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Queen revisits ghosts of Ireland’s "Bloody Sunday"

18 May 2011 19:32 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Britain’s Queen Elizabeth will undertake one of the most daring diplomatic engagements of her reign on Wednesday when she steps onto the pitch of Ireland’s Croke Park stadium, scene of a massacre by British troops, APA reports quoting â€œReutersâ€.
Before her visit to the country’s national stadium the queen laid a wreath of poppies in honor of the near 50,000 Irish soldiers who died fighting for Britain in World War One, a group often overlooked in Irish history.
In her four-day state visit, the first by a British monarch since Ireland won its independence from London in 1921, the queen has shown a determination to address the bloody past and offer powerful gestures of reconciliation.
Ireland hailed her decision to lay a wreath in honor of Irish people killed fighting for independence from the British crown on Tuesday, and on the streets of Dublin people hoped Wednesday’s visit to Croke Park would reinforce that effect.
Croke Park, the home of Irish sports, is an iconic place for nationalists. During Ireland’s war for independence in 1920, British troops machine-gunned the crowd in retaliation for the killing of 14 British intelligence officers the night before.
Fourteen civilians, one aged 10, were killed and "Bloody Sunday," a rallying cry for the nationalist cause, was born.
"If it is handled as well as the wreath-laying that would be great," said Cormac Flood, 34. "If she goes there and acknowledges what happened that would be good. She is better off handling these issues head on."
Even a few years ago, the presence of the queen, the commander in chief of British armed forces, on such sacred nationalist turf would have been too much for many Irish people.
But a 1998 deal ending Irish nationalists’ guerrilla war against British rule and British Prime Minister David Cameron’s apology for Northern Ireland’s "Bloody Sunday" last year has paved the way.
THE PERFECT PINT
Before her engagement in Croke Park at around 1400 GMT (10 a.m. EDT), the queen visited the Guinness Brewery in central Dublin and was presented with the "perfect pint" of stout.
Her majesty did not imbibe.
Dressed in a turquoise hat and a matching coat of Swiss wool, the queen also met Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny.
Accompanied by her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, the queen chatted with Kenny and his wife in front of a portrait of Michael Collins, the revolutionary leader who ordered the assassination of British spies the night before "Bloody Sunday."
Later on Wednesday, Kenny will meet David Cameron, who is making his first official visit to Ireland to attend that evening’s state banquet where the queen will make a speech.
The threat from militant nationalists opposed to the Northern Ireland peace process means security around the queen is tight. There are no public walkabouts and streets around venues have been cleared of onlookers.
Irish police, out in force around the capital, have had to deal with a number of security alerts and the army destroyed a makeshift bomb on a bus headed for Dublin late on Monday night.
Police arrested 21 people on Tuesday after a protest against the queen visiting Ireland’s shrine to its nationalist heroes turned ugly with bricks, bottles and fireworks thrown at police.
Several hundred people took part in demonstrations on Tuesday that were condemned by the majority of Irish.