“Intollerabile” la minaccia di morte di Oglaigh na hEireann contro il fratello di Pat Finucane

Finucane death threat ‘intolerable’

Both Sinn Féin and the SDLP have condemned a death threat reportedly made by dissident republican group Óglaigh na hÉireann against the brother of Pat Finucane.

Sinn Féin MLA Gerry Kelly said the threat against Seamus Finucane – a west Belfast community worker and fellow party member – was “beyond contempt”.

Mr Kelly said this was “in effect a threat to community workers everywhere in the city going about their vital work.”

Mr Kelly described Mr Finucane as “a man who has spent his entire life involved in republican activism”.

He said: “This is not the first time community workers have come under threat from one of these armed gangs. Last year CIRA threatened community workers in north Belfast with a similar statement. Like then a united community, political and trade union response is required to this latest threat.

“ONH is deeply involved in criminality across Belfast including widespread extortion and their actions contrast sharply with the positive work of hundreds of community workers in the city.”

SDLP development and social Minister Alex Attwood described the reported threat as “intolerable”.

The west Belfast MLA said: “Threat and intimidation are a part of the past and must not be allowed a place in the present.

“As in the past, the community must stand firm against those who would use violence and the threat of it against anyone in the community.

“This has to be utterly condemned and anybody with information must bring it to the police.”

Police say they do not discuss the security of individuals.

Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane was gunned down by a UFF gang in front of his wife at children, in his north Belfast home in 1989.