Bikers protest over Bloody Sunday prosecution
Last updated 12th Apr 2019
Bikers are holding a protest in London today (Friday) against the prosecution of a British soldier over Bloody Sunday.
Organisers claim as many as 11,000 bikers met on Park Lane on Friday afternoon, before riding through London to Parliament Square and on to Trafalgar Square.
The protesters, many of whom are armed forces veterans themselves, oppose the prosecution of an unnamed soldier, known only as Soldier F.
Soldier F is to be charged with murdering two people after troops opened fire on civil rights demonstrators in Londonderry in 1972.
Some relatives of the 13 killed have campaigned for justice.
Veterans have reacted angrily to the decision to take legal action decades after the bloodshed.
The organisers of the Rolling Thunder event said their action is directed against the British Government rather than the victims' families.
They were shot dead on January 30 1972 on one of the most notorious days of the Northern Ireland Troubles.
Soldier F will face charges for the murders of James Wray and William McKinney and the attempted murders of Joseph Friel, Michael Quinn, Joe Mahon and Patrick O'Donnell, Northern Ireland's Public Prosecution Service has said.
Bloody Sunday helped galvanise support for the Provisional IRA early in the Troubles. An image of a Catholic priest waving a bloodstained handkerchief as he tried to help a victim to safety went around the world.
A public inquiry conducted by a senior judge shortly after the deaths was branded a whitewash by victims' families and a campaign was launched for a new public inquiry.
Relatives sought to right the wrongs of false claims that their loved ones had been armed. A fresh probe was eventually ordered by then prime minister Tony Blair in 1998.
A decade-long investigation by Lord Saville concluded that the troops killed protesters who posed no threat.
Alan Coates, 47, who owns a motorcycle shop in Hull, joined the protest against the prosecution, which he said was "bang out of order''.
"I don't know the guy, I don't know his name, I've never served in the armed forces,'' he said.
"I've shut my business for the day, come all the way down from Hull purely to show my support.
"There's no greater thing a man can do than lay his life on the line for his country, for people he doesn't know.
"So people who don't know him now are down here essentially showing him that he has our support and the Government are bang out of order.
"All these people here are here to support this man who has done nothing wrong in the eyes of the people. He did his job, as many others did, yet he's being persecuted for what they call a crime.''
The Ministry of Defence said the charges have been brought by the Northern Ireland Public Prosecution Service, which is independent of the Government.
A Government spokesman said: "We are indebted to the soldiers who served with courage and distinction to bring peace to Northern Ireland.
"Although the decision to prosecute was taken by the Northern Ireland Public Prosecution Service, which is independent from Government, we will offer full legal and pastoral support to the individual affected.'