SEVERAL thousand people took part in a rally in Derry last night to protest at the actions of the RUC at Garvaghy Road in Portadown. The rally, organised by the Bogside Residents Group, followed a march from Free Derry Corner in the Bogside to the city's RUC headquarters in Strand Road.
Several hours before the march and rally, a number of vehicles were hijacked in the Bogside and set on fire by groups of masked youths, some of whom also threw stones and bottles at police at the junction of Fahan Street and Butcher Street close to the city centre.
A residents' spokesman, Mr Donnacha Mac Niallais, told the crowd that no one should have been surprised by yesterday's events in Portadown. "Tony Blair's Belfast speech put a marker down as to where his loyalties lay. His loyalties have nothing to do with principles, with respect, with equality or fair play. His loyalties lie with the unionists.
"Next Saturday some 20,000 Orangemen plan to march in this city. The BRG doesn't think that the Orange Order should be marching in Derry while its members are abusing the rights of nationalists," said Mr Mac Niallais.
Meanwhile, the Sinn Fein MP, Mr Martin McGuinness, said the British, government and the RUC had capitulated to the threat of loyalist violence.
"The place to be when you are demanding equality, justice and democracy is on the streets confronting your opponent," Mr McGuinness added.