Memorial to INLA Volunteer Unveiled in North Belfast

national | miscellaneous | news report Wednesday December 11, 2002 18:36 by John Throne - IRISH REPUBLICAN SOCIALIST PARTY

IRISH REPUBLICAN SOCIALIST PARTY 10 December 2002 Memorial to INLA Volunteer Unveiled in North Belfast Teach na Failte, the organisation which provides support, training, and other assistance to ex-prisoners of the Irish National Liberation Army and others, continued, this past Sunday, with its campaign to provide a visible public memorial for all of those within the Irish Republican Socialist Movement who have fallen during the course of the struggle for Irish national liberation and socialism.

The ex-prisoner developed and implemented project to commemorate the IRSM's
martyrs conducted an unveiling ceremony in North Belfast on Sunday,
December 9th for a memorial commemorating fallen INLA volunteer Joe Craven.
The event, which drew between 150 and 200 participants, took place on the
eve of the 28th anniversary of the founding of the Irish Republican
Socialist Party and Irish National Liberation Army, on the 10th of December
1974.

Joe Craven was assassinated by a UVF gunman (though claimed using the name
'Protestant Action Force') who opened fire from a motorcycle, killing
Craven and wounding his two brothers as they walked to a labour exchange on
5 December 1983.

The priest at the funeral refused to accompany the coffin to Milltown
cemetery to the Republican Socialist Plot because of the INLA honour guard
accompanying it. The RUC then moved in, which was the first time the RUC
attacked a republican funeral in an attempt to prevent the paramilitary
display. When the coffin bearing Joe Craven's black beret and gloves atop
it stepped outside the Craven home clashes occurred between the mourners
and the RUC. The family then retreated into their home and refused to bring
the coffin out until the security forces moved back.

When the RUC finally agreed to move back and the coffin was brought out
again, the RUC surged forward again and two men were arrested in the
subsequent conflict. Eventually the mourners forced the RUC to retreat and
the coffin was borne to the grave bearing the beret, gloves and Starry
Plough flag of republican socialism atop it.
The family of the murdered INLA volunteer expressed their happiness and
satisfaction with the unveiling of the memorial to their fallen loved one.
In addition the historic beginning of the RUC's practice of attacking Irish
republican funerals has been identified and will not be forgotten either.

A Teach na Failte spokesperson in Belfast reported that the organisation
would next be unveiling memorials to INLA volunteers Mickey Kearney and
Patrick Campbell in New Barnsley. That commemoration will take place next
month on the 19th of January.

Financial donations to this ongoing effort to erect memorials to all of the
Irish Republican Socialist Movement's martyred  dead can send funds to:

TEACH NA FAILTE
392-A FALLS ROAD,
BELFAST BT12 6DH,
IRELAND,

Cheques should be made payable to:

ULSTER BANK
1 ANTRIM ROAD,
BELFAST
BT15 2BE,
IRELAND.
TEACH NA FAILTE NO.2 ACCOUNT:

Account No:73030255,Branch Code 98-00-20

ENDS