100,000 expected at biggest 1916 celebration in 40 years
Up to 100,000 people are expected to line the streets of Dublin today to mark the 90th Anniversary of the Easter Rising.
The focal point of the commemoration will be O'Connell Street where the formal ceremony gets underway at midday, when the flag will be lowered, the Proclamation read, and a minute’s silence will be observed in memory of those who died.
It will be the first Easter military parade in 36 years, and the biggest since the 50th anniversary in 1966, in commemoration of the 1916 Rising in which hundreds of people were killed and 15 Republican leaders executed by British crown forces.
A march past the GPO in Dublin, led by the defence forces will form the centrepiece of the ceremony, which will also remember dead Irish soldiers in the Battle of the Somme.
The GPO was open for business when it was stormed by the rebels on Easter Monday.
Led by Padraig Pearse, they marched up Sackville Street - now O'Connell Street - from Liberty Hall.
Then James Connolly ordered the men to 'Wheel Left' and charge the building, taking staff and customers by surprise.
The Rising was planned by members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood - a secretive group within Eoin McNeill's Irish Volunteers – and was originally scheduled to take place on Easter Sunday but events conspired to force the leaders to postpone the rebellion by a day.
Their plans were dealt a major blow when Roger Casement, who had arranged a huge shipment of weapons from Germany, was arrested on arrival at Banna Strand in County Kerry.
McNeill was not convinced the rebellion would work without substantial help from Germany and when he found out that Roger Casement's arms shipment had been intercepted, he cancelled the manoeuvres planned for Easter Sunday as a cover for the Rising.
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