SDLP leader Colum Eastwood says police are conducting what he described as a farcical investigation after he walked with Bloody Sunday families to a court hearing involving Soldier F.
Mr Eastwood attended Strand Road police station by arrangement today after being told officers wanted to speak to him under caution.
He was told it was in relation to an incident on 25 August when he walked with relatives of those who died on Bloody Sunday to a court hearing in Derry.
The hearing was part of the case involving Soldier F, the former British paratrooper who was charged with two murders and five attempted murders linked to the shooting of civil rights marchers in the city on Bloody Sunday 1972.
The Bloody Sunday Trust also said some of its members, including relatives of the dead, have also been asked to attend for interview.
The police investigation centred on a complaint that Mr Eastwood and others had taken part in a so-called "unnotified parade".
It is outrageous that the PSNI was even thinking about hauling in members of the Bloody Sunday families and their supporters for walking together to a courthouse.
— Colum Eastwood 🇺🇦 (@columeastwood) December 15, 2023
The process is a farce. The focus should be getting justice for victims. Nothing will stop us supporting them. pic.twitter.com/grTnkvSlve
In Northern Ireland, anyone wanting to stage a march or demonstration must give 28 days notice to the Parades Commission which then issues a determination on whether it can proceed.
Mr Eastwood attended the police station but left when officers failed to meet him.
"I attended Strand Road police station today at a time pre-arranged by police to lodge a protest with the PSNI after being asked to be interviewed under caution for walking with Bloody Sunday families to court in August," he said.
"I was there to tell them that they should not be hauling victims and their families in for questioning, retraumatising them for walking together to court after 52 years of seeking justice."
He said coming in the week when it was confirmed that Soldier F would face trial, the police investigation was an "outrage".
In a statement the PSNI said as an investigation was live, it would be inappropriate to comment.
