Maze escape: Diane Dodds refers Martina Anderson tweet to European Parliament
- Published
DUP MEP Diane Dodds has written to the European Parliament over a tweet by Sinn Féin MEP Martina Anderson about the Maze escape.
On Wednesday, Mrs Anderson's colleague Gerry Kelly tweeted about the 36th anniversary of the escape, to which she replied she remembered it "with pride".
Thirty-eight IRA inmates escaped from the Maze Prison near Lisburn in County Antrim in September 1983.
One prison officer was killed and others seriously injured.
Speaking on BBC Radio Ulster's Talkback programme, Mrs Dodds said the "glorification of violence" was "wrong," "inappropriate" and should be "left in the past".
An excerpt from Diane Dodds' letter to the President of the European Parliament
"I have actually taken the trouble to write to the president of the European Parliament to ask him to adjudicate on whether this type of language, this type of glorification of terror is actually appropriate for a member of the European Parliament," she said.
"We need all to be very careful about our language," she added.
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However, Ms Anderson defended her tweet.
She said it had been a "remarkable day for republicans like myself to hear that prisoners had escaped from the most secure prison in Europe".
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She added: "They were prisoners of war.
"We were all released as a consequence of political agreement, and around the world, we were very proud, and are very proud, of the escape that took place that day.
in 1983, 38 IRA inmates escaped from the prison, near Belfast
"We should respect the fact that we all had different experiences and we should try to build a better future based on the differences we have, and respecting those differences."
Mrs Dodds later said that her colleagues on the Policing Board would be asking if it was an "appropriate way" for a board member (Gerry Kelly) to behave.
Gerry Kelly had been jailed for life in 1973 for the IRA Old Bailey bombing - after the Maze Escape he was eventually captured in Holland
The Maze Escape
It was the biggest prison break-out in UK history.
Thirty-eight paramilitaries used smuggled guns and knives to take over their block before escaping across the fields surrounding the jail, some 12 miles from Belfast.
Republicans, with a sense of pride, hold it up as their Great Escape; Unionists recall how one prison officer was killed and others were so seriously injured, or traumatised, that their lives were effectively ruined.
Prison officer James Ferris died of a heart attack after being stabbed while attempting to stop the breakout.
Sixteen escapees were later acquitted of his murder after the trial failed to prove the heart attack was caused by the stabbing.
Read more.
- Published27 December 2013
- Published22 September 2017
