Ira siege man slips away.: IRA leader Thomas MacGiolla was smuggled out of a Belfast University building today after a night behind barricades with 200 students. The students at Queen's University barricaded themselves into their students' union building with Mr. MacGiolla - the Dublin based president of Sinn Fein, the IRA's political wing - after police and troops tried to seize him. They demanded a written undertaking from the Police and Army that he would be allowed to go free before agreeing to let him leave. They did not get it in writing. But a students' spokesan said; "He decided to take a risk with the verbal assurance which was given by the security forces." Two hours after leaving the building by a side entrance and driving off in his own car with his wife, May, Mr. MacGiolla, 45, phoned the students to tell them he was safely across the border. Photo shows Sinn Fein leader Thomas MacGiolla, during his captivity at Queen's University, Belfast.
Photo measures 9.5 x 7.25 inches.
Photo is dated 10-10-1971.
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