Protest in Belfast over abortion legislation

A group calling itself Solidarity with Repeal held a demonstration at Belfast City Hall

Hundreds of activists have vowed to hit Northern Ireland like a "seismic wave" as they stepped up their bid for change to abortion legislation with a Belfast rally.

A campaign of civil disobedience to the country's tight restrictions is due to be launched with a bus journey from the city to Derry on Thursday and protests outside the offices of the main political parties including the DUP.

A group calling itself Solidarity with Repeal held a demonstration at Belfast City Hall following the resounding Irish Yes vote to liberalisation.

It was attended by several hundred protesters bearing placards and chanting.

Speaker Eleanor Crossey Malone from Rosa, a socialist feminist movement, said: "The referendum has had a hugely invigorating effect on society in the south and it has already hit the north like a seismic wave, with Theresa May coming under immense pressure to immediately extend the 1967 Abortion Act to Northern Ireland.

"We still have a draconian abortion ban in the north and we have a fight ahead of us."

Abortions are outlawed in nearly all cases in Northern Ireland, the only part of the UK or Ireland where the prohibition is maintained following Friday's repeal vote.

Rosa has organised action before using what it calls safe but illegal abortion pills obtained on the internet, to prevent politicians from "sweeping the issue under the carpet".

Ms Crossey Malone added: "We want to highlight how widely these pills are used."

On Thursday protesters will board buses in Belfast and head for Derry while protesting at the offices of the DUP, SDLP, UUP and Sinn Féin.

She said: "The eyes of the world will be on us.

"We won't wait until the DUP is ready, we won't wait until it is politically expedient for Sinn Féin. We want abortions now and we will fight until we get them.

"We are saying how dare the state tell us what to do with our bodies."