Michael McLaughlin of the IRSP, and one of the organizers of the 24 hour fast and Freedom camp in support of Republican prisoner Brendan Lillis, responds to criticism of the event by West Tyrone DUP MLA Tom Buchanan.
The IRSP in Strabane totally refute comments made to local journalists by DUP MLA Tom Buchanan. Mr Buchanan labeled the event at the weekend “sectarian” and “procvocative”.
The organizers of the Strabane Freedom Camp at the Tinnies deeply regret that some members of the Protestant, Unionist and Loyalist community in Strabane felt in some way intimidated by our presence over the weekend. It was not our intention to do anything else but highlight the Brendan Lillis situation on a humanitarian basis. We believe that the weekend was a huge success, and will be making no apologies for it. We would ask those who choose to use this event as a sectarian political football to examine their conscience, as we speak this man is nearing death in a prison hospital, any petty political point scoring at this stage must be held in contempt. We the organizers and the Republican people of West Tyrone reserve the right to hold further events at the site until Brendan Lillis is released from jail and returned to his family to spend his final days with those closest to him.”
