Sir, - As someone who attended the Bloody Sunday march in London (and who has never attended this event before) I found your coverage to be partial. On arriving at Highbury Fields at 12.45, I will admit that I expected an attendance of a few hundred. The end of the IRA ceasefire has meant that the level of fear and apathy among the Irish community is once again increasing. I was pleased and surprised to see that a few thousand people had turned out. The prevalence of Irish accents throughout the march was especially pleasing.
I was also struck by the people lining the pavement along the Holloway Road, who would yell out to friends and family on the march, but not actually embark on joining it. It can be extremely nerve wracking being involved in anything in London to do with Ireland; my family members (myself included), have lived for a long time by the dictum "whatever you say, say nothing".
At the rally subsequently, I
talked to a delegation from Chesterfield CND who are close friends of Tony Benn, the MP for their area, Mr Benn was suffering from a severe virus and was very disappointed not to be able to attend - it was not because things Irish are once more beyond the pale for all members of the Labour Party.
I rely on papers such as The Irish Times to report events such as Saturday; I do not expect fair play or accuracy from the police force when they estimate the numbers on such events. The importance of such an episode as Bloody Sunday is beyond dispute. Although 2,000 people in the context of the size of the Irish community in Britain could be defined as pitiable, you have got to place it in the context of the operation of the PTA. So please get your numbers right; you have lost 1,500 of us somewhere between Highbury Fields and Archway! - Yours, etc.,
London 5E26 6UR.