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<\/p>\nA Bobby Sands statue that was erected without planning permission \u201cis going nowhere\u201d, a Sinn F\u00e9in MLA has said.<\/p>\n
The statue of the IRA hunger striker, who was 27 and an MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone when he died in 1981, was unveiled last year at the Republican Memorial Garden in Twinbrook, west Belfast.<\/p>\n
It then emerged that it had been erected without planning permission, although Belfast City Council had not previously taken any action.<\/p>\n
A DUP motion before the council on Thursday calling for the matter to be \u201creconsidered\u201d was passed, with support from other unionists and the Alliance Party.<\/p>\n
A Sinn F\u00e9in amendment seeking a review of the \u201ccurrent enforcement status of all such structures\u201d across the council area was unsuccessful.<\/p>\n
SDLP councillors abstained from the vote, after which west Belfast councillor Paul Doherty resigned from the party, stating that the statue of the IRA hunger striker \u201cholds real significance\u201d.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, people gathered at the Sands statue to mark 45 years since the republican\u2019s death.<\/p>\n
Sinn F\u00e9in MLA Danny Baker said the hunger strikers, 10 of whom died during the 1981 Maze Prison hunger strike, had inspired \u201cmany generations and many generations here to come\u201d.<\/p>\n
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The Bobby Sands statue in Twinbrook, west Belfast, during the 45th anniversary of his death. Photo: Brian Lawless\/PA Wire<\/p>\n
He told the crowd: \u201cThe spirit of the prisoners (and) our communities can never be broken.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur opponents were shaken to their core last year and will continue to be because we are on a path, a path to Irish unity, based on equality and rights.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s one very simple message I was asked to give today: the statue is going nowhere, not now and not ever.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sinn F\u00e9in MLA Pat Sheehan told the crowd that Sands \u201cis an icon and legend for freedom-loving people throughout the world\u201d and that in recent weeks, his \u201cmemory and legacy have been attacked by those who have a selective memory\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said the emergence of the IRA was \u201ca direct response to the violent and repressive nature of the Orange State, layered upon 800 years of British colonial occupation\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI say to unionists, save your lectures and your moralising for others,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will commemorate our patriot dead in our own way.\u201d<\/p>\n
He compared unionists voting for a reassessment of the Sands statue to efforts by British prime minister Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s to \u201ccriminalise\u201d Sands.<\/p>\n
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