Mock funeral processions to remember “the innocent killed by the British and US war machines in their on-going illegal wars” are to take place in Galway.
The mock processions are being staged by the Galway Alliance Against War in protest against the visits to Ireland by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II and US President Barack Obama this month.
The first of the processions, in memory of innocent civilians killed by the British army, will assemble outside The King’s Head on Thursday May 19 at 1pm. It will be led by a sole drummer down to The Spanish Arch where the coffin will be placed in the Corrib.
The second funeral procession will be held in memory of the innocent victims of the US armed forces and will adopt the same format. Assembly is also at 1pm on Saturday May 21 outside The King’s Head and will take the same route to the Spanish Arch, where the coffin will be deposited in the Corrib. Both coffins will be made from entirely bio-degradable material.
The event is inspired by a similar protest which took place in 1900 during Queen Victoria’s visit to Ireland. Then, WB Yeats, James Connolly, Maude Gonne, and Michael Davitt and others from the Irish Transvaal Committee carried out a funeral procession led by a lone drummer, in protest at Britain’s conduct during The Boer War.
“The Irish State will roll out the red carpet for the commander-in-chiefs of both the British and US armies,” said a spokesman for the group. “Over the last 10 years both of these military forces have been involved in major illegal and unnecessary wars that have caused the deaths of over a million innocent people in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.”
