Up to 200 relatives of people killed by loyalist paramilitaries have today demanded a judicial inquiry into allegations of security force collusion.
At a gathering in the Europa Hotel in Belfast, campaigners insisted the case for an outside probe was now unstoppable.
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Mr Michael Finucane, son of murdered
solicitor Pat Finucane, at a news conference in Belfast on Friday. His family wants a public inquiry. |
The issue of collusion has re-emerged after two BBC Panorama programmes. The programmes revealed the extent of security forces' collusion with loyalist murder gangs, resulting in the death of innocent Catholics.
The Northern Ireland Secretary Dr John Reid is to respond to the programmes' content this afternoon.
Spokesman for the Relatives for Justice Group Mr Mark Thompson said: "Lives have been devastated by this and the responsibility lies squarely with the British government.
"The gravity of this situation should not be dealt with by internal police investigations nor by investigative television documentaries drip feeding information but by a full independent international judicial inquiry into the arming, controlling, and directing of loyalist death squads by the British government."
The demand came as Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens finalises his third report into collusion claims sparked by the 1989 murder of Belfast solicitor Mr Pat Finucane.
Mr Thompson called on the current Stevens findings to be made public and to release secret details contained in the previous two reports.
PA