Dissident republican criticises Martin McGuinness’s toast to queen

A leading member of the dissident republican movement in Derry yesterday accused Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness of selling out republicans by toasting Queen Elizabeth II during this month’s state visit to Britain by President Michael D Higgins.

In the first criticism by the dissident republican movement since the visit, Gary Donnelly told a crowd of several hundred people at an Easter commemoration event in the city cemetery in Derry that the 1916 Easter Rising “was not about tuxedos and toasting the queen of England”.

The event, which was organised by the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, the political wing of dissident republicanism, passed off without incident.

'Propaganda'
Mr Donnelly said that for years his organisation had been "bombarded with lies, spin and propaganda from media and state agencies" who had deliberately misrepresented, misquoted and "grotesquely demonised" members of his organisation.

“One-time republicans, now in the pay of the enemy, mock us with labels like ‘micro-groups’ and self-importantly ask us ‘What is your strategy?’ It seems their passion revives only when there is an opportunity to condemn us in the name of a cause in which they have ceased to believe. For us the answer is quite simple – our strategy is to continue to build our resistance to the illegal occupation of our country.

“Today I have a question for them – what is your strategy? Will banqueting with the queen of England achieve Irish freedom?”

Then, in a direct criticism of Mr McGuinness, which was loudly cheered and clapped by the crowd, Mr Donnelly said that, “Prisoners on dirty protest and on hunger strike did not fight against the regime of her majesty’s prison so that Martin McGuinness could sell their sacrifice for a fiddler’s invitation to her majesty’s royal banquet. This most recent sorry episode puts the infamous ‘traitors to the people of Ireland’ remark in a clearer context. People will be able to draw their own conclusions.”

Mr Donnelly added: “So seriously, Martin, what is your strategy? Do you have a strategy or are you a pawn in someone else’s strategy? I’ll not hold my breath waiting for a reply.”