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News in Brief; Northern Ireland; Pat Finucane Centre celebrates ten years in pursuit of justice

01 March 2003

Over the Mayday 2003 weekend, the Pat Finucane Centre celebrated the tenth anniversary of its official formation. The following is a brief article on the history of the PFC from the Derry News entitled "Ten years in pursuit of justice" by PFC coordinator Paul O'Connor:
Ten years ago today Michael Finucane, son of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane, unveiled a small plaque at the opening of the PFC on the second floor of an office at 1 West End Park.
The roots of the newly opened centre could be traced back to 1988/89 when a diverse group of family members and activists, the Bloody Sunday Initiative, had begun serious campaigning around the issue of Bloody Sunday.
Two groups, both based in West End Park and sharing resources and personnel, emerged from this period. One, the Bloody Sunday Justice Campaign, had a sharp focus and clear demands. The other, the Pat Finucane Centre, had a broader human rights agenda. The Finucane family had already given the go-ahead for the name change when there was an unforeseen intervention. In December 1992 the centre was raided by the RUC. As a direct result the name change was delayed so as not to give the impression that the group was "reinventing" itself under a new name.
The following May the Pat Finucane Centre opened. In the intervening 10 years there have been many highs, some lows and some wonderful political street theatre. Deserving of mention was the assault on Rosemount RUC Barracks with paint brushes and pink paint in broad daylight. The theory was that soldiers would feel foolish in a bright pink barracks. On another occasion PFC members patrolled the city centre dressed up in watchtowers which read, "Faulty Towers-Don't Mention the War". Following the exclusion under the PTA of a young Derry student from London the PFC served Exclusion Orders on British Army patrols in the city centre.
At the same time political engagement of a more serious nature was taking place. The centre hosted visits of human rights activists, clergymen from Warrington and even a group of German police officers!
Of the dozens of public meetings the political high point was during the 1995 Bloody Sunday anniversary. Gregory Campbell, Billy Hutchinson and Richard Dallas, to their credit, accepted a PFC invitation to enter the lion's den and defend the unionist position. The sound of ice breaking could be heard across the city.
The following year it was the sound of bones breaking when over 5,000 plastic bullets were fired during Drumcree related riots. The PFC began providing observer reports of the riots every two hours on the internet and thousands logged on worldwide to get an alternative to the official spin. (Over a thousand people in 14 counties now receive regular email updates.) In record time the centre published "In the Line of Fire", an account of the events which included the death of Dermot Mc Shane.
Other reports included one that nobody in the centre ever expected to compile, "Rosemary Nelson - The Life and Death of a Human Rights Defender". The last occasion on which Rosemary spoke publicly was at a fundraiser for the PFC in Rosemount, weeks before her murder.
The high profile work with families in Derry, the Peter Mc Bride campaign or the controversial public interventions in relation to CCTV, Raytheon, policing and plastic bullets are all well known. Less visible has been the sensitive work with families outside of Derry, in particular the Recovery of Living Memory Archive in Armagh, Tyrone, and elsewhere involving some 70 families. In other ongoing work the centre has maintained a daily log of all sectarian incidents/attacks in the North. The PSNI has admitted it has no similar log. Has the centre made a difference? We believe it has but history will be the judge."
For more information see the PFC website: http://www.serve.com/pfc/