Anti-monarchy rally on Lifford Bridge attended by hundreds

WHILE the coronation of King Charles III was taking place at Westminster Abbey on Saturday, hundreds of people congregated on Lifford Bridge to take part in an anti-monarchy protest.

The protest was organised by the 1916 Societies, a separatist movement set up in 2009 with the sole aim of achieving Irish unity through peaceful means.

According to organisers, between 600 and 700 people were present, many holding placards on the bridge bemoaning the British monarchy as well as the on-going British presence in the North. Local trade unionist and socialist Brian Forbes also addressed those present.

“It’s a great honour to be asked to speak here today,” he said, “Our presence at this protest here today challenges the existence of monarchy and empire. Monarchy as a system is immoral; a scandalous waste of money which perpetuates class divisions which are incompatible with republican ideas of equality and democracy.”

Mr Forbes also criticised the vast amounts of money spent on King Charles’s Coronation at a time when many are choosing between eating or heating, due to spiralling cost-of-living crisis. He also called for an end to hereditary privilege and the “eradication of royalty as a system of government on this partitioned island.”

National organiser for the 1916 Societies, Frankie Quinn added, “We are very pleased with the turnout last Saturday, gaining between 600 and 700 people at the protest, although I would have liked more. It went off without a single bit of trouble.

“This is only the beginning and we are intent of building upon this protest of the monarchy and the British-imposed border on Ireland. Our strategy is a 32 county struggle which we will prosecute through peaceful means to achieve our aim.”