A FACEBOOK post by the Protestant Coalition linking the
Omagh bomb to a Catholic feast day has been described as “despicable” by a man
who lost his wife in the Real IRA atrocity.
Last Thursday, the 15th anniversary of the Omagh bomb, a
post on the loyalist political party’s Facebook page featured an image of the
carnage left in wake of the bomb, and stated that August 15 was also one of the
main days in the Roman Catholic calendar – The Feast of the Assumption.
It stated, “Celebrated every year on August 15, the Feast of
the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary commemorates the death of Mary and
her bodily assumption into Heaven!!!!! Many RC atrocities world-wide occur on
this day…”
The post concluded by asking Facebook users to “Share the
truth folks!”
Kevin Skelton, who lost his wife Philomena in the 1998
attack said the message was in “very bad taste”.
“I don’t know what they are trying to prove by it. It
doesn’t represent the vast majority of people out there, there’s no question.
Thank god they are a minority.”
INVESTIGATE
The Protestant Coalition, which features Willie Frazer among
its founding members, styles itself as an “anti-politics”, loyalist political
party.
On Friday Mr Frazer appeared to distance himself from the
post, which was removed from Facebook the same day, stating that he had been
unaware of it and did not understand why the bombing and the religious feast
day were being linked.
“We shouldn’t be doing that, that’s my own personal
feeling,” he said, stating that the party would investigate the matter.
“That is not the road we want to go down, this is not about
Catholic and Protestant. And although we call ourselves the Protestant
Coalition, that’s doesn’t mean we have a problem with people who are Roman
Catholic.”
The Protestant Coalition page was temporarily taken down by
Facebook last month, prompting Mr Frazer to visit the company’s Dublin
headquarters in protest.
‘CATHOLIC TERROR GANG’
The organisation originally named Jim Dowson of the far
right Britain First organisation and former BNP fundraiser as its leader when
it registered as a political party in April.
On Friday Mr Dowson said that while he personally did not
like the post, he maintained that the Omagh bombing had been carried out by “a
Catholic terror gang”.
He also claimed that “a lot of atrocities” had been carried
out on August 15 over the centuries, but declined to name any specific
incidents.
“The people who done (sic) it were a Catholic terror gang,
they weren’t an Islamic terror gang, they weren’t a Jewish terror gang, they
weren’t a Protestant terror gang,” he said.
“Have you ever heard of a Muslim Irish Republican terror
gang? The fact is Irish Republicans are Roman Catholic, that’s the reality,
it’s not our fault, it’s a reality, face it,” he stated.
Originally from Scotland, Mr Dowson now lives in Comber, Co
Down where his use of the Internet is restricted while he awaits trial on
charges arising out of the union flag dispute.
“The minute you try and point out the reality that the
republican movement was also a Roman Catholic populated movement, there’s a
problem,” he claimed.
But Kevin Skelton, who runs the ‘Families Moving On’ victims
support group in Omagh said, “Bringing religion in where Omagh is concerned is
despicable, that’s being honest about it.
“They are not being very sensitive and they are not doing anything
for victims as far as I’m concerned,” he continued.
“It brings sectarianism into it, but the bomb in Omagh
didn’t discriminate. It didn’t care who you were.”
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