PROTESTERS at Derry City Cemetery have vowed to picket the facility until it is opened again to the public by the local council.
A number of people stood beside their cars opposite the Lone Moor Road gate of the cemetery for around 20 minutes yesterday calling for it to be re-opened.
The protest was organised after UK Local Government Secretary Robert Jenrick MP said on Saturday that cemeteries in Britain should remain open.
Families have found it difficult not being able to go to the graves of their loved ones to pay their respects after Derry City and Strabane District Council shut the gates to all visitors.
All cemeteries in the North of Ireland have been closed to the general public to limit the spread of the coronavirus and are only being opened to facilitate funerals.
But the Stormont Executive is split over cemeteries. The DUP say they should be reopened while Sinn Fein say they should remain shut at this tim.
The organisers of the Derry protest called on people to attend the demonstration but to remain in their cars.
Etta Darcy, one of the organisers, said she felt compelled to act because of Mr Jenrick’s comments.
Mrs Darcy said many people dealt with their personal grief after the deaths of loved ones by visiting the cemetery. She said that it was only by visiting the grave of her husband, Hugh who died last August, that she was able to deal with her own grief.
“If they don’t open the cemetery, we’ll organise another protest. If we need to, we’ll organise protests every week,” Mrs Darcy told The Irish News.
Separately SDLP MLA Mark H Durkan has written to Health Minister, Robin Swann asking him to prioritise the re-opening of cemeteries when the time is right to lift the coronavirus lockdown.
Mr Durkan stressed that his letter was “completely unconnected” with yesterday’s protest. The Foyle assembly member said he wrote to the minister at the weekend because of Robert Jenrick’s comments.
“There was a lot of confusion over the weekend. People were turning up at the cemetery, thinking it had been re-opened,” he said.
The Foyle MLA said he fully supported any moves to deal with the coronavirus and believed decisions should be based on medical and scientific advice.
“I’ve been contacted by a lot of people and I know how important it is for people to be able to visit their loved ones’ graves.
“I wrote to the minster asking that, when the time is right to start re-opening public facilities, that he prioritises the re-opening of cemeteries.”
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