Peace rally in three countries

THE organisers want it to be the "mother of all rallies" - a simultaneous international peace demonstration all over Ireland, in Britain and New York.

Women Together, the group that organised the first of the peace rallies in Belfast last week after the end of the IRA ceasefire hopes to have church bells ringing at each of the venues for 10 minutes.

The rallies are planned for 3 p.m. on Sunday in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, Athlone Belfast, Derry, Ballymena, Omagh, Lurgan, Enniskillen and in London, Warrington and New York.

The organisation wants the rallies on Sunday to be the "biggest mass demonstration for peace ever seen in the whole island of Ireland . . ."

At a press conference in Belfast the group's co ordinator, Ms Anne Carr, said: "Think of the victims over the past 25 years. People are continuing to suffer. People in England are starting to suffer in the same way that people here have suffered for a long time."

Among those at the press conference was the ITV television presenter, Mr Gordon Burns, who is originally from the North. "To be a success people have to come out in their tens of thousands in all those towns. Our message is to every single person, man, woman and child who wants this peace reinstated."