Posted by Jim on March 17, 2014
Brothers, I am sending this message out to our National Board and State Presidents because perhaps some of you (especially in the NY metro area) have been receiving calls/emails regarding the decision of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee to permit six members of the PSNI (Police Service of Northern Ireland) to march on Monday as part of a Garda police unit from the Republic. At first I was surprised at the PSNI request and wondered if their participating might be seen as an omen/vision of a future single policing body within the context of a united Ireland. Similarly, I wondered if the PSNI folks could possibly be aware that the only message permitted and seen continuously throughout the parade they seek to participate in consists of merely five words:”England Get Out of Ireland.” Indeed, life is full of ironies!!
You should understand that the AOH here in New York does not sponsor or manage this parade, and has not done so for 12 years.
Having served as National Freedom For All Ireland Chairman for fourteen years during some of the worst periods in the Six Counties, I remain an unapologetic Irish Republican. Some feel that the AOH should now refuse to march as a form of protest. If that is the conviction of some of our Brothers, then that is their decision.
In the bad old days, Ian Paisley used to bark, “No surrender…Not one inch!” as his response to the aspirations of Irish Nationalists.
I have been a participant in the 5th Avenue Parade for well more than half of my life. I have no intention of surrendering the AOH’s position on 5th Avenue-“Not one inch!”
All the best,
Brendan
Posted by admin on
To whom it may concern,
Civil War Colonel Michael Corcoran, a member of the 69th New York Militia in 1860 lost his position and faced court-martial when he refused to parade the regiment to honor the visiting Prince of Wales. The Colonel will be rolling in his grave knowing that PSNI representatives are being aloud to march in the NYC St. Patricks Day. If thats the case, there will be no more Irish pride in America, stick a fork in it, the Brits win, its over. The only thing more humiliating then letting them march would be marching with them. If the Irish Consulate, Sinn Fein and the Parade Committee wants to show solidarity with the group responsible for the murder of Patrick Finucane and scores of other Irish Catholics then have them invite you all to march on the Shankill in July. I’ve dedicated a lot of time and energy over the years working for peace and unity for all of Ireland, and was till now, a strong supporter of Sinn Fein as well. If this happens ill do my best to make sure that there will be no further support coming out of Albany .N.Y. ever again for anyone involved.
Yours truly,
Cliff Nolan
Posted by Jim on
OBJECT TO PSNI/RUC AT NYC ST PATRICKS DAY PARADE
The NYC ST Patricks Day parade committee have exercised the utmost in their contempt of human rights by inviting the blatantly sectarian, corrupt and abusive PSNI/RUC to march in its parade next Monday.
We ask that all of Irish America not be silent – but make your voices heard that you OBJECT to this offensive invitation! Following are some LINKS – please visit and tell them how you feel!
The PSNI are merely the RUC re-named, and are in no way “reformed” and have been cited for multiple human rights violations by the CAJ, UN Committee on Human Rights, and other international human rights watchdog organizations. The PSNI are an openly sectarian force who “serve and protect” the Loyalist marchers who annually assault Irish Nationalist communities, and count many Orange Order members in their vile ranks. The PSNI have openly targeted Irish republican activists for assault, torture under interrogation, and deaths under suspicious circumstances at their barracks. The PSNI have a long, murderous legacy against Irish nationals and are NOT WELCOME here.
LEAVE YOUR MESSAGE – PSNI/RUC NOT WELCOME IN THE USA!
WRITE OR CALL:
NEW YORK CITY SAINT PATRICK’S DAY PARADE INC.
P.O. Box 295, Woodlawn Station
Bronx, NY 10470 | (718) 231-4400 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting ![]()
(718) 231-4400 FREE end_of_the_skype_highlighting
mcclafferty
Posted by Jim on
The PSNI have been accused of taking Catholics in the north of Ireland
“back to the dark days” after several young people were stopped in the
street by members of the force for playing Gaelic games.
The Antrim chairman of the Gaelic Athletics Association said he will
seek a meeting with senior PSNI and GAA officials after a student was
fined for playing hurling on a south Belfast street with a friend.
West Belfast man Thomas Thibodeau received a fixed penalty notice for
85 pounds after he and a friend were confronted by two policemen while
playing hurling at Jerusalem Street in the Holyland district at around
5pm on wednesday.
The student disputed PSNI claims that he was warned about his behaviour
before the penalty notice was issued.
“I thought it was a joke at the start,” he said. “I could not take it
seriously that she was trying to do me with disorderly behaviour for
hitting a hurling ball.”
“There were people playing football and throwing an American football on
the street and i doubt any of them were handed a caution,” the
20-year-old added. He also asked if police stop “as many people carrying
hockey sticks and cricket bats.”
Sinn Fein said the party is aware of other incidents when people holding
hurls were stopped by police. In one, a 19-year-old man refused to hand
over his hurl after he was approached by police in the Finaghy Road
north area of west Belfast and told he was not allowed to carry an
“offensive weapon.”
In another incident, a 14-year-old girl was stopped by the PSNI as she
walked through Ballymurphy in west Belfast and told she could only carry
her camogie stick if she had a ball and helmet. After producing a ball
she was allowed to go.
Antrim board chairman Jim Murray said: “I thought those days had gone.”
It’s something we will be taking up ourselves and we will be arranging a
meeting with the PSNI. It’s not on and is taking us back to the dark
days.”
Sinn Fein Policing Board spokesman Pat Sheehan said Mr Thibodeau’s
experience is not an isolated incident.
“At best there seems to be a degree of ignorance when it comes to the
PSNI’s attitude to Gaelic games,” he said.
“At worst this behaviour is a throwback to an attitude which treated all
things Irish as alien.
“The PSNI leadership needs to ensure that any hint of discrimination
among officers towards Gaelic games is stamped out immediately.”
A spokesman for the PSNI explained their policy by describing the
problem with carrying a hurl as the “associated behaviour.. i.e.
anti-social behaviour and criminal damage”.