Queen Elizabeth II began yesterday the first visit by a British monarch in Republic of Ireland, a country which was once part of the British Kingdom and became independent in 1922.
The visit, with great symbolic significance, was welcomed by 81% of the population in Ireland, according to a recent survey. But Republican dissidents, who oppose the peace process in Ulster, have expressed disapproval, requiring the largest mobilization of a safety device in the history of Ireland: 8,000 policemen and 2,000 soldiers.
Controlled Explosion
The Queen, who is accompanied by Prince Philip and British Foreign Minister, William Hague, has laid a wreath yesterday at the “Garden of Remembrance”, built in memory of victims of the War of Independence, a powerful gesture of reconciliation. Today Queen will go to Croke Park Stadium, Dublin, where British police killed 14 people in 1920.
An explosive device “in service” was defused Monday night in a bus at Maynooth, near Dublin, Irish police announced yesterday. The city is located in County Kildare, where the Queen will go tomorrow to visit the national stud farm.
Republican dissidents, isolated, but active, are already at the root of a large bomb alert on Monday in central London, after having made a coded call warning of an explosive device. During a meeting in Ulster last month, they warned her that the queen “is not welcome”, accusing her of war crimes.