Hundreds attend unveiling of mural to Derry INLA man shot dead by SAS

Several hundred people have attended the unveiling of a mural to a Derry INLA man shot dead by the British army in the city 33 years ago. Neil McMonagle (23) was killed in an undercover SAS operation at Leafair Park in the Shantallow area on 2 February 1983. Speaking following today’s lunchtime unveiling of the artwork (pictured) by family members, Danny Morrison, chairperson of the Irish Republican Socialist Party in Derry, revealed it was the first stage of a project by local residents which see a fence removed, lights installed and a garden of remembrance developed. A colour party, which included four men dressed in paramilitary-style uniforms and wearing dark glasses and black berets, then led a march to a memorial situated close to the Leafair playing pitches. Marchers were accompanied by the James Connolly Flute Band and the Parkhead Republican Flute Band from Glasgow in Scotland. Following a minute’s silence and the laying of wreaths by family members, the Derry Republican Movement, Derry Brigade INLA, Derry IRSP Republican Network for Unity, Corrie Divin, of the James Connolly Cultural Youth Group, told those present Neil McMonagle was “one of the most charismatic and community minded volunteers of the revolutionary struggle in Ireland.”