British Queen Shakes Hand of Former IRA Leader
June 27, 2012
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II on Wednesday shook hands with the former commander of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, or IRA, the group that waged war against British rule in Northern Ireland. An IRA bomb killed the Queen's cousin in 1979.
It was once unthinkable that a British monarch would shake hands with the former leader of the IRA, which fought a three-decade long war against British rule in Northern Ireland.
Martin McGuinness is now a lawmaker with Sinn Fein, the IRA’s political wing, and deputy first minister.
John Bew, director of the International Center for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence at Kings College London, says the handshake shows Northern Ireland has moved on from decades of civil strife, but that the symbolism is being overplayed.
“There’s a huge debate within the republican movement, from which Sinn Fein heralds, as to whether this is ideologically a correct thing to do," said Bew. "But the key thing you’ve got to understand is that it keeps Martin McGuinness in the limelight; it keeps Sinn Fein making headlines. And it keeps their project on the news at all times.”
The meeting between McGuinness and Queen Elizabeth took place in a theater in a Belfast suburb. Microphones were banned.
At one point, McGuinness appeared alongside the Queen’s husband Prince Philip. But the prince moved away swiftly.
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