Old Bailey bomber charged over dissident threats to police

MARIAN PRICE, secretary of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, is to appear in court in Derry today charged in connection with…

MARIAN PRICE, secretary of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, is to appear in court in Derry today charged in connection with threats made against PSNI officers at a republican rally on Easter Monday.

Ms Price, who with her sister Dolours was convicted of the 1973 IRA Old Bailey bombings in London, is to appear at Derry Magistrates’ Court charged with encouraging support for a proscribed organisation.

The charge relates to a speech made by a masked member of the Real IRA, the paramilitary element of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, at the parade and rally in Derry on Easter Monday.

The masked man warned that PSNI members were “serving the occupation” and were thus “liable for execution”. He also told a crowd of more than 200: “The Queen of England is wanted for war crimes in Ireland and not wanted on Irish soil. We will do our best to ensure she and the gombeen class that act as her cheerleaders get that message.”

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Some 200 people were injured and a man died of a heart attack in the Old Bailey bombings. Also convicted of the attacks were North Belfast Sinn Féin Assembly member Gerry Kelly.

The Price sisters, Mr Kelly and another member of the IRA group, Hugh Feeney, went on a hunger strike to try to be repatriated to prison in Northern Ireland. The fast, during which they were force-fed, lasted for more than 200 days.

Gerry Moriarty

Gerry Moriarty

Gerry Moriarty is the former Northern editor of The Irish Times