Lyra McKee’s partner described the Republican Easter dissident parade in Derry on the anniversary of the journalist’s assassination as “bad taste.”
Vigils were held in Belfast and Derry on Monday to pay tribute to McKee, who was shot dead while watching the Derry riot on April 18, 2019.
A republican parade in honor of the 1916 Easter Uprising was also held in Derry on Monday. He was linked to the Saoradh group, which is accused of links to the New IRA.
The parade committee ruled that paramilitary-style clothing was not worn during the procession.
McKee’s sister, Nicholas Corner, asked why the event could not have taken place on a different day, citing the date of the Easter change each year.
“When we objected to this parade, it was only on the basis of the date, not on the basis of the march,” she told PA Media. “If they had paraded on Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday, we wouldn’t care.
McKee partner Sarah Cunningh added: “We are here to honor someone we loved, and they are there to honor people who died 106 years ago. This is my personal attitude towards him and why I think he tastes so bad. “
The Northern Ireland Police Department has called for new information. Nine people have been charged in connection with the shooting, six of them for disorderly conduct and three for murder. There were no convictions.
The new IRA, a dissident Republican group, admitted responsibility soon after the shooting and apologized, saying the shooter had targeted police. The 29-year-old was one of the most promising young journalists in Northern Ireland.
Supporters unveiled a banner in her memory at St. Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast, while the National Union of Journalists held a vigil in Guildhall Square in Derry.
Corner urged anyone with information to come forward and said Derry’s streets would be dangerous until the killer was caught. “The man who pulled the trigger that killed her is still walking these streets, and as long as they walk these streets, these streets will not be safe for the people of this city,” she said. It’s never too late… Please help us do justice to Lyra.
Saorad members marched through Derry in paramilitary attire on Monday. Photo: Liam McBurney / PA
Eman McCann, a prominent journalist and activist, said McKee was desperately missing. “Every journalist who knows her work will know how much she has contributed to the understanding of the north and how much more she has to give. Lyra did not write from an ivory tower or from some cold perspective. She was a full-fledged front-line worker. She illuminated every part of the world she described. “
The vigils also recalled Martin O’Hagan, a journalist from Northern Ireland who was killed by a loyalist paramilitary group in 2001, and Pierre Zakzewski, a Dublin cameraman who was recently killed in Ukraine.
The vigils came after a warning from another small Republican group. Óglaigh na hÉireann, which announced a ceasefire in 2018, threatened revenge on Sunday if the Loyalists’ campaign against the Northern Ireland Protocol escalated. “If loyalists target republican and nationalist communities, we will target loyalist leaders,” the statement said.
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