UNITED IN GRIEF
United in grief
Omagh
By ANNE PALMER
TORRENTIAL rain and galeforce winds failed to dampen the spirit of solidarity as Omagh remembered Madrid's victims of terror yesterday.
Beneath a Spanish flag at the town's Garden of Remembrance, relatives of those killed in the 1998 Real IRA Bomb stood united in a show of empathy and support for families in Spain.
Michael Gallagher, chairman of the Omagh Self Help and Support Group, said it was ironic the Omagh relatives were told of the horror by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, as they met to discuss the Omagh bomb in which Spanish students Fernando Baselga and Rocio Abad Ramos were killed.
Commenting on the people responsible for such atrocities as Omagh, September 11 and Bali, Mr Gallagher said: "They have learned how to destroy, but not how to create; how to waste, but not how to build; how to kill men, women and children, but not how to save them; how to die, but seldom how to live."
"Last week's bombings brought back all the memories of Omagh, the fact that these people were just going about their daily business, the hospitals suddenly overwhelmed with devastation and the communications systems cut off.
"I could understand the panic people were having when trying to contact someone they cared about, you always think the worst," he said.
Those gathered in Omagh observed a minute's silence, broken only by a haunting lament delivered by pipe major Karl Heaney.
Speaking at the service, the Rev Kevin Mullan said: "We know the devastating wound of discovery from which part of our lives never again moves on, and their emptiness can never again be filled."
Rev Robert Herron and Rev Derek Quinn said prayers and offered readings and Leslie Matthews sang hymns.
Floral tributes and single red roses were laid by relatives of those who died in Omagh including Godfrey and Ann Wilson, who lost their daughter, Lorraine.
"As victims, we feel that what happened to people in Madrid brought the horror of Omagh back home to our own doorsteps again," said Mr Wilson.
Around 200 people also attended a second community-led service at Omagh's Station Centre, where visiting students from Asturias, in the north of Spain, took part.
From an Islamic perspective, GP Dr Irfran Hassan said right thinking people of any faith should be appalled.
"We abhor the actions of anybody who takes the life of another human being," he said.
"These are actions of desperate people and have nothing to do with Islam, they have no place in Islam."
Omagh
By ANNE PALMER
TORRENTIAL rain and galeforce winds failed to dampen the spirit of solidarity as Omagh remembered Madrid's victims of terror yesterday.
Beneath a Spanish flag at the town's Garden of Remembrance, relatives of those killed in the 1998 Real IRA Bomb stood united in a show of empathy and support for families in Spain.
Michael Gallagher, chairman of the Omagh Self Help and Support Group, said it was ironic the Omagh relatives were told of the horror by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, as they met to discuss the Omagh bomb in which Spanish students Fernando Baselga and Rocio Abad Ramos were killed.
Commenting on the people responsible for such atrocities as Omagh, September 11 and Bali, Mr Gallagher said: "They have learned how to destroy, but not how to create; how to waste, but not how to build; how to kill men, women and children, but not how to save them; how to die, but seldom how to live."
"Last week's bombings brought back all the memories of Omagh, the fact that these people were just going about their daily business, the hospitals suddenly overwhelmed with devastation and the communications systems cut off.
"I could understand the panic people were having when trying to contact someone they cared about, you always think the worst," he said.
Those gathered in Omagh observed a minute's silence, broken only by a haunting lament delivered by pipe major Karl Heaney.
Speaking at the service, the Rev Kevin Mullan said: "We know the devastating wound of discovery from which part of our lives never again moves on, and their emptiness can never again be filled."
Rev Robert Herron and Rev Derek Quinn said prayers and offered readings and Leslie Matthews sang hymns.
Floral tributes and single red roses were laid by relatives of those who died in Omagh including Godfrey and Ann Wilson, who lost their daughter, Lorraine.
"As victims, we feel that what happened to people in Madrid brought the horror of Omagh back home to our own doorsteps again," said Mr Wilson.
Around 200 people also attended a second community-led service at Omagh's Station Centre, where visiting students from Asturias, in the north of Spain, took part.
From an Islamic perspective, GP Dr Irfran Hassan said right thinking people of any faith should be appalled.
"We abhor the actions of anybody who takes the life of another human being," he said.
"These are actions of desperate people and have nothing to do with Islam, they have no place in Islam."
Further Information
Publisher: NEWS LETTER
Ref: NL/501
Published Date: 15-Mar-04
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