Mourning the dead

Hundreds Mourn Murdered RUC Officers

Hundreds of people have turned out to the funerals of the police officers murdered by IRA gunmen in Northern Ireland.

Reserve Constable Johnston and colleague John Graham were gunned down at point-blank range near the centre of Lurgan, County Armagh on Monday.

One man arrested in connection with the killings remains in police custody.

The RUC Chief Constable Ronnie Flanagan and many members of the RUC, joined friends and relatives of Constable Johnston who packed St Columba's Church to hear Presbyterian Church Moderator Dr Sam Hutchinson call on the Government to turn its back on attempts to bring the men of violence in from the cold.

He told the hundreds of mourners crammed into the church, and the many more standing outside: "With these murders Northern Ireland has passed a watershed, one of those critical points after which things can never be the same again."

Dr Hutchinson: Ireland has passed a watershed

"These killings were a slap in the face for so many people of goodwill who were trying to promote understanding and take risks for peace," he said.

The other RUC officer, Constable Graham, was buried later in the day after a funeral service at Tandragee, County Armagh.

Security chiefs believe the double murder may have signalled the start of a fresh terrorist offensive by the Provisionals and fear loyalist paramilitaries could be getting ready to strike back.

Politicans and churchmen on all sides have appealed for calm at a time when sectarian tensions are high over the parades crisis and the planned march by Orangemen at Drumcree on July 6.

The Chief Constable Ronnie Flanagan has also warned the Provisionals are on the move again following Sinn Fein election campaigns in Northern Ireland and the Republic.

At the same time ministers in London, Belfast and Dublin believe the decision by the Prime Minister Tony Blair to end all further contact between senior civil servants and Sinn Fein representatives is unlikely to have any impact on the republican hardliners pushing for an escalation of the campaign.

Loyalist representatives pleaded with the paramilitaries not to be provoked, but there is a sense of deepening crisis on the streets.

The incoming Irish Premier Bertie Ahern, who had talks with Mr Hume in Dublin, said he would only see Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams on one condition.

Mr Ahern said, "If the issue was talking about the unequivocal restoration of an IRA ceasefire, then we will talk. If it is just to continue going round the houses and getting nowhere, there is no point in the meeting."

Mr Hume, who played a pivotal role in helping to broker the IRA ceasefire in August l994, spoke of his anger over the murders, but insisted he was still prepared to continue his dialogue with Sinn Fein.

The Ulster Secretary Mo Mowlam has held new talks with residents on Belfast's nationalist lower Ormeau Road, one of Northern Ireland's flashpoint parade routes.

It was the latest in a series of meetings involving members of the loyal orders and groups opposed to some of the marches being allowed into their areas.

Ms Mowlam described the meeting as "productive and useful". However, with less than three weeks before the planned march of Orangemen on Portadown's Catholic Garvaghy Road, there is no sign of any breakthrough on the parades crisis.

The Ulster Secretary called off a meeting tonight with a residents' group in the south Derry village of Bellaghy and is returning to London for talks with the Prime Minister.