Paula McCartney noticed it. The small, solitary bunch of flowers somebody
had left outside Magennis's bar in memory of her murdered brother.
And so at 3 p.m. this afternoon, they will bring more floral tributes -
yellows and reds, pinks and purples - to light up the dark, narrow street
where Robert was slaughtered.
A local priest will say the rosary. The McCartneys don't care how many
people or what politicians show up. It's a gathering for the family to
remember Robert. A vigil, not a rally, says Paula.
Last month, she visited the spot where her brother was beaten and stabbed.
"It was very emotional for me and I'm sure it'll be the same returning for
the vigil.
"I kept visualising every minute and every awful thing that happened to
Robert in Market Street. I can't really describe how I felt. But I wasn't
angry, just sad."
It's not known whether Magennis's will close today. It certainly didn't for
the funeral. There wasn't even a wreath from the bar. Nearly three months
after the murder, the owner still hasn't managed to contact the family.
Business has fallen dramatically. Only a handful of people were drinking
there early yesterday. Three bouncers and two drunk men stood outside. Sinn
Féin election posters dotted the area.
The McCartneys were threatened and abused last week as they distributed
leaflets for the vigil. Yesterday, Paula and her sister Claire were in
Derry for a rally in support of the family of Jimmy McGinley, stabbed to
death by alleged IRA member Bart Fisher.
A former bodyguard for senior Sinn Féin figures, and a steward at republican
rallies, Fisher was sentenced to three years' imprisonment for manslaughter
in February. He denies the family's claims of IRA membership.
The marchers set off from the civil rights' mural beside Free Derry wall.
Thirteen men were shot dead by the British Army in the surrounding streets
on Bloody Sunday.
Jimmy's aunt, Kathleen Coyle, said: "Jimmy's killing was as big a crime as
what the Paras did on 31st January 1972. The Queen gave her soldiers medals
and the IRA has let Bart Fisher onto the republican wing in Maghaberry jail.
"Sinn Féin and the IRA refuse to tell the truth about what happened, just
like the British did about Bloody Sunday. We've been given the IRA
equivalent of the Widgery tribunal. We want answers but all we get is
silence."
