Rally calls for truth over collusion

Republicans are demanding the truth about security force collusion

Several thousand people have taken part in a demonstration in Belfast city centre against alleged security force collusion.

It is the first event of its kind in a growing campaign to learn the truth over the death of Catholic civilians during 30 years of Troubles.

Marchers rallied to Belfast City Hall on Sunday afternoon.

They want to know the exact role of the government and the security forces in collusion with loyalists in civilian killings.

Addressing the crowd, Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams said it was important for the peace process that the issue was dealt with honestly.

"For a very, very long time collusion was explained away that it was a few bad apples," he said.

"It was not and it is not and we have nobody more senior than Stevens saying that after 14 years and three enquiries.

"So it is core to getting completion."

However, a few hours before the rally, a small group of loyalists held a token protest at the platform Gerry Adams appeared on.

Gerry Adams said the truth was important for the peace process

Progressive Unionist Party member Billy Hutchinson called Sinn Fein hypocrites for ignoring murders carried out by republicans.

Last April, the UK's most senior police officer said rogue elements within the police and army in Northern Ireland helped loyalist paramilitaries to murder Catholics in the late 1980s.

The Metropolitan Police Commissioner's report into collusion between the security forces and loyalist paramilitaries also found that military intelligence in Northern Ireland helped to prolong the Troubles.

Sir John Stevens said informants and agents "were allowed to operate without effective control and to participate in terrorist crimes".

A retired Canadian judge is currently investigating killings involving claims of collusion by the security forces with paramilitaries on both sides of the Irish border.

The former Canadian supreme court judge Peter Cory was appointed by the British and Irish Governments after the Weston Park negotiations in 2001.

Mr Cory is determining the need for public inquiries into such high-profile cases as the murders of Catholic solicitors Rosemary Nelson and Pat Finucane.

He is also investigating claims of gardai and IRA collusion in the murders of Lord Justice Maurice and Lady Cecily Gibson, as well as the killings of two senior RUC officers, Harry Breen and Bob Buchanan.