Responses to the death of Sean Downes who was struck by a plastic bullet at a Sinn Féin demonstration in Belfast.
Twenty-two-year-old Sean Downes was killed by a plastic bullet when police charged a Sinn Féin rally in Belfast attended by the banned Noraid publicity director Martin Galvin.
Sean Downes attended the demonstration with his wife Brenda and 18-month-old daughter. He was sitting on a wall when he was fired on at point-blank range by a member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC).
The death of Sean Downes sparked sporadic violence in west Belfast. Several vans and cars were hijacked, and some were set on fire.
At a Sinn Féin news conference West Belfast MP Gerry Adams said he was told by a senior policeman that plastic bullets would not be fired unless there was stone-throwing. He claimed that,
The police action had been ordered by the Secretary of State Mr James Prior and the British Government.
The victim's father Gerry Downes finds it hard to believe anything will be done about his son's death because in Northern Ireland,
Talking about what you would like to see being done is to talk pipe dreams, we know what will be done, there will be nothing done.
It's not a question of living in a normal society as so many Northern Irish citizens cannot look to the police for protection. He fears if the police are not checked then Northern Ireland could end up in a situation like Central America with state murder squads.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 13 August 1984. The reporter is Jim Dougal. The interviewer is Gary Honeyford.
