McShane buried as crowd stands in silence

MR Dermot McShane, the lone fatality of Derry's three nights of violence, was buried in the city cemetery yesterday morning after Requiem Mass in St Columba's Church.

About 200 people walked behind the hearse from his sister's house to the church, which overlooks the Bogside, but the crowd swelled to thousands for the half mile journey to the hill top cemetery.

The coffin was draped in a Tricolour, in recognition of Mr McShane's republican beliefs. But he was not buried in the republican plot and there were no other paramilitary trappings.

A former member of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA), who served a prison sentence during the 1980s, Mr McShane had not been involved with the organisation since his release.

He died in the early hours of Saturday morning after being run over by a British army jeep during rioting near the Bogside.

The RUC stayed away from the funeral, although there were complaints of a heavy presence earlier in the morning near the house in which dead man was waked.

A single helicopter hovered about a mile from the cemetery during the burial service.

Speaking in the church, Father Con McLaughlin said that the pain and heartbreak felt by the McShane family was being felt by the whole community.

All too often in the past he had been present when the bodies of young people had been buried, he added. Practically everyone in the parish had suffered during the troubles, which they had hoped were finally over.

"But the events of the past few days have caused us all to relive the nightmare of past years," he said. "Scarcely in the 21 years I've been here have I found people so depressed and saddened and so close to despair."

He asked the congregation to pray "that no one may say or do anything that will heighten the tension or lead to another life being lost."

He also prayed that those in positions to do so would make the right decisions in the coming days.

Mr McShane's American born common law wife, Treasa, was comforted by one of her sons.

Among those attending the funeral were the SDLP leader, Mr John Hume, Mr Martin McGuinness and Mr Mitchell McLaughlin of Sinn Fein. The Irish Republican socialist Party, the political wing of the INLA, was represented by Mr Kevin McQuillan.

Mr Tony O'Hara, brother of the INLA man, Patsy, who died on hunger strike in 1981, was one of the party who helped place the Tricolour on the coffin.

The flag was removed at the church and then replaced for the journey to the cemetery, where it was presented to the dead man's family. The Tricolour over the republican plot flew at half mast for the funeral.