Dennis Hutching is a former member of the Life Guards Regiment and is due to be tried for attempted murder in connection with a fatal shooting in 1974. Mr Hutchings addressed a rally in support of another former serviceman known only as Soldier F outside Belfast City Hall. Mr Hutchings told the crowd of supporters: “We need this to continue and it will continue.” He said: “Eventually our politicians are going to have to listen because if they won’t we will bring this country to a standstill.” Mr Hutchings addressed the crowd via a phone call relayed on loudspeakers.

Several hundred supporters of Soldier F listened while holding Union flags and banners with the crest of the Parachute Regiment.

A former Parachute Regiment lance-corporal, identified only so far as Soldier F, is due to stand trial for the murder of two people after troops opened fire on civil rights demonstrators in Londonderry in January 1972.

Relatives of the 13 killed, on what became know as Bloody Sunday, have campaigned for people to be prosecuted over the deaths.

But others believe soldier F should not face trial.

The protesters claim a form of immunity given to paramilitaries during the Northern Ireland peace process should be extended to British soldiers who served in the country.

Soldier F will face charges for the murders of James Wray and William McKinney.

They will also face charges for the attempted murders of Joseph Friel, Michael Quinn, Joe Mahon and Patrick O’Donnell.

Spokesman John Teggart said: “No one is above the law and justice must be served.

“The fact that these crimes happened nearly 50 years ago is irrelevant.

“It might have been a long time ago, but the illegal acts of these soldiers is affecting the families to this day.

“They committed murder and what compounded that was the apparatus of the British state then tarnished the names of many of the victims by labelling them as gun men and gun women.”

Recently, thousands of bikers turned out on the streets of London in a similar protest against the prosecution of Soldier F.

There are at least three prosecutions against British soldiers currently underway.

However, it is understood that between 150 and 200 former soldiers and police are under investigation for alleged actions taken during the Troubles.

The figure, which is an estimate from the Ministry of Defence, surfaced after the British government came under intense pressure from Tory backbenchers.

One MP told a veteran the prosecution of British soldiers were being driven by a “cultural Marxist hatred of our national history” on the part of the “liberal establishment”.

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