Mainstream republicans were castigated by former comrades yesterday for allegedly disrupting fundraising events in aid of Continuity IRA prisoners.
The claim came from Republican Sinn Féin's (RSF) Geraldine Taylor as she addressed the party's annual Easter commemoration at Belfast's Milltown cemetery. Around 50 people took part in the event – by far the smallest of four separate republican commemorations in Milltown.
The ceremony featured an appearance by veteran Falls Road republican Billy McKee, who commenced the short proceedings by reciting a decade of the rosary.
Mrs Taylor then took the platform and criticised the treatment of CIRA prisoners in Portlaoise prison.
She said prisoners were being denied political status and accused the "26-county administration" of ill-treating dissident republican inmates.
Mrs Taylor also lambasted mainstream republicans, who she claimed were preventing prisoners' supporters from fundraising.
"In Belfast, functions are being disrupted by those who were once their comrades, but have now joined forces with the enemy," she said.
She went on to criticise Sinn Féin and the British government, and she berated the Irish government for the way it "brazenly boasted" of its co-operation with London.
Meath republican Niall Fagan was damning of both governments, while also criticising the US for its involvement in Iraq. He reasserted the right of republicans to take up arms, saying history had demonstrated the efficacy of violent resistance.
