RESIDENTS of the loyalist Fountain area in Derry yesterday told the city's deputy mayor about their disgust at his decision to raise the Bloody Sunday killings with Prince Charles.
Mr Martin Bradley, an SDLP councillor, raised the Bloody Sunday killings with Prince Charles, colonel-in-chief of the Parachute Regiment, during a visit by the prince to the Fountain Primary School last June 27th.
The residents also told Mr Bradley during the lunchtime meeting in the Guildhall that Protestants in Derry were angry at the council's decision, on an SDLP proposal, to strip the Ulster Unionist alderman, Mr Richard Dallas, of the trappings of the office of mayor following his participation in street protests during the Drumcree stand-off in July.
Mr Dallas has taken legal action against the council.
Mr Bradley said he was happy to meet the residents. "I told them I had raised Bloody Sunday with Prince Charles because it is this council's policy to support the aims of the Bloody Sunday justice campaign. I gave him a copy of the council's record and it was a non-contentious approach by me."
"It was never my intention to embarrass the prince or to breach any protocol, and in fact the prince has since been in contact with me expressing his delight at the way, the procedure was handled."
A spokesman for the residents, who did not wish to be named, said: "Prince Charles visited the Fountain to open a new school, and Councillor Bradley's actions took away from the excitement of the children on that day. We are trying to bring up our children in a world of peace, not in a time of war. We told the deputy mayor how we felt, he did not agree with our viewpoint, and we left it at that," he said.