Daniel Bradley recounts a recent meeting he attended in Derry. Daniel Bradley lost a brother during the Northern conflict, IRA Volunteer Seamus Bradley.
On the 26th August 2015 I went to a meeting with Sinn Fein and police, which was called uncomfortable.
Just recently I received new photographs of my Brother Seamus - not the nicest photographs, so this meeting was a chance for me to challenge both Sinn Fein and the PSNI on the subject "victims". We, the victims of the troubles are getting left behind due to our so called government being overtaken by money and power.
I suppose every victim on both sides wants to know the truth about how their loved ones died due to the troubles and each of us must leave a door open so that law and order can be found ... that is if proper law and order even exists.
So at 7.20 pm I went to the Clooney Hall in the Waterside, sponsored by the Gasyard. Probably because George Hamilton wouldn't feel safe enough in the Bogside the Shinners didn't take any chances, bringing him to the Gasyard. Even so, he was well protected in the Waterside with four land rovers filled with plain clothed body guards and police jeeps all around the area. Sinn Fein had Martin Mc Guinness top body guard there and a lot more ex IRA men, and I found them very comfortable chatting away with their buddies the PSNI. It was a shocking change from the past, where these IRA men gave me a hard time for speaking the truth and being ex Irish army. But I have always stood my ground and told them black is black and white is white. I am also a very deep republican that never needed guns but always stood up for my rights and you could never water me down no matter what you done.
Boys, times have changed and sadly these boys would have shot informers and called them scum, but yet actions speak louder than words and whether they like it or not they accepted thirty pieces of silver.
To get back to the meeting - I sat in the front row so that I could challenge whom I wanted to challenge when the question time came up. But the first thing I did, was when Sinn Fein was shaking hands with George Hamilton, I stood in front of them both holding one of the photographs of my brother which shows how he was tortured, saying both of you need to be ashamed. They were quickly escorted to the back of the room so that the media could take a different picture telling lies not the truth.
Anyway they came back down and the four speakers were given five minutes each and then we were allowed to speak. So I challenged Declan Kearney and George Hamilton on the truth and that the truth should be told to all and no more lies. So my question to Declan Kearney was does he not think that the Mc Conville family needs to hear the truth about what happened to their mother? Then I turned to George Hamilton and said the truth should be told about my brother Vol. Seamus Bradley. Then I sat down and quietly listened to what they had to say. To be honest it was a load of bullshit, they diverged away from the question.
Then Kate Nash turned to George Hamilton and spoke about the nine soldiers and the information that the police had and asked was HIU taking over from the PSNI. George Hamilton said no. Mickey Bridge then asked the same question and was told no again. Because I was aware from the DOJ that George Hamilton had been informed by the DOJ that this was going to be happening in October 2016, I then challenged George Hamilton and he bluntly told me no. With anger and disgust I stood up boldly and pointed at him and called him a liar to his face. I said it three times so that my voice could be heard then I walked out in disgust.
If the police can tell deliberate lies like that how can we trust them? How can we move forward? Let us not fool ourselves - there has been no change. And I just wonder what is going to happen to Sinn Fein if it is kicked out of Stormont.
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