Commemoration for Strabane Volunteers

This coming Sunday 1st March, the Strabane Memorial Flute Band will host it’s annual commemoration parade for local IRA Volunteers Charlie Breslin, and brothers David and Michael Devine.

It’s been twenty four years since these three local lads were brutally gunned down by the British SAS in one of the most notorious “shoot to kill” operations carried out by the British state.
The main commemoration parade begins at 3:00 on Sunday, followed by the unveiling of a new mural at the bottom of Fountain Street in memory of volunteers of the west Tyrone Brigade Oglaigh Na hÉireann.

The parade will proceed to the Strabane Scor site where a band competition will take place, followed by a buffet lunch, table quiz and music by Terry Boyle in Katy Daly’s.



Ógra Shinn Féin Torchlight vigil

Strabane Ógra Shinn Féin will also hold a torchlight vigil at the Breslin/Devine monument in memory of victims of british state violence, this will take place on the Saturday evening at 7:30pm. Accommodation will be provided at a cost of £5 for any Ógra activists wishing to stay on the Saturday night and all are asked to bring sleeping bags!

Speaking ahead of the weekend’s events, and urging Ógra activists to attend, spokesperson for the local Tobias Molloy Ógra Shinn Féin cumann, Neno McFarland said;

“Although we have seen the British army vacate the town of Strabane, their bloody legacy remains in the thoughts of local people especially around this time as we commemorate the deaths of three local IRA volunteers, shot dead by the SAS. The experience people have of the British army in this area is one of oppression, torture, collusion and murder.”



“There has been a lot of speculation and anxiety recently around proposals by the British appointed consultative group on the past, although the concern among those in this community is whether or not those in the highest echelons of British power are to be held accountable for the war crimes they sanctioned against the Irish people. Policies such as collusion and shoot to kill were forged at the cabinet table in Downing Street, and carried out with extreme ferocity by Britain’s murderous agents such as the unionist death squads and the mercenaries in the SAS. It is these facts that we aim to highlight to the public this weekend.”