Foyle MP Colum Eastwood will accept an informed warning from the PSNI for his part in an illegal parade in support of Palestine, while 5 others will contest the charge.
It happened on Valentine’s Day last year.
42-year-old Colum Eastwood of Duncreggan Road, 59-year-old Goretti Horgan of Westland Avenue, 36-year-old Davina Pulis of Knoxhill Park, 60-year-old Robert Paul Maxwell of Rathlin Drive, 27-year-old Jude Coffey of Gartan Square, and 52-year-old local councillor Shaun Harkin of Beechwood Avenue, all in Derry, are charged with taking part in an illegal procession.
Cllr Harkin is also charged for February 17th.
At today’s sitting of Derry Magistrate’s Court, Ciaran Shiels, a solicitor acting for Eastwood, said that his client would be accepting the diversion offered, which is known as an informed warning.
The case was adjourned until Wednesday next to allow that to be administered.
Meanwhile, Sinead Rogan, the barrister for several of the other defendants, said that an informed warning was not acceptable in all of the other cases.
She said that she wanted to ‘narrow down witnesses’ in the case and go through the papers before setting a date for a contest.
District Judge Ted Magill said that a special day would be required for the hearing.
He adjourned the case against the five defendants until November 12th to see if a special day could be found in the court calendar.
MP Colum Eastwood released the following statement:
“On 14th February last year, people from across Derry outraged by the ongoing scenes of genocide in Gaza came together for a peaceful vigil and protest in the city centre. As a city with a powerful sense of justice, informed by our experiences of decades of injustice, it was important that we sent our solidarity to the people of Palestine being oppressed by Israel’s bombardment facilitated by governments that were turning a blind eye to war crimes.
“It is astonishing to me that while innocent people were being murdered in their thousands and international law laid in tatters, that it was peaceful protestors who were being pursued by the police and prosecutors. It is my firm view that charges against people who have peacefully protested against the genocide should be dropped across the UK. I voted against the proscription of Palestine Action for exactly that reason.
“I want to thank my legal team led by Ciaran Shiels of Madden and Finucane who have been outstanding throughout this process and who always argued that there were alternative ways of dealing with this. I am glad now that the charges will be withdrawn.”
“Last night more than 90 people were killed in Gaza after Israel targeted homes, schools and residential areas in Gaza City, Nuseirat and Khan Younis – somewhere I have been and spoken to people devastated after the loss of their entire family. That is where the focus should be today, that is where it should always have been – on the innocent lives being extinguished by Netanyahu’s out of control administration.”
