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Liverpool Irish re-enact Rossa’s reception

HUNDREDS of members of Liverpool’s Irish community turned out on Saturday to re-enact the reception in the city of the body of Irish revolutionary Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa a hundred years after the event.

Rossa, born in 1831, became a leading Fenian and revolutionary hero campaigning for Irish freedom. When he died in the United States in 1915, his body was transported by sea back to Ireland.

But the casket had to land at Liverpool en route, and his comrades had instructed that it should not touch English soil.

As a result, 50 volunteers took turns to bear the coffin on their shoulders until it was time to board ship for Dublin, where thousands turned out for his funeral.

Saturday’s event was organised by community organisation Cairde na hEireann Liverpool.

It was supported by pipe bands, including groups from Glasgow’s Irish community.

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