Harassment of Republicans on the increase, Kerry Commemoration told
Kerry Republican Sinn Féin
April 1, 2003
The killing of Republicans by the Free State during the Civil War was actually a counter-revolution by forces backed by the British crown, a member of the Ard Comhairle told the first Republican Sinn Féin commemoration in Listowel, County Kerry on Sunday 30th March. South Armagh man Gerald Crilly said that the same counter revolutionary forces are at work today with the Provos administering British rule in the Six Counties and it will be only a matter of time until they turn against true Republicans. The foundation is being laid for intense harassment and intimidation of Republicans by the RUC or the PSNI, he told a large crowd from all over Munster. In recent times we have seen a concerted move against all those who oppose the British presence in Ireland.Even the so called trial of the Ballynanty Seven has shown the lies and distortions used by the political police to try to tarnish Republican Sinn Féin - and now it has been proven in the Non-Jury court that the men were all arrested illegally - they must be set free now and these spurious charged dropped.
A local colour party led the parade from Charles Street in Listowel to the Republican Plot where Seamus O'Sullivan from County Limerick welcomed the large crowd and chaired the commemoration. RSF chairman John Mangan from Tralee recited a decade of the rosary. Matt Leen read a poem commemorating the deaths of the Republicans during the Civil War while Siobhan Walsh read the 1916 Proclamation. Wreaths were laid by Paddy McCarthy on behalf of RSF, by Dominick Kissane on behalf of the prisoners and by Donal O'Sullivan, Lisselton on behalf of the relatives of the two men, Timothy O'Sullivan and David Enright who were executed by Free State forces during the Civil War. Jonathan Bermingham from Na Fianna sounded the Last Post.One of the organisors John O'Shea from Ballylongford said they were pleased with the turn out for what was the first Republican Sinn Féin commemoration in the town of Listowel. We now have a solid foundation here and we intend to build on it and recruit new members in the coming months, he said.
7:51:43 AM 
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