West Belfast Sinn Féin Sinn Féin -- Building an Ireland of Equals

Tree planting ceremony in memory of massacre victims to take place

Published: 21 January, 2009

This Sunday, 25 January, at 3pm, a tree planting ceremony will take place outside the Ballymurphy memorial garden in honour of the victims of the Ballymurphy and Springhill massacres that took place on 9 August 1971 and 9 July 1972.

The families of those murdered by the British army in the two massacres will be present at the ceremony and small plaques will be placed beside each tree with the names of each victim.

The ceremony will take place in advance of the publication of the Eames/Bradley report on 28 January, and the families will be highlighting their demands at the ceremony:

These are:

• An independent investigative process which will secure a statement of innocence regarding all of those killed;

• An apology from both the British Army's Parachute Regiment and the British Government.

The Ballymurphy Massacre Committee and the Springhill Massacre Group would like to invite family members and members of the community to attend the short ceremony.

A member of the clergy will give a blessing and Clara Reilly from the Relatives for Justice victims group will give a short speech.

Local Sinn Fein councillors Maire Cush and Janice Austin will be present to pay tribute to the victims of the massacres.

The Ballymurphy Massacre Committee would like to thank Philip Adams, who approached the group some time ago, for his offer to plant trees in memory of their loved ones.

West Belfast MP Gerry Adams has called for an international investigation to discover the truth about the circumstances surrounding the massacres.

"All of these families deserve the full support and encouragement of the community, and of the Irish Government, in their efforts to secure an independent international investigation into these deaths and to have the British Government acknowledge the truth surrounding the shooting dead of their loved ones.

"Sinn Féin fully supports the families. They deserve public acknowledgment of the terrible events that took so many lives and traumatised so many others.

"Their demands are entirely justified.

"And the British Government must publicly acknowledge their innocence and make a public apology to their families and community for the actions of its armed forces in killing and then covering up the killing of our neighbours.'