Soldier F: Loyalist band members not prosecuted over emblems

Police flanked members of Clyde Valley Flute Band during a parade in Londonderry in 2019

Three loyalist band members who wore Parachute Regiment emblems in support of Soldier F during a Londonderry parade in 2019 will not be prosecuted.

They had been reported by the police to prosecutors for the alleged offence of provocative conduct.

The Public Prosecution Service (PPS) said there was no reasonable prospect of convictions.

One of the reasons given was that the symbols were small and only visible from close range.

The PPS said the decision should not be seen as diminishing the hurt which may have caused to the families of victims of Bloody Sunday.

'Setback to relations'

Soldier F is an ex-paratrooper who is facing prosecution for two murders on Bloody Sunday in Derry 1972.

Thirteen people were shot dead when members of the Army's Parachute Regiment opened fire on civil rights demonstrators in Derry.

Clyde Valley Flute Band from Larne, County Antrim, wore the regiment's emblem and the letter F on its shirts during the Apprentice Boys parade in 2019.

The annual August parade in Derry is one of Northern Ireland's biggest and marks the anniversary of the ending of the Siege of Derry in 1689.

After the parade in 2019, the Apprentice Boys said that it recognised the potential upset caused to nationalists by the display of the Parachute Regiment emblem.

The Bloody Sunday Trust responded by saying that the wearing of the symbols was a "setback" to relations between unionists and nationalists in Derry.