Hundreds march in Omagh for shot officer
THERE must be ‘no going back’ to the era of Troubles violence, the people of Northern Ireland declared yesterday as hundreds marched for a police officer gunned down by New IRA thugs.
Crowds gathered in Omagh to protest at the attempted murder of off-duty detective John Caldwell, who was shot in front of his young son at a children’s sports centre.
The 48-year-old remained critically ill and sedated in hospital last night.
DCI Caldwell was coaching an under-15s team at Beragh Swifts FC in Omagh, Co Tyrone, and was loading footballs into his car when he was targeted on Wednesday evening.
The masked attackers sprayed him with bullets while children ran in terror across the car park.
Yesterday, hundreds took part in a march organised by Beragh Swifts. Club chairman Ricky Lyons said: ‘He was taking a kids’ training session – it’s hard to compute that someone would try to kill him at that moment.’
The march route included Beragh Red Knights Gaelic football club, in solidarity with another victim of Troubles violence – club member PC Ronan Kerr, who was killed in 2011 by a car bomb.
Red Knights coach Celine Curran said: ‘It’s really hit everybody very hard. We’re all coaches and parents at the end of the day.
‘We are here in support of a father who was doing a coaching job and a son who has witnessed something life-changing.’
A rally of more than 1,000 people, many clutching ‘no going back’ signs, was held in central Omagh – a town that bears the scars of dissident republican atrocities. The deadliest single incident of the Troubles happened there in 1998 when a bomb killed 29 people and injured 220.
Anton McCabe, secretary of Omagh Trades Union Council, told the crowd: ‘We are here today to say no going back – no going back to violence, fear and injustices.
‘Those who shot John Caldwell on Wednesday were in serious danger of lighting a fire that could burn us all, and let us be clear, the people of Omagh today have said no.
‘We are standing not just in horror at what was done to John Caldwell, but standing here saying let us build a better society of justice, peace and equality.’
Five men aged 22, 38, 43, 45 and 47, believed to be members of the New IRA splinter group, have been arrested over the attempted murder.
Footage posted on social media claimed to show one of the men being applauded by republican neighbours as he was taken away by police.
Dissident republican terrorists oppose the 1998 Good Friday Agreement peace settlement and believe their violence will bring about a united Ireland.