Battle of the Badges

Posted by Jim on March 12, 2018

Official Communication from the UFA

Posted by Jim on

 March 12^th 

Queen’s University, Belfast “provoked, offended and intimidated” by the Irish language.

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Tony Taylor now interned for two years

Posted by Jim on March 10, 2018

Derry republican Tony Taylor has issued a statement from Maghaberry
prison appealing for public support on the second anniversary of his
internment.

Mr Taylor was ordered to be interned without trial by the former British
Direct Ruler, Theresa Villiers, in March 2016. He had previously been
freed under the terms of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

A campaign for his release has won widespread support and has been
formally supported by Derry City and Strabane District Council.
Posters calling for the release of Mr Taylor have been erected across
the district. They have become the focus or unionist anger, however,
because they carry the official council logo.

DUP councillor David Ramsey described Mr Taylor as “an unrepentant
terrorist” and that he should continue to be locked up. He claimed the
posters were “insulting, dangerous and damaging to community relations”.

But others across the political spectrum have spoken out in favour of
the campaign.

“The case of Tony Taylor should be of concern to all progressives,” said
Matt Collins of People before Profit.

“Tony has been interned for over 700 days without any proper court
hearing or due process. He is locked up at the say so of the Secretary
of State. This is internment plain and simple.”

“The state should not be allowed to incarcerate people without a proper
trial. Civil rights mean nothing unless they are civil rights for
everyone, whatever their politics.”

“History is replete with examples of the disastrous effects of
internment on communities here. I am calling on Secretary of State Karen
Bradley to release Tony Taylor as a matter of urgency.”

Mr Taylor appealed to people to support a march and rally marking the
anniversary of his return to prison this Saturday [today] from Derry’s
courthouse to the city’s Guildhall Square, starting at 2pm. A protest
against his continuing detention is to be held today at the
International wall in West Belfast.

His statement reads:

It is now approaching 47 years since the British government enacted the
Special Powers Act and began the process of internment without trial.

Then like today, people from right across the city and six counties were
dragged from their families imprisoned indefinitely without due process.

Unfortunately, contrary to what the British Government, its forces and
its media outlets would have you believe internment without trial is
alive and well in Ireland today.

Almost two years to the day I was dragged from our family car in front
of my wife and children detained and imprisoned in Maghaberry Jail where
I have been ever since.

I have not been afforded a trial and remain imprisoned upon the word and
secret evidence of the British State intelligence agency MI5.

As we approach the 47th anniversary of the introduction of interment in
1971, it is telling, is it not, that the British government is still
employing such draconian legislation to imprison those in political
opposition.

As a consequence, and as a victim of such action, I once again need and
ask for your attendance this Saturday evening March 10 at a rally
organised calling for my immediate release. Gathering outside Derry
Court House at 2pm, ending in short walk to Guildhall Square.

In finishing, I would like to emphasise that it is vital that we get as
many people as possible to attend this event and the many others
organised right across Ireland and further afield. Therefore, I call on
all to make every effort to mark this event because without you and your
voice me and my family would be very much alone in this fight for
justice.

So once again thank you to each and every one of you for your continued
support, myself and my family will be forever grateful.

Tony Taylor, Political prisoner, Maghaberry Roe 3

DUP LOOKS TO LONDON

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Sinn Fein has warned that the DUP has “checked out” of any attempt to
restore the powersharing institutions in Belfast as the Tory government
in London introduced an effective Direct Rule budget for the North of
Ireland.

DUP leader Arlene Foster has signalled that the day-to-day
administration of the north of Ireland should remain in the hands of the
London government for the foreseeable future.

As the budget was being published, she told the British Chambers of
Commerce annual conference in London on Thursday that she saw “little
prospect” of a Stormont executive being formed “in the coming weeks or
months”.

The former First Minister in the Six Counties claimed her party wanted
devolution but that it was “having decisions made through Westminster”,
where it currently has a pact with the minority Tory government.

Her remarks came after former DUP Stormont minister Simon Hamilton
admitted on Wednesday that devolved government would not be reinstated
“this year and perhaps even beyond”.

Mr Hamilton claimed media reports suggesting that a draft talks deal had
been done to restore devolution, and that DUP leader Arlene Foster
handed over a hard copy to Sinn Fein’s Michelle O’Neill, were the result
of “mischief making” and “selective leaking” by republicans.

Mr Hamilton claimed factors preventing a restoration of devolution
included Sinn Fein “intransigence” and the party’s continued
“eulogising” of the IRA.

“Their behaviour in recent days and their behaviour in recent weeks
suggest to me that they are not serious about getting devolution back,”
he said.

DUP MP Sammy Wilson denied that published details of extensive exchanges
between the parties last month were true.

“Sinn Fein, when it has suited them in the past, have lied about
everything and what irks us is the credibility which is given to the
lies they tell, rather than the explanations that we give,” he said in
media interviews. He said there would be further talks between Sinn Fein
and the DUP, insisting “Sinn Fein are not fit to be in government”.

The remarks showed the DUP had “checked out of the power-sharing
institutions or any renewed effort to restore them”, said Sinn Fein
negotiator Conor Murphy.

“This follows their decision to renege on the draft agreement and to
crash the talks process in the face of opposition from their own most
right-wing, anti-agreement elements,” he said.

“But our public services and the rights of citizens cannot be held to
ransom by the DUP’s refusal to close on an agreement which they
negotiated over 14 months.”

Mr Murphy called on the Dublin and London governments to convene the
British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference “to implement previous
agreements”, including a commitment to an Irish language act and the
release of funds for legacy inquests.

Meanwhile, the DUP expressed delight that almost half of their promised
#1bn funding package as part of their deal to prop up the Tories was
included in the Six County budget, announced in a written statement by
the British Direct Ruler, Karen Bradley.

Former Sinn Fein finance minister Mairtin O Muilleoir denied the budget
amounted to the return of full Direct Rule. He said it was part of the
British government’s “austerity agenda”, and noted there was no money
for legacy inquests.

SDLP finance spokeswoman Claire Hanna insisted Bradley’s spending plan
as a “direct rule budget from London directed by the DUP”.

“This budget presents more questions than answers – primarily, how can
it be acceptable that the DUP confidence and supply is allocated to
departments without any political accountability?” she said.

Ms Hanna said the relationship between the Conservatives and the DUP was
not a solution. “It undermines the very fabric of our politics and the
spirit of power sharing that underpins it,” she said.