FAMILIES of six people killed in a loyalist gun and bomb attack on a former Short Strand bar will gather this weekend to mark the 50th anniversary of the massacre.
Four women and two men died in the attack on Saturday, April 12, 1975 when a UVF gang fired shots inside the crowded Strand Bar before a bomb was set off.
The victims were all Catholic civilians. They Mary McAleavey (57), Elizabeth Carson (64), Marie Bennett (42), Agnes McAnoy (62), Arthur Penn (33) and Michael Mulligan (33).
To mark the 50th anniversary, a series of events will take place in Short Strand this weekend.
A photographic exhibition will be on display in Short Strand Community Centre on Friday (5-9pm) and Saturday and Sunday from 12 noon-9pm.
On Saturday afternoon at 3pm, families of the bereaved will unveil a plaque and will place wreaths on the site of the explosion, adjacent to Short Strand Bus Depot. An anniversary mass will also be held in St Matthew's Church on Saturday night at 7pm.
Rab Bennett, was just five-years-old when his mum Marie was killed in the attack.
"I am delighted to see a monument going up this Saturday," he said. "There hasn’t been anything put up in the 50 years since. The site was flattened and a bus depot built there on the site of the bar.
"It means a lot for the families to get something up and it is fitting on the 50th anniversary. A lot of the families have left the Short Strand. I think we are last to still live there.
"We have never had justice for the atrocity but it is very important for us to remember the victims."
