A MAN injured in the Sean Graham Bookmakers massacre has said he is "distressed" by a decision that two PSNI officers who arrested him at a commemoration for the dead will not be prosecuted.
Mark Sykes was led away in handcuffs after he and some relatives of the victims gathered on the Ormeau Road in Belfast in February to mark the 29th anniversary of the atrocity.
Mr Sykes last night confirmed he has asked the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) to carry out an internal review of the decision.
Footage posted online at the time showed Mr Sykes holding a bag containing floral tributes.
His brother-in-law Peter Magee (18) was one of five people killed when a UDA gang burst into the bookmakers in 1992 and opened fire.
Mr Sykes was later taken to Musgrave PSNI station before being released.
It is understood he has yet to be told whether he faces prosecution arising from the incident.
Mr Sykes last night said he is "upset and distressed at the PPS decision not to prosecute the police officers who assaulted and detained me".
"This occurred on the most sensitive day in our year, the anniversary of the murder of our loved ones," he said.
"It was crystal clear on the day that there was no ‘event’ but rather, bereaved relatives were laying flowers to mark the anniversary."
At the time Chief Constable Simon Byrne said that two officers spoke to a man about a breach of health protection regulations and that a man was then arrested for disorderly behaviour and resisting arrest.
Mr Sykes last night said that Covid regulations were never mentioned by police, adding he is "disappointed that the PPS have decided that the placing of handcuffs on me was not an assault".
"I was handcuffed to the rear, which is exceptionally uncomfortable on the shoulder, elbow and wrist joints, but most objectionable of all, was that the handcuffs were screwed... into the bullet wounds from the atrocity we were gathered to mark," he said.
"The actions of police poured salt into the wounds of those injured and bereaved in the attack 29 years previously."
His solicitor Niall Murphy, of KRW Law, said: "This decision will be challenged so that a court can consider all the evidence and determine the legality of what has occurred. "
Mark Thompson of Relatives for Justice said he still had questions about who authorised the intervention and arrests.
In response a PSNI spokesman said: "This is a PONI (Police Ombudsman) investigation and any queries should be referred to the PONI press office."
A spokesman for the Police Ombudsman said "the misconduct investigation is ongoing" adding that its office "is now required by legislation to consider the question of disciplinary proceedings".
