Hundreds attend powerful rally at Omagh Courthouse

The message was clear, and it was powerful: ‘NO GOING BACK’.

These were the words brandished in bold capital letters on posters held aloft by hundreds of people in Omagh on Saturday morning, as they gathered at the Courthouse in an act of solidarity for a local off-duty police officer who was shot in the town on Wednesday night.

The rally, organised by the Trades Council, and hosted by Anton McCabe, featured a minute’s silence, respectfully upheld, as well as a number of guest speakers, who were welcomed, cheered, and applauded by the people of Omagh.

With a sea of ‘No Going Back’ signs at every sight line, it was crystal clear that any attempt to divide this resilient town was futile.

‘Strength and unity’

Addressing the crowds, as, fittingly skies of blue peered out from underneath thick grey clouds, Neil Moore from Unite the Union, praised the people of Omagh for their ‘incredible show of strength and unity’ to ‘those who seek to divide us’.

“We must oppose any attempt to drag us back to the dark, old days,” Neil shouted. “When there is an attempt, like on Wednesday night, to inject poisonous division and sectarianism to divide us at any time, we must respond with unity.

“We must stand together, and say: There will be no going back.”

‘We want to move forward’

Echoing these words, Mark McTaggart, the senior Northern Ireland official of the Irish National Teachers’ Association, described the rally as ‘an excellent demonstration of unity’.

“We have a chance, now, for our young people to grow up in a society where they can live their lives to the fullest,” he said. “Many of us lived through a time when there was violence in the streets, when there were shootings on a regular basis – and when you weren’t sure, when you went out, who would come home.

“We want our children to grow up in a peaceful and caring society,” he added.

“We’re not going back to violence.

“We’re not going back to the way it was. We want to move forward – and we want to move forward together.”