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Thatchers audience arrives to shouts of "Maggie Go Home!" Daily Record Staff |
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York Daily Record |
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Nothing breeds hatred like religion. |
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Thatcher appeared as part of the Junior League of York's "In the Spotlight" speaker series. |
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Many of the faces worn by 40 Irish protesters in front of the Strand Capitol Performing Arts Center Wednesday night stretched with tension and flushed bright red. |
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Shouts of "Maggie go home! Maggie go home!" and periodic choruses of, "Maggie, Maggie, you can't hide. We charge you with genocide," rang out. |
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It's a battle not usually fought in the streets of York County. |
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But it's one seen throughout the rest of the world: Israelis vs. the Palestinians, Iraqis vs. the Kurds, British Protestants vs. Irish Catholics in Northern Ireland. |
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The latter battle came to York Wednesday as about 40 people stood in front of the Strand chanting and holding signs. |
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Ticket holders walking toward the theater to hear former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, hustled past the angry crowd, most of whom had been corralled into the street behind police barricades. |
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Some of the pro-Northern Ireland chanters held signs depicting Bobby Sands, who died while on a hunger strike in a British prison. Sands had been involved in the IRA, according to news reports at the time. He died in prison during the first week of May 16 years ago. |
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"We're here to educate people and to promote religious freedom," said Ned McGinley, president of the local group that brought the protest to the Strand. "We want peace and dialogue among the groups of Northern Ireland." |
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McGinley's group, the order of Hibernians, is part of Sinn Fein, which is the political arm of the Irish Republican Army. |
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"The English have occupied Ireland for more than 900 years," he said. "They have no business there now. We want religious freedom." |
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Tom O'Hara said he never thought much of the situation in his parent's homeland until he visited the country. |
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"I actually had British soldiers point guns at me," he said. |
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On the way into the Strand, Chris Hamilton offered his opinion of the IRA. Hamilton recently moved to York County from Britain. |
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"I don't think people understand just how brutal the IRA are in Britain," Hamilton said. |
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Asked what he thought about the colonization of Northern Ireland, he said, "This has been going on for hundreds of years and nobody's been able to find the answer yet." |
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"We won't find it tonight," he said, before stepping into the theater |
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York Daily Record WWW: http://www.ydr.com |