MORE than 1,000 people attended the funeral yesterday of the murdered INLA chief of staff, Mr Gino Gallagher. The organisation's political wing, the Irish Republican Socialist Party, warned that it would not surrender nor accept an interim political settlement in the North.
The funeral in west Belfast passed off peacefully after last minute negotiations between the organisers and the RUC. The previous day, mourners clashed with police, who stopped the cortege when masked men and women in paramilitary style clothing appeared.
There was a three hour standoff and the funeral was eventually cancelled. Negotiations continued until 6 a.m. yesterday, involving the Clonard priest Father Alec Reid, and the Mediation Network.
A compromise was reached allowing men and women in black, wearing berets, to accompany the funeral if they remained unmasked. Gallagher's gloves, belt and beret were permitted to stay on the coffin, along with the Tricolour and the Starry Ploughflags.
The RUC agreed not to flank the cortege and officers did not enter the graveyard. IRSP spokesman Mr Kevin McQuillan described it as a victory. The funeral had more paramilitary trappings than "any IRA one in recent years", he claimed.
"We have created a precedent. We showed that we are not prepared to be part of any pacification process, that we will stand up for ourselves and not lie down like the croppies they think we are," he added.
An RUC Assistant Chief Constable, Mr Bill Stewart, said assurances that no masked men would be present had allowed the funeral to be "policed accordingly" and to proceed in a peaceful and dignified way. A spokesman for the Mediation Network said the compromise showed "the growing capacity to deal with conflict in a spirit of mutual respect and co operation" in Northern Ireland.
The former civil rights leader and MP, Ms Bernadette McAliskey, attended the funeral. Several Sinn Fein councillors and, senior IRA members were also present outside the Gallagher home but they quickly dropped out of the cortege.
It took more than two hours to walk the three miles from the house in Glencolin Park to Milltown Cemetery. At one stage, eight women carried the coffin.
Mr Gallagher's partner, Margaret, shook violently at the graveside. She held his military regalia as the coffin was lowered into the ground. Two British Army helicopters hovered overhead.
Mr McQuillan said whoever killed Mr Gallagher should not think they had destroyed the "republican socialist" movement. "I state clearly and unequivocally we haven't given up.
"We are out for a 32 county" socialist republic, nothing less.
There will be no internal settlement. There will be no sell out. The struggle goes on."
Another IRSP member, Mr Michael McCormick, paid tribute to Mr Gallagher. "Gino knew exactly the risks he was taking. But, he took them, not for glory, not for high office, not for the crumbs from the rich man's table, but for the betterment of his class and his people."
He claimed Mr Gallagher, would not have countenanced a"unilateral" return to violence but added: "Gino saw the current peace process as fatally flawed. For even if all party talks are convened, will there be sufficient gains to justify the sacrifices of the past 25 years?"
