Derry MP Colum Eastwood among number of people in court over Gaza procession

Eastwood (42) of Duncreggan Road, Goretti Horgan (59) of Westland Avenue and Davina Pulis (36) of Knoxhill Park all in Derry appeared on Tuesday charged with taking part in the procession on February 14 2024.

Two other defendants, Robert Paul Maxwell (60) of Rathlin Drive and Jude Coffey (27) of Gartan Square in Derry were also facing a similar charge.

Defence solicitor for Eastwood, Ciaran Shiels, said the charge related to an 'anti genocide pro-Palestine' demonstration.

He said that there had been extensive contacts with the Public Prosecution Service about the charge.

He referred to a decision taken in relation to the Bloody Sunday relatives and Colum Eastwood after a short procession to court where it had been decided it was not in the public interest to proceed.

The solicitor said he 'was at a loss' as to why a decision had been taken to prosecute in this case as it was 'a short procession from the Diamond to the Guildhall' in relation to a situation where 50,000 people had been killed 20,000 of them children.

Mr Shiels said he had asked the PPS to review the decision to prosecute and requested a four week adjournment to allow that to be done.

Dessie Doherty, defence solicitor for Horgan and Pulis, said he concurred with the submissions.

A four week adjournment was granted and the case will be heard again on June 3.