Almost 30 protesters campaigning for the release of Republican prisoner Marian Price gathered outside a Manhattan celebration marking the Queen’s Jubilee last Thursday evening.
One of the protest organizers, Sandy Boyer, explained why the group decided to crash the Queen’s celebration.
“Marian Price is in prison in Northern Ireland at the Queen’s discretion,” he told the Irish Voice.
“It’s very critical that we raise awareness here. If we can get some noise made, some progress made in the United States, it can have a big effect over there.”
A veteran Republican, Belfast-born Price, 58, was jailed for the IRA bombing of the Old Bailey in London in 1973. In May 2011 Price and three Derry men were charged with encouraging support of the IRA after a dissident Republican rally in Derry on Easter Sunday.
Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Paterson revoked her license (parole), claiming the threat that she posed to society had “significantly increased.”
Two months later Price was charged in connection to the murder of two soldiers at Massereene Barracks. Price allegedly supplied a mobile phone which was subsequently used in a Real IRA gun attack in which two British soldiers were killed in March 2009.
The charges against Price and three Derry men were later dismissed at Derry Magistrate’s Court in May 2012.
She was the only female inmate at Maghaberry prison in Antrim from May 2011 until she was moved to the hospital wing of Hydebank prison last February.
Speaking at a vigil last month in Derry, Price’s husband, Gerry McGlinchey said his wife is near breaking point.
Last Thursday evening, a protest close to Times Square in Manhattan called for Price to be released from what her family describes as internment.
A father-of-two from the South Bronx, Irish American Danny Shaw, took part in the demonstration. The CUNY professor said the protest was about the struggle for human rights.
“I was over in Belfast for the 40th anniversary of internment,” 34-year-old Shaw told the Irish Voice.
“I still get goose bumps thinking about everything the Irish people have sacrificed.”
Wearing a jersey commemorating the 30th anniversary of the hunger strikes, according to Shaw a lot of Irish Americans are not aware of Ireland’s struggle for independence.
“When I walk into one of the pubs with my hunger striker jersey on, if you don’t have a Jets or Giants jersey they don’t really want to share a beer with you or anything,” he said.
“We may be a small group today, but we are symbolic.”
Another protestor involved was 21-year-old student Emmanuel Pardilla. The South Bronx resident said he identifies with Price.
“For being Dominican here in America I am discriminated against,” says Pardilla.
“The struggle here does not just pertain to the United States. It’s a struggle that stretches from the United States all the way to Ireland, to Dominican Republic everywhere.”
Also participating in the protest was Dawn Lalor from Florida alongside her two sons Dalon, 10, and Sean, 20.
“We actually live down in Florida so we don’t get a chance to do any of this.”
“My friend Bridget is very much involved, so she let us know everything that was going on,” Lalor told the Irish Voice.
Drogheda native Brendan Fay told the Irish Voice he thinks Price’s imprisonment reflects badly on Ireland.
“It’s about the treatment of a woman prisoner,” said the veteran campaigner. “I think this actually reflects who we are as a people.”
“For all our platitudes about peace, justice and quality, this is about due process.”
Asked if he thinks Martin McGuinness should meet the Queen during her visit to Northern Ireland later this month, Fay said he should.
“He should definitely bring Marian Price up with her,” he added.
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.bunkerhill | Oct 03, 2012, 02:36 PM EDT
We are wondering about the English Commander who ordered his lackey's to fire into a peaceful group of men, women and children marching in Northern Ireland for Civil Rights that would be inherent in any democratic country. This maniac and his group of monkeys killed 13 innocent people and wounded 26. The USA and the monarchy are still screaming about the shooting in a peaceful demonstration in a Tijenamin Square in China but so so very silent about what happened in Northern Ireland. I have heard this murderous Englishman was given a medal of valor. Do you know his name? We do. This murderous lunatic and his group must have been brought up to have the utmost contempt for the Irish. Why is he and his bunch of idiots not on trial? He started all of this. He and his bunch of monkeys should be put in front of an international tribunal.
maireadinmelb | Jun 18, 2012, 04:44 AM EDT
Dano Why are you critical of a small group of people breaking the law but offer no criticism of teh kingdom with all its wealth and supposed love of democracy while it behaves in a similar fashion??
seanomelb | Jun 17, 2012, 07:42 PM EDT
Poor old Dano cannot accept the legal definition and clutches at straws to justify his anti Irish stance.
DanOLoingsigh | Jun 17, 2012, 02:31 PM EDT
Mairead-Thanks for the explanation...as you well know, many trials on the island of Ireland are conducted without juries, on account of the intimidation...I suppose that means unless you get the verdict you want, you'll complain about how unfair it is for poor Marion? The victims of the attack didn't get a day in court to plead their case...and I don't hear of any demos on their behalf either?
DanOLoingsigh | Jun 17, 2012, 07:48 AM EDT
Still held on the SECOND, more serious charge...she's remanded in custody...not the 'Instant Justice' of extreme so-called republicans, TG
maireadinmelb | Jun 17, 2012, 04:19 AM EDT
You see Dan - Due process is that a person is questioned and sometimes charged, then there is a chance they are held on what is called remand pending the trial. A trial date is given and brief of evidence is prepared. The accused has a solicitor who is provided a copy of the brief of evidence so they have opportunity to prepare thier defence or decide if they wish to plead guilty! Marian price has been held for over a year, without a trial date!! No brief of evidence has been provided! She may even have been in solitary confinement for some months!! Whilst a may not agree with political prisoners being treated as criminals, if Marian Price is to be callled and treated as a criminal she should be treated the same!! Further question when she gets to court will there be a JURY??? Just a question for the next debate!!
DanOLoingsigh | Jun 17, 2012, 03:30 AM EDT
Seano - let's take it slowly...the 'Rally' charges have been thrown out...the 'Barracks' charges still stand...I think its caused 'due process'...not too popular in so-called Republican circles...where 'instant justice' is preferred...
seanomelb | Jun 16, 2012, 07:54 PM EDT
Dano is getting dizzy again the judge dropped the charges and the charges will be re-introduced. Therefore she is been held without charge. Dano wishes us to read from his blood soaked hymn book and accept it as truth. As for citizen69 and his hate posts they are not worth commenting on,take your guilt trip elsewhere.
maireadinmelb | Jun 16, 2012, 06:04 PM EDT
"Marian could be spending the rest of her natural life in a British prison in Northern Ireland. Unlike other political prisoners in the North, Marian has not been convicted, she's not been tried, she doesn't have a prison sentence, she doesn't have a release date and she doesn't even have a date when her case is to be reviewed by the parole board. Eamonn, thanks for being with us." Another quote from your searanaidhe page great! note to self must keep an eye on this page!
maireadinmelb | Jun 16, 2012, 06:02 PM EDT
“He has not made clear in any way what threat she poses. I don’t think she poses any threat. He refuses to say what evidence he has,” This is the statement of marion price's husband asking teh Secretary of state why his wife is being held from your searanaidhe1 site! Does not sound like he is aware of the charges or evidence against his wife! Breach of UNHCR that she continues to be held! Further question she may be in solitary that would also be a breach if it si continuous!
maireadinmelb | Jun 16, 2012, 05:56 PM EDT
Judges throwing out charges means there are no charges, the british failure to make an official statement shows they are hiding something, why would they not officially clarify the situation. Further By the Bay an eye for an eye means there are more blind people! Murder for Murder is by definition hypocritical. You can't do it but we can! ANd in a place like Ireland and in the Uk where there have been so many errors and miscarriages of justice Think Guilford 4 for example State murder would only make the situation worse! Oops there has already been state sanctioned murder and where did that get everyone???
Bythebay | Jun 16, 2012, 04:28 PM EDT
The IRA Provo Terrorists including those released as a result of the so called Good Friday Agreement should be in jail and many should be executed for the murders they committed. Their supporters should be brought up on charges for supporting terrorism. Those supporting Al Quaeda are. So should those in the US supporting the IRA Provo Terrorists.
DanOLoingsigh | Jun 16, 2012, 01:01 PM EDT
Maireadinmelb - you seem to be a little confused - No charges were dropped; a District Judge threw out the charge relating to the rally, although the NI DPP is on record as saying this charge will be reintroduced…Republican website ‘SEACHRANAIDHE1’ confirms that the more serious charge HAS NOT been dropped…para 8 is wrong on this, and no I don’t just read the headlines, nor do I rely on the misreporting on this site, I look elsewhere for more accurate reporting…I suggest you do the same, and that goes for your chum Seanomelb!!
citizen69 | Jun 16, 2012, 07:20 AM EDT
Mairead, if the worst that the Real IRA ever did was to call someone a fat thug then we'd all be getting on a lot better! Perhaps on reflection i should have called him a big-boned ruffian!
maireadinmelb | Jun 16, 2012, 06:56 AM EDT
Oops spelling error Hear not here!! sorry
maireadinmelb | Jun 16, 2012, 06:55 AM EDT
Well I here a lot of hate being spewed from the likes of O'Reilly on Fox, G W Bush all the anti Obama people on this and web page! Also from the Opposition leader of Australia, and from the likes of Paisly and other Unionists, the israelis too! When are they going to be locked up?? Oh and while we are at it all those Tea party types will be guilty of hate speech too!! And Dan please read paragraph 8 above - or do you just read the headline and some comments and launch your attack? And citizen you too could be considered to be participating in hate speech in your last little rant at 6.48 am EDT.
citizen69 | Jun 16, 2012, 06:48 AM EDT
Again seanmelb tries to equate Irishness with terrorism. Every time someone denounces violence or terrorism seanmelb accuses them of being anti-irish and anti-nationalist. How many times does he need to be told that the vast majority f Irish people reject violence and terrorism? Price is charged with providing property for the purpose of terrorism and encouraging support for an illegal organization. At a rally of dissidents she held the statement for a masked fat thug from which death threats were made. Freedom of speech does not include freedom to spew hate speech and threaten life.
maireadinmelb | Jun 16, 2012, 06:26 AM EDT
Charges in relation to the murder were dropped. SHe is being held with no charges but the allegation that she held a piece of paper! FREEDOM OF SPEECH to say what you think!! Holding a piece of paper is not a crime!! IF she does not have a date for trial or release she is being held in internment which is a direct breach of the UNHRC!!! Rights that belong to all people not just those who are friends with the White House or Westminster!!!!
seanomelb | Jun 16, 2012, 01:34 AM EDT
Telling pork pies again to cover up your Irish hate and loathing.
DanOLoingsigh | Jun 16, 2012, 12:34 AM EDT
accessory to murder...
seanomelb | Jun 15, 2012, 07:52 PM EDT
What's the serious crime???
DanOLoingsigh | Jun 15, 2012, 07:26 PM EDT
IrelandNorth – If Marion is an Irish citizen, how then can she have been denied her nationality? If she’s being held on suspicion of a serious crime…then she hasn’t been re-interned…and as far as I’m aware, she was released by Royal prerogative, not pardoned…and consent wasn’t manufactured, it was the subject of a constitutional amendment…so some inconvenient truths for you, eh?
seanomelb | Jun 15, 2012, 07:25 PM EDT
Marion Price is held in indefinite detention.The weak kneed anti Irish jerks like lynch and his alter ego bythebay post their meaningless crap to bolster their defense of a failed British justice system.
DanOLoingsigh | Jun 15, 2012, 07:06 PM EDT
maireadinmelb – but if she’s held in lawful custody, which she is, and charges haven’t been dropped, which they haven’t, she' just another remanded person awaiting trial…you must be very reassured!!!
Bythebay | Jun 15, 2012, 02:33 PM EDT
Price is an IRA Provo Terrorist murderer and criminal and should have beern kept in jail. The actual issue is the 1,000 illegal detentions in Guantanamo, the violations of the Geneva Convention. Murderers/criminals like Price should be punished.
DanOLoingsigh | Jun 15, 2012, 02:16 PM EDT
Poor Danny Shaw…so nobody wants share a beer with him, and him in his special little ‘Hunger Strike’ jersey…possible reasons… 1) They think it’s him on a hunger strike, and don’t want to tempt him? 2) People realise that he’s self-important bore, meddling in the judicial process of other nations? 3) NY folk are a little less tolerant of supporters of terrorism, post 9/11?
citizen69 | Jun 15, 2012, 07:59 AM EDT
This is the same Marian Price that planted four car bombs in London. She was sentenced to two life terms yet served only six years as she was released on license on humanitarian grounds with a Royal Prerogative of Mercy due to ill health (hardly the actions of a government with no regards for human rights). She later got involved with dissident Republicans and in 2011 was involved in encouraging support for an illegal terrorist organisation. If you break the law while on license you go back to jail.
IrelandNorth | Jun 15, 2012, 07:47 AM EDT
The consitutional injustice of colonialism and imperialism will always lead to political violence - whether causative state terrorism or its effect of paramilitary resistance. It's all too easy to lie with statistics to manufacture consent for an undemocratic status quo. The fundamental rights denied to Marian Price are liberty - freedom of expression - and ultimately nationality! Marian Price received a Royal Pardon from EIIR, an inconvenient truth which Mr Patterson had the temerity to ignore. Ms Price was reinterned for breaching conditions of licence she was released under, for an alleged crime she was originally pardoned for - which just about synopsises the peculiarities of the quixotic state of a partitioned Ireland. Irish citizens who resist British rule in Ireland or will ever be criminalised by the British state and its class collaborators.
dannydoyler | Jun 15, 2012, 07:33 AM EDT
Why don't these losers campaign on behalf of the 1,000 men detained illegally in Guantanamo ? Retarded yankee hypocrites. Why did 9/11 happen ? You were too busy murdering people in Vietnam and the mid east.Vietnam holocaust = usa shame,
SAirish | Jun 15, 2012, 07:07 AM EDT
Marian Price should follow the example of her sister Delores and grow old gracefully and keep out of trouble. The dissidents really must be scrapping the barrel if they use old Marian for their evil deeds. When she was freed early on the bombing charge she was released on licence and she should have kept her nose clean. it is her own fault that she is in jail.
maireadinmelb | Jun 15, 2012, 05:35 AM EDT
Yes Seanmor this is the same woman who has sacrificed much for her land and her people!! IF charges are dropped and ms Price remains in prison without charge or conviction without a release date her human rights under the UNHRC are being breached!! America Australia and the UK continue to make allegations of human rights abuses by CHina and syria whilst they themselves continue to breach human rights and prop up other governments like Israel to do teh same!!!
Seanmor | Jun 14, 2012, 10:31 PM EDT
Is this the Marian Price who along with her sister Dolores was forceefully in an English prison for several months in the 80s when they refused to eat food? -but eventually had their demands granteted when the gov't agreed to transfer them across the sea to the North of Ireland. I seem to recall that her sister got 5,000 votes in West Belfast in an election.
barneyjo | Jun 14, 2012, 01:26 PM EDT
Can someone please clarify which of Marian Price's human rights have been violated?
joanmck | Jun 14, 2012, 11:54 AM EDT
The headline you have place on this article is disgracefully misleading. I support the campaign to free Marian Price. I am not a republican, I am not a dissident republican. I do support human rights, of which Marian has been deprived. I am opposed to the abuse of state power and torture, as the NI authorities are doing. I am also opposed to wasteful expenditures to celebrate a corrupt and outmoded monarchy. Does that make me a dissident republican?
citizen69 | Jun 14, 2012, 11:26 AM EDT
I guess there's still some Irish Americans sending money to dissident republicans to murder people in Ireland. These idiots need to take a look at the opinion polls. There is no struggle for independence from UK. Only 7% of Catholics want a United Ireland now, and the vast majority of that small percentage want it through non-violence.
Bythebay | Jun 14, 2012, 10:54 AM EDT
Dissident Republic Terrorists and supporters should be in jail.