لندن - 17 أبريل 1984: مظاهرة سلمية وجريمة نكراء

القوى الوطنية الليبية على الساحة البريطانية تخرج في مظاهرة سلمية بلندن امام سفارة نظام القذافي  يوم 17 ابريل 1984 بمناسبة ذكرى مذابح أبريل 1976 وما كان من هذا النظام الا ان يكشف عن حقيقته الهمجية الدموية حيث قام أزلامه بإطلاق الرصاص من نوافد السفارة على المتظاهرين مما ادى الى مقتل الشرطية البريطانية "ايفون فليتشر" الى جانب سقوط عدد من إخواننا جرحى في ميدان سانت جيمس في ذلك اليوم الدموي الأسود.

تقارير مرئية (الـ بي بي سي وقت الحدث)

تقارير مرئية (كيت ايدي من طرابلس)

تقارير مرئية (بروس باكر - جنازة الضحية)

تقارير مرئية (نيل بنت من مستشفى ويست مينيستر)

1984: Libyan embassy shots kill policewoman

A police officer has been killed and ten people injured after shots were fired from the Libyan People's Bureau in central London. WPC Yvonne Fletcher had been helping control a small demonstration outside the embassy when automatic gunfire came from outside. She received a fatal stomach wound and some of the demonstrators were also severely injured. WPC Fletcher, 25, died soon afterwards at Westminster Hospital. Her fiancé, another police officer who was also at the demonstration, was at her side. After the shooting people were cleared from surrounding offices in St James' Square. Some had witnessed events from their workplace. Film maker Ray Barker said people were stunned by what had happened. "Several of my colleagues burst into tears. It was unbelievable that sort of thing could happen at such an insignificant demonstration," he said.
 

Marksmen
 

Journalist Brian Cartmell was in St James' Square just feet away from Yvonne Fletcher when she was hit. "She crumpled to the floor clutching her lower stomach and groin and rolled on to her right-hand side with a look of total surprise on her pretty face," Mr Cartmell said. The Libyan building is now surrounded by armed police officers including specialist marksmen. However, Home Secretary Leon Brittan has said the police are prepared to wait and deal with the situation in a peaceful way. Police officers are in touch with those inside the Libyan People's Bureau via a special telephone link. The Libyans, led by Colonel Gaddafi, are blaming Britain's police and security forces for "attacking" their embassy. Libyan soldiers have now surrounded Britain's embassy in Tripoli trapping 18 diplomats inside.

BBC NEWS 17 APRIL 1884

1984: Libyan embassy siege ends

The siege of the Libyan Embassy in St James's Square in London is over. In the end, the diplomats, holed up in the building for 11 days since the shooting dead of WPC Yvonne Fletcher which began the siege, simply walked out.

The first indication that a major development was under way came at 0847 BST (0747 GMT), when a group of neutral observers and two Libyan intermediaries walked into the Square and entered the building.

Half an hour later, a white van drove up to the door. Four diplomatic bags were loaded on to the vehicle by observers. They were followed by an assortment of suitcases, hand baggage and plastic carrier bags.

No emotion

In groups of five, led by the Libyan intermediary who has talked to them throughout the 11-day siege, the 30 diplomats made their way out of the embassy in single file.

They showed no emotion, even as they passed the spot where WPC Yvonne Fletcher was shot. Her hat, which had lain where she fell, was removed by one of her colleagues during the night.

The shooting, during a demonstration against the Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi, was believed to have been carried out from inside the embassy. It began a tense stand-off between police and the diplomats inside.

Just over a week later, at the inquest into the 25-year-old policewoman's death, witnesses spoke of seeing smoke and a flaming gun at a first floor window of the building.

Negotiations slow and tortuous

The Libyan leader, Colonel Gaddafi, countered with a siege of the British embassy in Tripoli. Negotiations between the two countries have been slow and tortuous, with politicians and the police frustrated by the lack of progress.

Finally on Sunday, diplomatic ties were severed, and those inside the embassy were given seven days to leave the country. The British ambassador to Libya was given the same deadline to leave Tripoli.

The Libyan diplomats have now been escorted to Heathrow and onto a plane out of the country.

Police have reluctantly had to accept that whoever shot WPC Fletcher will probably escape justice by claiming diplomatic immunity.

The Home Secretary, Leon Brittan, has said the government will press for changes in the Vienna Convention controlling diplomatic relations.

BBC NEWS 27 APRIL 1884

In Context

Diplomatic relations with Libya were severed on 23 April. British diplomats in Libya who had been trapped in their embassy were allowed to leave. The Libyans were ordered out of UK and left peacefully but due to their diplomatic immunity police were unable to question suspects before they went. However, in 1986 a British businessman who had worked for Colonel Gaddafi's regime reported WPC Fletcher's killer had been hanged as soon as he returned to Libya. Britain restored diplomatic relations with Libya in 1999 after the Libyan Government admitted it bore "general responsibility" for WPC Fletcher's death. It also paid a six-figure sum in infopensation to her family.

'I was there'

I was a guardsman mounting Royal Guard on that day. We were doing guard mount in the forecourt of Buckingham Palace and heard the shots fired. I was senior soldier on St James' Palace detachment. It is the only time in 16 years as a guardsman that I was issued ammunition. The police we spoke to were really angry, and in a very sombre mood and no wonder really. They where saying even then that they thought that whoever had done it was going to get away with it. From where we were, we could make out snipers on rooftops and see the general activity around and about. The next morning a Middle-Eastern-looking guy was arrested on TV carrying a very large machette. He was brought to the Guardroom and kept there in cuffs for about 10 minutes before being carted off to the police station.

Andy Buchanan, former Grenadier Guard

17 أبريل 2006

لجنة العمل الوطني الليبي على الساحة الأوروبية

تتذكر مظاهرة 17 ابريل 1984

لجنة العمل الوطني الليبي على الساحة الأوروبية احيت اليوم ذكرى مظاهرة 17 ابريل عام 1984 التي نظمتها القوى الوطنية الليبية على الساحة البريطانية امام سفارة النظام في ذكرى مذابح ابريل. هذه المظاهرة التي ارتكب فيها النظام الليبي واحدة من ابشع جرائمه خارج ليبيا عندما اطلق الرصاص من نوافد السفارة على المتظاهرين مما ادى الى مقتل الشرطية البريطانية ايفون فلتشر الى جانب سقوط عدد من الجرحى في صفوف اخواننا المتظاهرين. اللجنة اصدرت بيانا بالخصوص وارسلت رسالة تضامن وتعاطف الى عائلة الضحية ورفاقها وأصدقائها الى جانب مشاركتها عائلة الشرطية ورفاقها من قوات الشرطة في وضع باقات الزهور على النصب التذكاري للضحية بميدان سانت جيمس بلندن.

  بيان لجنة العمل الوطني الليبي على الساحة الأوروبية في ذكرى مظاهرة 17 ابريل 1984  (إنجليزي )

  بيان لجنة العمل الوطني الليبي على الساحة الأوروبية في ذكرى مظاهرة 17 ابريل 1984 (عربي) 

  صور وضع اكاليل الزهور على النصب التذكاري للضحية ايفون فلتشر(عدسة عمر الهوني)

  رسالة اللجنة الى عائلة الضحية ايفون فلتشر ورفاقها وأصدقائها