans, many in their 60s and 70s, are being probed as potential murder or manslaughter suspects over actions they took decades ago at the height of the IRA’s terror campaign.
Mrs May was urged to act after the ‘disgraceful’ decision by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) to re-examine every single British Army killing during the battle against terrorism.
Retired servicemen and women stood to attention in Horse Guards Parade, London, to listen to speeches of support.
Central Glasgow was brought to a halt as veterans from more than ten regiments marched through the city to protest, where speakers warned against ‘appeasing Sinn Fein’.
The rallies were organised by Justice For Northern Ireland Veterans, with a simultaneous protest in Belfast.
The campaign group claims British soldiers who served in the province are being unjustly hounded – while former IRA members who committed atrocities have got off scot-free.
Northern Ireland Secretary James Brokenshire has admitted killings during the Troubles are ‘disproportionately’ focusing on former UK soldiers rather than Republican terrorists.
Colonel Bob Stewart, who lost six colleagues when the Irish National Liberation Army killed 17 in a disco bombing in Ballykelly in December 1982, told the 3,000strong crowd in London: ‘This witch-hunt is wrong, because we operated under the law – the one or two that did not were sent to prison and rightly so.
‘Our soldiers should not have to lose sleep at night because they do not receive the same immunity as those who fought against them in Northern Ireland.
‘This matter must be dealt with as soon as possible, to make sure those who served in Northern Ireland do not ever have to think there will be a knock on their door one day with a policeman on the other side.’
Kenny Corcoran, of Motherwell, helped to organise the Glasgow protest. Mr Corcoran, who served in the Royal Engineers from 1977 to 1992, told the crowd in the city’s George Square: ‘No service person ever threw a bomb into a chip shop full of women and kids.
‘No service person ever enticed three young men from a pub, took them down, slaughtered them and left them at the side of the road for school kids to find in the morning. Soldiers are not above the law by any means, but the law has thoroughly investigated these cases. These surges have been brought to appease Sinn Fein.
‘Any judge who takes these cases will be under pressure from Sinn Fein/IRA to bring a guilty verdict against our soldiers.’
In London, the veterans marched on Downing Street to deliver their letter to Mrs May.
The taxpayer-funded PSNI Legacy Investigation Branch is reexamining 302 deaths caused by UK troops during the Troubles.
There is fury at the prospect that hundreds of elderly UK veterans will endure another ordeal.
Veterans, who will receive free Ministry of Defence-funded legal advice, believe the investigation is politically motivated and designed to appease IRA families.
Critics are angry that 90 per cent of the 3,500 killings in Northern Ireland were terrorist-related – but the PSNI’s focus has been on deaths at the hands of British security forces.