Following our appeal for a day of protest on December 1 confirmations have come in of pickets/protests/visits to consulates in Canada, Germany, Britain and Australia. Exact details will be provided soon. We still have three weeks left to mobilise for events in other areas. Please contact the PFC if you are willing to join/organise a protest in your area. Within the next week we will email copies of the promised leaflet/flyer for use abroad to those who have requested copies. The original appeal is published below.

Supporters of the family of murdered Belfast teenager Peter Mc Bride are calling for a Day of Protest on Friday December 1 to demand the dismissal from the British Army of the two Scots Guards convicted of the 1992 murder. For over a year now the Ministry of Defence has refused to comply with a court order that it reconsider the decision to allow Guardsmen Wright and Fisher to remain in the British Army despite their murder convictions.

In early September supporters of the Mc Bride family held protests and vigils in Derry, Belfast, New York and in Sydney, where the British Consulate was closed as a result of a picket. The issue was also raised at the European Parliament by Irish MEP Patricia Mc Kenna. In London Jean Mc Bride, mother of the victim, handed in a letter at Downing St following news that an earlier letter to number 10 had been 'lost'.

The December Day of Protest

Organise pickets, vigils and delegations to British Embassies/Consulates.

Organise pickets and 'visits' to Army Recruitment Offices in Britain.

Organise a flying picket in the City of London.

(between 1pm and 4pm)

Jean Mc Bride said, "This Day of Protest will take place just days after the anniversary of Peter's birthday. He would have been 27 on November 29. I spent 18 years of my life raising a son and two soldiers took his life away. They murdered my son, they murdered the father of my grandchildren. And now they are telling me that Wright and Fisher did nothing wrong. They remain in the British Army eight years after Peter lay dying from gunshot wounds in a laneway. I have a message for Tony Blair. My family will not rest until we get justice. If two soldiers murdered one of his children, were convicted of murder and were allowed to remain in the British Army how would he feel? I would urge people of goodwill everywhere to support us in this Day of Protest."

A spokesperson for the PFC said: "We urgently need supporters of the Mc Bride family to take the initiative on this Day of Protest. If groups and individuals who receive this appeal can organise a planning meeting in their area we will then publicise details and contacts. Please forward this appeal as widely as possible.

If you can organise or wish to join a protest in your area please contact the PFC urgently.

For a chronology of the key events in this case and suggestions for action see below. See also www.serve.com/pfc or email pfc@www.serve.com Tel (0) 28 7126 8846 Fax (0) 28 7126 6453 Suggestions for events on December 1

Request a meeting between Consular officials and a delegation.

Lobby elected representatives at local, regional and national level to have the case raised and discussed on or before December 1.

Circulate a focused petition as was done in Sydney.*

Flood Consulates/MOD/Army Recruitment Offices/MPs by telephone, fax and email on December 1.

Organise 'surprise visits' at appropriate venues. A group as small as five people can significantly disrupt normal business in a Consulate or army recruitment office by asking awkward questions.

Call radio talk shows and write letters to newspapers.

Join the flying picket which will visit various locations in and around the city of London between 1pm and 4pm on December 1.

Propose a motion at the November meeting of any club, society, church group and/or trade union that you are a member of.

Street Theatre; Chalk crime scene figures with Peter Mc Bride's name outside appropriate offices with links to the British Government. Use your imagination for variations on street theatre.

Needless to say any events should respect the memory of Peter Mc Bride and the dignity shown by the Mc Bride family in their campaign.

On request the PFC will provide by email the text of two leaflets, one of which could be used in Britain and the other for use abroad. Circulate this appeal widely.

*In September a petition was presented to the British Consulate in Sydney calling for dismissal of the Scots Guards. The arrival of a small delegation caused consular officials to call the police and close the Consulate! The petition was signed by Paddy Gorman, President Australian Aid for Ireland, Paul Lynch, Labor MP for Liverpool, Deirdre Grusovin, Labor MP for Heffron, Jim Anderson, Labor MP for Londonderry (!) Tony McGrane, Independent MP for Dubbo, Grant McBride, Labor MP for The Entrance, Colin Markham, Labor MP for Wollongong, Ernie Page, Labor MP for Coogee, Peter Primrose, Labor MP in the NSW Upper House, Damian O'Connor, Assistant State Secretary Australian Labor Party NSW, Maurie O'Sullivan, General Secretary Public Service Association of NSW, John Maitland, National Secretary Construction Forestry and Energy Union, Paddy Crumlin, Deputy National Secretary maritime Union of Australia and Brett Collins, Justice Action Australia.

For a chronology of the key events in this case see below. See also www.serve.com/pfc or email pfc@www.serve.com Tel (0) 28 7126 8846 Fax (0) 28 7126 6453

Brief introduction to the case of Peter Mc Bride September 1992-October 00

September 4 1992. Peter Mc Bride, 18 year-old father of two young daughters, was stopped by a foot patrol of the Scots Guards in Spamount St, off the New Lodge Rd in Belfast. After an identity check and a thorough body search, which found him to be unarmed, Peter ran from the patrol and was chased by the soldiers. During the chase the soldier in charge ordered his men " don't shoot". Seconds later a witness heard the words "shoot the bastard ". Two soldiers, Guardsmen Mark Wright and Jim Fisher, shot at him, hitting him twice in the back from a range of some 70 yards. Peter, seriously wounded, stumbled through a house before collapsing in the back entry behind his sister's house.

The Aftermath
The two soldiers were taken to Girdwood Army Barracks and the RUC were denied access to the men for at least 10 hours. A protest march was held calling for the withdrawal of the British Army from the area.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs in Dublin, David Andrews, called for an immediate independent investigation. An Editorial in the Irish Times (5.9.1992) said "there is little doubt that he posed no threat to the soldiers who shot him" while an Irish News editorial on the same day, commenting on a possible official investigation said, " One can already visualise the buckets of whitewash being flown in to deal with the present incident". The day after the killing Guardsmen Wright and Fisher were charged with murder.

Spring of 1994 The trial began at Belfast crown court before Lord Chief Justice Kelly. Fisher claimed that he opened fire because he believed that Peter Mc Bride was leading the patrol into a trap and would throw a coffee jar bomb at them. Wright, who was yards away from his fellow guardsman when he opened fire, alleged that he believed the dead man had opened fire on them.

February, 10, 1995 the two were convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. The judge stated "I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that there is no reasonable possibility that Guardsman Fisher held or may have held an honest belief that the deceased carried or may have carried a coffee jar bomb". In relation to Wright the judge made it clear that "this is not a panic situation which required split second action or indeed any action at all".

March 1996 Leave to appeal to the House of Lords was denied . Though all legal avenues had now been exhausted the family warned of a "Clegg-style" campaign to free the two.

Feb 10 1997 Prominent former Scots Guards officers and members of the establishment announced their support of a high profile campaign, spearheaded by the Daily Mail, to release the two, citing "tragic error of judgement". The campaign prompted two unsuccessful complaints to the Press Council regarding the misleading and inaccurate nature of some of the press coverage, in particular in the Daily Mail.

May 13 1998. Dr John Reid, the new Minister of State for the Armed Forces, expressed his "concern" over the Guardsmen's continued imprisonment after meeting those campaigning on their behalf. Dr Reid refused numerous requests for a meeting with the Mc Bride family.

July 1998. Secretary of State Dr Mo Mowlam, in a meeting with the McBride family and the Pat Finucane Centre, promised that the two would not be among the first wave of prisoners released under the new legislation.

September 2 1998. The soldiers were released from Maghaberry Prison, Co Antrim. They were flown to Catterick barracks in Yorkshire to meet their Commanding Officer. The McBride family expressed their outrage at the timing of the release, the week of the anniversary of Peter's murder

November 3 1998. The Army Board decided that Guardsmen Wright and Fisher may continue their careers in the services under an 'exceptional circumstances' clause. According to the Army Board the Guardsmen had committed an 'error of judgement'. Dr Mowlam expressed her view that the two should be dismissed from the British Army.

December 23 1998 At a meeting between the Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, the Mc Bride family, campaigners and legal representatives, the Prime Minister promised to bring pressure on the British Government to reverse the Army Board decision.

January 26 1999 The McBride family and a Pat Finucane Centre representative met Doug Henderson, Armed Forces Minister and member of the Army Board, and urged a dishonourable discharge in light of the fact that the two are still convicted murderers. Following a heated exchange Mrs Mc Bride walked out of the meeting.

June 1999 Following this meeting Mrs Mc Bride applied to the Northern Ireland High Court for leave to challenge the Army Board's decision by way of judicial review. Judge Kerr granted leave for a judicial review.

Sept 6 1999 Justice Kerr gave judgement that a new Army Board must be constituted to reconsider the future of the guardsmen because the basis of its original finding, that there had been an 'error of judgement', contradicted Justice Kelly's original judgement.

Meanwhile, as the Mc Bride family awaited a new Army Board hearing, the two convicted murderers were sent to Kosovo as peacekeepers.they have since returned. Other members of the Armed Forces found guilty of football related hooliganism and possession of illegal drugs have been dismissed.

April 00 A new Army Board is set to reconsider the case. As a result, members of the Mc Bride family and campaigners hand in a letter to Prime Minister Blair at 10 Downing St on Monday April 10. In July a Downing St spokesperson admits that no reply was sent to the Mc Bride family because the letter had been 'lost'.

September 00 In early September supporters of the Mc Bride family held protests and vigils in Derry, Belfast, New York and in Sydney where the British Consulate was closed as a result of a picket. The issue was also raised at the European Parliament by Irish MEP Patricia Mc Kenna. In London Jean Mc Bride, mother of the victim, handed in a letter at Downing St following news that an earlier letter to number 10 had been 'lost'.

October 00 Conservative member of the Scottish Parliament Ben Wallace, calls for the dismissal from the British Army of a member of the Royal Highland Fusiliers who was videoed dancing and singing on the empty grave of a dead Kosovar. Wallace, a former member of the Scots Guards, has been to the fore supporting the two men convicted of the murder of Peter Mc Bride. In the world according to Wallace a Scottish soldier who dances and sings on a gravesite should be dismissed while two soldiers who put an innocent youth in a grave should be retained in the army.

December 1 00 As the Ministry of Defence continues to effectively ignore the September 1999 court ruling a further Day of Protest is planned.