Tensions are high in north Armagh following a three-day British Army and
PSNI assault against the republican community in the area.
The operation began on Wednesday night when five armed response vehicles
suddenly descended on the Kilwilkie estate. They were backed up by over
half a dozen armoured land rovers who blocked both sides of the road
which tried to prevent locals from accessing the area, where two local
republican activists were detained. Masked police pointed assault rifles
at residents who had come out of their homes to see what was going on.
The harassment of republicans continued for the next 48 hours with
stop-and-search detentions and raids monitored by two British military
aircraft, a spotter plane and a helicopter.
In a statement, Republican Sinn Fein said the actions “did not resemble
the actions of a normal police force but instead resembled what can only
be described as actions of a paramilitary style police force attempting
to intimidate, harass and put fear into people.”
They said the “oppressive” PSNI had “no interest in bettering or
building strong communities” and accused them of recruiting drug dealers
as spies against the republican community.
“Residents have expressed their anger at these actions which left
parents and children walking in the estate petrified at what they where
witnessing,” they said. We would encourage everyone to be vigilant and
report any incidents of harassment to local members of Republican Sinn
Fein so it can be highlighted and challenged.”
CLONARD RAID
There was also tensions in Clonard in west Belfast when the home of a
prominent member of Saoradh was raided by PSNI.
Five jeeps full of armed and masked militiamen, accompanied by
plainclothes police, descended on the area simply to ransack the family
home of Fionnuala Parry, a former Saoradh chairperson. After a raid
lasting a total of five and a half hours, personal items were taken.
Saoradh linked the raid to its political efforts in the area.
“This latest act of Crown Force aggression comes just two days after a
successful leaflet drop and positive engagement with Clonard residents
by Saoradh members,” Saoradh said.
“It is surely no coincidence that this raid took place so soon after, in
the hope of demonising a well respected veteran Republican from the
area. In fact the opposite has been the case, with local residents
offering support to the family today.”
“Regardless of State Forces attacks, in either the Six or Twenty Six
Counties, Saoradh continues to grow and develop with a clear
revolutionary endeavour. Such attacks, supported by Crown Force
cheerleaders in areas such as Clonard, are futile and will continue to
be resisted.”
NEIL HEGARTY RELEASED
Meanwhile, Saoradh have welcomed the release of republican prisoner Neil
Hegarty who had been interned since December, ostensibly on the basis that
he had not complied with electronic tagging requirements.
It is understood the Parole Commissioners released him ahead of a legal
appeal against an ambiguous court judgement last week which confirmed
the internment.
In a statement, Saoradh said: “His release should in no way deflect
from the vindictive and arbitrary way in which he was interned, or the
cases of other ongoing similar examples.
“To our comrade Neil Hegarty we say welcome home to your family and
community. Failte romhat abhaile, a chara.”
A concerted attack by British ‘Brexiteers’ to end Ireland’s famous 1998
peace deal may have motivated a US decision to appoint a new envoy to
the north of Ireland.
Activity in London in the wake of the collapse of talks to restore
powersharing in Belfast took an unusual turn this week when a number of
right-wing political figures directly called for the Good Friday
Agreement to be scrapped. Their criticism appeared motivated by fears
the deal could pose an impediment to British withdrawal from the EU.
In a weekend newspaper column, leading pro-Brexit MEP Daniel Hannan said
his objections to the peace accord “were not on orange or green grounds
but on democratic grounds”. Without irony, he declared: “It’s unhealthy
to have the same people in office all the time.”
Former Tory Direct Ruler Owen Paterson and senior Labour Party figure
Kate Hoey then claimed the Good Friday Agreement was “unsustainable” and
had “outlived its use”.
Signs of an anti-GFA bandwagon have been emerging at Westminster ever
since it became clear that the peace deal was incompatible with Brexit.
A year ago, the London parliament voted to allow the British government
renege on the Agreement as part of its negotiations to leave the
European Union. The issue has come back into focus in recent weeks as
it became central to Britain’s negotiations with the EU.
The US government has always been considered to be a force for the
protection of the agreement since it was brokered by former US Senator
George Mitchell. On Friday, US secretary of state Rex Tillerson
confirmed that the United States is again preparing to appoint a special
envoy to the north of Ireland.
Responding to questions from reporters ahead of a meeting with the
deputy prime minister in the 26 Counties, Tanaiste Simon Coveney, at the
US state department in Washington, Mr Tillerson said: “We’re giving some
names to the White House as we currently speak.”
The first US special envoy, Senator Mitchell, was appointed in 1995.
Successive appointees, including Richard Haass and Gary Hart, have
played a role in the talks process, but the position has remained
unfilled since the election of Donald Trump.
This week a group of 22 members of the US Congress called on the Trump
administration to appoint a special envoy to the region, as did the
Ancient Order of Hibernians. It is thought one will be appointed ahead
of the annual gathering of Irish politicians in the US for St Patrick’s
Day.
“Obviously the St Patrick’s Day celebrations and events would be a great
opportunity to bring some clarity there,” Mr Coveney said. He said the
importance of US engagement was “less about Brexit and more about trying
to ensure that political structures and the implementation of the Good
Friday agreement continued to be bedded down”.
He warned that talking down the peace accord could undermine peace in
the Six Counties. “It is not only irresponsible, but reckless and
potentially undermines the foundations of a fragile peace process in
Northern Ireland that should never be taken for granted,” he said.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar claimed he was reassured by statements from
British prime minister Theresa May and the British Direct Ruler in
Ireland, Karen Bradley, reiterating their commitment to the agreement in
recent days.
“They’ve said that they stand by the Good Friday Agreement and their
support for it is steadfast,” he said. “You know, when I want to know
what the United Kingdom government thinks, when there are a lot of mixed
messages, I listen to the prime minister.”
No Stone Unturned” Monday, March 5, 2018. 7 P.M. Free admission. Open to the public. Capitol Visitor Center, First St., NE (Beneath the East Front plaza of the U.S. Capitol at First Street and East Capitol Street), Washington D.C. 20515.
“No Stone Unturned” is the documentary film on the 1994 Loughinisland Massacre. Loughinisland is a small village in County Down, Northern Ireland.
Six Catholic men were shot dead by Loyalist/Unionist/Protestant paramilitaries as they watched in a pub the World Cup football match between Ireland and Italy. The Massacre is another blatant case of British Government/police collusion in assassinations in Northern Ireland.
“No Stone Unturned” is a must-see documentary film. It is authentic, powerful and deeply moving.
No Stone Unturned is the latest work of Alex Gibney —the American documentary film director and producer—and Oscar-winner (“Taxi to the Dark Side”; “Sinatra: All or Nothing at All,” etc., etc.). Esquire Magazine has said he “is becoming the most important documentarian of our time.”
Re: Trevor Ringland -Sympathies lie with victims and families of Loughinisland atrocity
February 2,
With Sympathies Like These Who Needs Enmities
A chara
Trevor Ringland writes his ‘Sympathies lie with victims and families of Loughinisland atrocity.'(February 2nd) He advises these families to shun republican minded supporters and stop blaming Britain, if British troopers, constabulary, or agents murdered loved ones. With sympathies like these who needs enmities?
Mr. Ringland wants families to accept that British troopers or constabulary who murdered, acted “outside the law” are “innocent until proven guilty’, and no excuse for holding Britain accountable. His alternative facts show the deep divide keeping legacy justice a fundamental issue.
Did British troopers, constabulary or agents act “outside the law” at Loughinisland, Ballymurphy etc.? Certainly they acted outside the letter of British law. Certainly anyone charged by the crown should be presumed innocent and get a fair trial (unlike Internment.)Why do families believe that the killing of their loved ones, while outside the letter of the law was part of actual British policy?
Look at Loughinisland. “NO STONE UNTURNED” names and shows recent film of suspects, then reveals, besides DNA evidence available from the recovered car, weapons, and clothing, the wife of one of the gunmen hadtelephoned and written confessing her involvement and naming the gunmen.
No one was ever charged. Are families promised “no stone unturned” then stonewalled, wrong to believe killers were not “innocent until proven guilty”, but innocent by British state immunity?
Look at Ballymurphy. These families say that British troopers murdered innocent people, including a Catholic priest, and mother of eight. After taking 11 innocent lives, and parents from 57 children the British massacred the truth. Victims became posthumous gunmen. The crown made their troopers innocent and the dead guilty.
Families fought for their right to establish truth at a British inquest. Now Britain moves towards pardons dressed up as statutes of limitations, for British troopers and constabulary. Have families no right to believe that the British are putting their undeclared immunity into law?
Former RUC officer and Glenanne Gang member Peter Weir, said the British government at “the very highest level”, was aware of the murder gang’s activities.(IRISH NEWS, August 28,2017)Despite promises and Court orders, these families have not gotten their right to an overarching investigation. Can these families not ask whether a full investigation might show Weir was right?
The divide over legacy justice is deep. Clearly the mechanisms agreed in the past failed to work. Any new agreement on legacy mechanisms must give real truth to victims. Families must get more than hopes of justice, followed by disillusionment.
The death of Billy Graham recalls an extraordinary moment in American life when Graham and other leading Protestant church leaders tried to stop JFK becoming president because he was a Catholic.
On August 18, 1960, with Kennedy showing unexpected strength, Graham convened a meeting in Montreux Switzerland, far from the media and prying eyes. Among the invited guests was Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, whose 1952 book The Power of Positive Thinking is still a bestseller today. Peale was also a notorious Catholic hate
In all, about 25 Protestant leaders took part, with Graham leading the discussion.
Peale’s wife Ruth, revealed the subject of the secret meeting to block JFK, who would be the first Catholic president in quite specific terms in her letter to a friend found among Peale’s papers.
Norman Vincent Peale
Ruth Stafford Peale wrote to a friend in Connecticut on August 19, 1960: “Norman had a conference yesterday at Montreux, Switzerland, with Billy Graham and about 25 church leaders from the United States. They were unanimous in feeling that the Protestants in America must be aroused in some way, or the solid block Catholic voting, plus money, will take this election.”
That secret meeting was never divulged until 1992 when Peale’s biographer Professor Carol George discovered it among his papers.
As George discovered, “it was clear that the Montreux gathering set in motion plans for a one-day conference in Washington to rally concern about the possibility of a Roman Catholic in the White House. Before August was over, Dr. Peale agreed to preside.”
There is no doubt that Graham was the prime mover but he stayed in the background. At a news conference after the meeting, Dr. Peale said the participants had held a “philosophical” discussion of “the nature and character of the Roman Catholic Church” and he found it wanting.
That religious bias was too much even for the media at the time. They attacked Peale, forcing him to recant, and the entire affair rebounded on them with Kennedy’s religion quickly fading as an issue because of the extremism of his opponents.
A week after the Washington meeting, Kennedy delivered a brilliant address to a group of Texas ministers in Houston.
“I believe in an America,” he said, “where the separation of church and state is absolute, where no Catholic prelate would tell the President, should he be Catholic, how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners how to vote during the 1960 campaign.”
JFK as a senator
He also pointed out separately that no one had held his religion against him when he fought for the US in the Second World War and was a decorated hero. It was game, set, and match and Kennedy marched on to the White House.
Graham seemed to genuinely regret his bias and in later life made common cause with several popes on matters of morality, though his mask slipped again during Watergate when he was recorded swearing about Jews in a discussion with his friend Richard Nixon.
According to an article in The New York Times on January 17, 1961, Graham said “Mr. Kennedy’s victory had proved there was not as much religious prejudice as many had feared, and probably had reduced forever the importance of the religious issue in American elections.”
It was no thanks to Graham, however, that Americans truly adopted freedom of religion.
