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A member of the DUP Assembly has accused Sinn Féin of “actively” encouraging its supporters to violate Covid-19 regulations ahead of Republican Bobby Storey’s funeral.
South Belfast MLA Christopher Stalford said a report that Sinn Féin emailed thousands of members in June to say that Storey’s wake was “open to the public” showed the party was promoting him as a ” public event “.
Stalford was responding to a Sunday Independent report that Sinn Féin party headquarters sent an email to thousands of members stating that the wake in West Belfast “will be open to the public from 10am. M. From Saturday and Sunday, 27 and 28 and from 10 am to 6 pm on Monday June 29 ”.
The email also warned members that after the funeral mass at St Agnes Church in Andersonstown, West Belfast, on June 30, the procession will head “to the Republican plot at Milltown Cemetery for a brief ceremony including a prayer by Bobby iar-Uachtarán’s friend and comrade Shinn Féin Gerry Adams ”.
Other high-ranking members of Sinn Féin who attended the funeral included party chair Mary Lou McDonald, Deputy Prime Minister Michelle O’Neill and Finance Minister Conor Murphy.
Police investigation
The attendance of thousands of people along the funeral route and for prayer at the cemetery sparked both a political dispute and a PSNI investigation into whether Sinn Féin violated coronavirus regulations.
Sinn Féin has said that the email was sent for “informational purposes only”. He said it was followed by another email that “highlighted that the funeral proceedings would be broadcast live on Sinn Féin’s social media accounts, which was viewed by nearly 250,000 people.”
Stalford said the email confirmed “what everyone already knew.”
“People did not take to the streets of Belfast during the height of the first Covid wave of their own free will. Sinn Fein actively encouraged people to violate health standards, ”he said. “They were not only prepared to circumvent regulations and damage the public health message, but also to put their own members and supporters at risk.”
As the PSNI investigation into the matter continues, he added that “people should see a demonstration that the law applies equally to everyone in our society, regardless of status or political affiliation.”
Fine Gael Senator Emer Currie said the email showed “that this was not a spontaneous event or a momentary lapse of judgment by the political figures present.
“They not only damaged public health messages at a crucial time, but they also damaged relationships in northern communities that needed to come together to fight the pandemic,” he said.
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