A two-tier policing and justice system

Posted by Jim on August 16, 2015

By Peter Kearney (for interpolitiks.wordpress.com)

The 2015 Anti Internment League’s (AIL) march against internment took
place in north Belfast at 2:30 pm on Sunday 9 August to oppose “the
unjust imprisonment of Republicans via internment by remand, revocation
of license and miscarriage of justice to stand as one in opposition to
this British policy in Ireland”.

This year’s march only managed to travel 500 metres from Ardoyne Avenue
to the junction of Old Park Road and Rosapenna Street. It was at this
point that it was stopped by a cordon of PSNI (Police Service of
Northern Ireland), in space-age riot gear, armed with shields, batons
and guns standing between a line of heavily fortified land rovers. This
line was backed up by several other PSNI land rovers to the rear and at
least one water canon truck.

This years march brings to light that a two tier system of policing and
justice may well be in place in the north of Ireland.

This AIL parade was to be the only republican parade of the year to
march through Belfast yet it was still refused full permission by the
Parades Commission (PC). Each year and several times per year, Orange
Order (OO) parades march through the city centre while violating the PC
conditions they march and in a sectarian manner.

Furthermore, as witnessed at the recent 12th July march in Ardoyne, a
member of the OO attempted to murder his republican neighbours by
driving a car into a crowd of on-lookers. He injured two, hospitalizing
a teenage girl in the process. He was released on bail soon after being
arrested and going to court. Contrast that with the imprisonment of
Irish Republicans, for months and sometimes years on end, with no court
appearance and based simply on the word of a police officer. This is a
mere snapshot of how justice and policing is administered in the north
of Ireland.

The Parades Commission (PC) ruling that this march would be blocked
unless it was in and out of Belfast city centre by 1:30pm was an
impossible task. Especially when organisers had already decided to begin
at 2:30pm. Hence the march was blocked.

So why would they not just march at 1:30 and have done with it? The
march would have gone ahead, with full PSNI protection, and for the
second year in a row Republicans would have marched through Belfast city
centre. This would demonstrate a gathering of momentum. The parade goes
through again next year and the year after that and could eventually
lead to the climate being as it should always have been – loyalists
respecting the right of their Republican and Catholic neighbours to
march in their own city.

But march organisers claim they had already accommodated the PC by
moving the march from a busy shopping Saturday to a quieter Sunday. They
also moved the time of their march to 2:30 to accommodate the
Ballymurphy Massacre march taking place in Belfast that day. Republicans
may indeed argue that the need for this parade is based on the fact that
they already move too much. Therefore asking the PC to accommodate their
2:30 start would not be unreasonable.

As this journalist witnessed, this march was a peaceful march.
Furthermore the marchers have no history of violence on such marches and
it was billed as a ‘human rights march’ by organisers. In fact, on more
than one occasion, the marchers have been subject to attack and abuse
from British loyalist groups who have targeted the march in the past.

PRESENT DAY INTERNMENT

The AIL believe that since internment was officially reintroduced in
Ireland in 1971 (as it had been in de facto use since at least the
1920s), that it has never been fully revoked. While internment in
Ireland today may not be as brutal or obvious as it was in the 1970s,
like the ‘The Hooded Men’ – they claim it still exists through use of
remand, revocation of license and miscarriage of justice.

The AIL are Irish Republicans who oppose the Good Friday Agreement
(GFA), follow on agreements to the GFA and the British presence in
Ireland. Internment was reintroduced by the British in August 1971 in
Ireland to arrest and imprison, without trial, anyone they believed to
be in the IRA. In fact very few of those arrested were members of the
IRA. Internment served only to harass and persecute the Republican
community and swell the numbers of the IRA.

REMAND

Today, the AIL believe, that both the British and Irish administrations
in Ireland are implementing internment by remanding Republican activists
in prison on spurious charges. Republicans are later freed, without any
charge, but with severe limitations placed upon their freedom. These
restrictions include, prohibiting them from speaking to the media or
expressing their opinions publicly.

Republican activists believe the intention is to remove them from the
political sphere and to weaken republican activism and protest against
the Good Friday Agreement and British institutions in the north of
Ireland.

Stephen Murney and Dee Fennell are recent examples but the list is much
longer.

LICENSE

Additionally, Republicans have been interned through the revocation of
their license, which granted their release from prison under the Good
Friday Agreement. Revocation of this license returns them to prison. One
such case was that of Marian Price, even though she had never been
released on license but on royal pardon. Martin Corey is another such example.

It is on this basis that Irish republicans march against what they
perceive as internment. They do so as close to 9 August as possible, to
commemorate the date the British government reintroduced internment
without trial in Ireland in 1971.

MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE

One further and arguably more sinister way in which internment is
implemented, according to those in the AIL, is through miscarriages of
justice. The most publicized of these cases is that of Brendan
McConville and John Paul Wootton – The Craigavon Two – #JFTC2

Jailed for the killing of PSNI Constable Stephen Carroll in March 2009,
campaigners believe the evidence against them is flimsy and their
imprisonment unjust. And despite the continued concerns about the
conviction of the Craigavon Two – Fresh Concerns for the Craigavon Two –
they remain on the inside.

These are the main reasons the AIL believe internment is still being
used as a tool by the British authorities in Ireland against those who
oppose their presence.

RECENT MARCHES

These points were raised again at this years march as they had been at
previous marches. In recent years, the 2013 AIL march was marred by
British loyalist violence and was re-routed as a result.

The 2014 rally was relatively peaceful yet it was still attacked by
British Loyalist protestors as it passed through Royal Avenue in Belfast
city centre. The PSNI, again in full riot gear, stood and watched
Republican marchers while standing with their backs to the loyalist mob
on Royal Avenue, that threw missiles, bangers and other projectiles at
the marchers.

The PSNI made no attempt to tackle loyalist protestors or prevent them
from attacking the passing republican parade. Again a two-tier approach
in operation.

When this years march was blocked by Robocop styled PSNI riot squad
there were already countless PSNI land rovers policing the area before,
during and surprisingly afterwards. What was also surprising was the
shut down of Belfast city centre. As my taxi driver said “it’s like the
70s in the city centre”.

Notwithstanding the heavy and semi militarised police presence the
parade was peaceful. Organisers had called for this beforehand and had
asked those with non-peaceful intentions to stay well away. Organisers
even removed one of their marchers, holding the Irish tricolour, who had
made his way onto the bonnet of a PSNI land rover in the police cordon.

Once marchers arrived at the police cordon, the announcement came over
the loudspeakers, as was posted on police signage, that the march could
proceed no further. This met with chants and boos from the crowd but
this was to be the height of the disturbances.

Shortly afterwards speeches were made by one of the organisers and a
Donegal Councillor, Micheal Colm Mac Giolla Easbuig, from the Gaeltacht
region in Donegal. Immediately after these speeches one of the
organisers announced that this was the end of the march and they would
now be dispersing. He asked that everybody do so peacefully. Everybody
followed suit.

Shortly afterwards I noticed, as I conducted my final interview after
the march, that an eerie silence descended as all participants had
dispersed. We were one of the last people left in the area. After this
interview we went on our way and walked for about 10-15 minutes before
getting into a car to leave. We drove around for some time, as most
roads were blocked with traffic leaving Ardoyne, so we had to return to
Old Park Road to get to the Falls Road, where I had parked my car.

It was now at least one hour since the march had ended and some time had
passed since everybody left the Old Park Road/Rosapenna Street junction.
It is therefore surprising that the police still remained. The bands and
marchers had long since dispersed so their presence was no longer
required. Why did the police remain there for so long after the march
had ended and people had dispersed? Why were they still so heavily
armed? Did this in any way contribute to provoking a response from local
youths?

When I returned to the Old Park Road area at that time I witnessed some
stone and missile throwing at the police which, by Belfast standards,
was hardly noteworthy. What was noteworthy was the heavy police
presence, the armory they carried and the deployment of a water cannon
truck. I could see little justification for such a presence,
particularly as everybody had left at that time.

Contrast that scene with the scene, 5 minutes away, at the Twaddle
interface. A mere handful of police stood without riot helmets, shields
or batons in front of the loyalist mob gathered there. However, Police
land rovers swooped into the Twaddell area as they noticed that the
Republican marchers were heading towards the shops opposite Twaddell.
The shops area is in a predominantly republican area. Land rovers
swooped in to prevent marchers marching in their own area and on their
own streets and little or no police presence to block loyalists. Again
two tier.

Despite the peaceful nature of the march this is how one Dublin media
outlet reported on it. A similar approach was taken by Belfast outlets

It needs to be remembered that roughly 60% of all parades held in the
north of Ireland are OO or OO related. The vast majority of these are
contentious yet still they march through city centres and through
catholic and republican neighbourhoods. Little is done about their PC
breaches – Parades Commission report 2012 and flash points such as
Drumcree and Twaddell are still tolerated.

Everybody has a right to march through their own city centre and through
their own neighbourhoods. As I witnessed at yesterday’s Anti-Internment
march, the police presence at that time was unwarranted and could have
been provocative. A pregnant woman was manhandled in the most brutal
fashion into the back of a police land rover and the city was put into a
military styled shut down.

While not as brutal as in the past, it would appear as if a two tier
police and justice system – one rule for Irish Republicans and another,
much more lenient one, for the pro British community – is in force today
in the north of Ireland. And this time it has the approval of certain
Republican parties.