Peace Rally was held in Drogheda, county Louth
With the troubles raging in Northern Ireland and no end in sight to the tit-for-tat killing, on this day in 1976 a Peace Rally was held in Drogheda, county Louth. Using the symbolic River Boyne as its meeting point, more than 15,000 people marched in bitter cold calling for peace. The chief organisers, Betty Williams, Mairead Corrigan and Ciaran McKeown, were joined by members of other groups and well-known personalities, including the American folk singer and pacifist Joan Baez. Gathered at the new Peace Bridge on the River Boyne, Corrigan told the crowds that while everybody knew about William of Orange and the Battle of the Boyne , December 6 this year would be remembered as a day the Irish fought a new kind of battle.
"This new kind of battle will replace all wars with peace, all hate with love, all sadness with joy and all injustices with justice,"
she said. Calling for more support Ciaran McKeown stated that there was nothing in this world as political as an act of friendship. However, he warned that peace declarations and rallies were not enough. They must build a community in the North street by street and friend by friend to make a non-violent society. The Drogheda rally was one of a number which had been orgainsed across Ireland and Britain in 1976. Both Corrigan and Williams were later honoured for their efforts and received the Nobel Peace Prize for 1976.
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