Children wearing uniforms in the style of IRA paramilitaries have taken part in a march in Belfast on Remembrance Sunday, it has been reported.
The children took part in a parade in West Belfast in the Lenadoon Avenue area, The Belfast Newsletter reports. The event was held to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the death of IRA member Patricia Black who died when a bomb she was transporting in north London went off prematurely.
Images of the event appeared to show young children wearing green berets, tinted sunglasses and black gloves, in the manner of Republican paramilitary regalia worn to commemorative events.
A spokesperson for the Police Service of Northern Ireland told The Belfast Newsletter they were aware of the event and it had been approved beforehand by the local Parades Commission which regulates parading events related to the Northern Irish Troubles conflict.
A number of paramilitary related ceremonies and funerals have been held in Northern Ireland in recent years by both Republican and Loyalist communities. Last week, the loyalist organisation Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) allegedly performed paramilitary commemorations at a funeral of a former senior commander. Men dressed in black clothes, hats, gloves and UVF arm bands reportedly flanked the coffin, alongside floral tributes bearing the words ‘No 1 Platoon’.
In May, fifteen people were arrested following a paramilitary display at a funeral of a former Republican. They were detained under the terrorism act.
