SIX MEN HAVE been arrested after a ceremony commemorating the anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising in Derry.

Republican group the 32 County Sovereignty Movement held a ceremony at the city’s Creggan cemetery yesterday.

It’s reported that a Real IRA representative made threats against the PSNI and other state infrastructure at the event.

PSNI Chief Inspector Gary Eaton said: “An investigation has commenced and police have this afternoon arrested six men in the city [of Derry].”

He said all six had been taken to Antrim Serious Crime Suite for questioning.

The PSNI said they had decided to run a “low-key response” to the event, but all alleged breaches of criminal law would be “rigorously and thoroughly investigated”.

UTV reports that a masked man claiming to represent the Real IRA pledged that the organisation would continue to mount attacks against “Crown forces” and “British interests and infrastructure”.

An address published on the Derry 32 County Sovereignty Movement website claims that the “six county state” remains “an outpost of British oppression”. It describes the IRA as “not the source of conflict” but “a response to an illegal occupying force.”

In pictures: Crowds gather to remember the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin>