Sinn Fein Appeals For Inclusion In Talks

The political party allied with the Irish Republican Army appealed to Britain’s new prime minister on Sunday to help get it admitted to talks on Northern Ireland’s future.

Sinn Fein, on the heels of its best-ever election performance, rallied more than 1,000 people in west Belfast. In driving rain, they held a minute’s silence for Bobby Sands and nine other IRA prisoners who starved themselves to death in 1981.

The crowd cheered as Sinn Fein leaders Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness mounted a stage in front of the motto, “A new opportunity for peace.” Both men were elected to the British Parliament on Thursday when Sinn Fein took 16 percent of the Northern Ireland vote.