Irish mark 100th year of Rising
Print Edition
THOUSANDS of members of Ireland’s armed forces marched through Dublin yesterday to mark 100 years since the Easter 1916 uprising launched the country on the road to independence from Britain five years later.
The rebellion has been described as a “triumph of failure” because, while the rebels surrendered and were executed after five days, their uprising galvanized the independence movement hastening the end of hundreds of years of British rule.
Prime Minister Enda Kenny oversaw the commemorations in an acting capacity after his coalition government failed to secure re-election on February 26, creating a political stalemate that has shown little sign of resolution.
“From the ashes of the Rising, the subsequent War of Independence, and Civil War arose a free and democratic Irish State,” Kenny said at a ceremony on Friday.
Yesterday morning Kenny watched as the Irish flag was raised at the site where the leaders of the rebellion were shot dead.
The First Minister of Northern Ireland Arlene Foster refused to take part in commemorations, saying the Rising was used to justify Irish Republican Army violence in the 1970s and 80s.
While the IRA disbanded after a 1998 peace deal, police in Belfast have warned of a “severe” threat during the commemorations to security forces by dissident nationalist militants opposed to continued British rule in Northern Ireland.
Tens of thousands lined streets on a bright Sunday morning in Dublin to watch the parade snake past strategic buildings seized by poorly trained insurgents in their audacious attack on the British administration in the middle of World War I.
The rebels’ Proclamation of Independence was read at midday at their headquarters, the General Post Office. The rebels surrendered near the building under heavy British shelling after five days.
Kenny’s Fine Gael party was criticized by rivals for what they said is a cautious embrace of the rebels’ legacy.
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