![](https://assets.vice.com/content-images/contentimage/no-slug/d3b55c709aa37c1c06bd0074c6ae4844.jpg)
Annons
![](https://assets.vice.com/content-images/contentimage/no-slug/a0869e8e6b5d780da4a49c1a4f14fceb.jpg)
Annons
Annons
I stayed behind after the commemoration to talk to Mickey McGonigle, an older member of Republican Sinn Fein, the group believed to be the Continuity IRA’s political wing. The conversation turned to Martin McGuinness, a former local republican hero and ex-IRA member now cursed by dissidents for becoming a British minister at Stormont, Northern Ireland's parliament. In fact, the night I arrived in the city I was told that Martin's house had been paint-bombed and that the street outside his house is covered in graffiti calling for the release of dissident prisoners.Mickey McGonigle explained that these parts of Derry aren't ready to move on: “The last 40 years, those young boys have seen nothing but anti-police and anti-army. Martin McGuinness fought for the same thing for years, but now he's totally against all of that anti-police and anti-army sentiment. He's sitting in Stormont and directing British rule in the six counties, something he fought against for 40 years.”After talking to Mickey I realised I was one of the only people left lingering around and headed off to find the republican youths who'd gathered at a roundabout to wait for the police to return. Once there, I found out that it's not just the more radical dissidents who are pissed off at being labelled as UK citizens, but also ordinary republicans who accepted the decommissioning of paramilitary groups as part of the Northern Irish peace process.
Annons
![](https://assets.vice.com/content-images/contentimage/no-slug/78e0b5913274868d8e131ca002e0ea14.jpg)
![](https://assets.vice.com/content-images/contentimage/no-slug/22dfd06dd1633ba1661ec3ab73faf467.jpg)
Annons
![](https://assets.vice.com/content-images/contentimage/no-slug/feb959fa227e77f836232636c4adac74.jpg)
Annons
Annons