DPA/London
A former leader of the Irish Republican Army was shot dead in Belfast yesterday, rekindling memories of the sectarian violence that beset Northern Ireland for decades.
Police said an unidentified man had been “shot dead in Welsh Street in south Belfast.” Local media named him as Gerard “Jock” Davison, a former commander of the Provisional IRA.
Davison, 47, was a local community worker and had supported the peace strategy of Irish nationalist political party Sinn Fein in recent years, according to the Belfast Telegraph.
He was shot close to the community centre where he worked, the newspaper reported.
Ireland’s RTE television quoted detective chief inspector Justyn Galloway as saying he did not believe the shooting was sectarian or that “dissident republicans have been involved.”
“Many people in Northern Ireland have a past, but that is in the past and there is no justification for gunning down this community worker,” Galloway was quoted as saying.
Political leaders condemned the killing and called for people with any information about it to co-operate with the police.
“This is a horrendous crime and those responsible have shown no regard for anyone that could have been caught in the middle of it during the school rush hour,” said Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) leader Alasdair McDonnell.
“People here want to move on from the violence of the past,” said McDonnell, the SDLP parliamentary candidate for South Belfast in tomorrow’s general election.
“This community will reject those who bring murder and mayhem to our streets,” he said.
McDonnell and Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams both urged people to co-operate with the police.
“This brutal act will be condemned by all sensible people,” Adams said. “There can be no place today for such actions.”
