COMEDIAN Frankie Boyle has shown his support for an annual march which commemorates the lives lost in the Bloody Sunday massacre in Derry in 1972.
Born in Scotland, to parents who hail from Donegal, Boyle is touring his Lap of Shame comedy show across Ireland this month.
Over the weekend members of the Bloody Sunday March Committee, who organise the annual Bloody Sunday March for Justice, got to meet the star following his gig at the Millennium Forum in Derry.
Boyle, who is a regular on our TV screens in the likes Mock the Week and Taskmaster, invited the campaigners backstage after the gig, where they shared a photo with the star while promoting their upcoming event.
“A million thanks to the mighty Frankie Boyle, who's in Derry this weekend doing some gigs,” the Committee members said after the show.
“He had some of us round after last night's show,” they explained, before adding: “Frankie's support for the causes of #BloodySunday and #Palestine has been steadfast. Brilliant gig too!”
Frankie Boyle pictured with Bloody Sunday March Committee members after his Derry show (Pic: Bloody Sunday March Committee)This year marks the 52nd anniversary of Bloody Sunday, where 14 unarmed civilians were killed in Derry when British soldiers opened fire during a civil rights march on January 30, 1972.
The Committee has planned a programme of events to mark the anniversary, which will culminate in the annual march from the Creggan to the Bogside on Saturday, January 28 from 2.30pm.
Programmed under the theme, From Derry To Gaza: Injustice Is Everywhere – But So Is The Resistance, the events kicked off with a launch event held yesterday afternoon at the Free Derry Wall, where the 2024 march poster was revealed.
“On the poster are the names of children from all over the world who have died at the hands of the state,” the organisers explained.
“The first name is that of Gerald Donaghey, who was 17 when he was murdered by the British Army on Bloody Sunday. His image also forms part of the design.”
The 2024 Bloody Sunday March Committee poster honours child victims across the worldGerald’s niece Geraldine Doherty described the poster as “a powerful reminder that from Derry to Gaza injustice is all around, but that resistance to it is everywhere too”.
The Committee further confirmed that the colours chosen for this year’s programme are an “act of solidarity and sorrow at the ongoing genocide in Gaza, where Israel has murdered over 10,000 children since Oct 7, though thousands more died before that”.
They added: “The people of Derry understand injustice and suffering only too well.
“We have long stood in solidarity with the people of Palestine.
“Free Derry wall has often been a site of that support. It will be transformed once more into that over the coming days.”
