Ardoyne Rejects Second Class Citizenship

The nationalist residents of Ard Eoghain threw down the gauntlet to the Orange Order, the PSNI and the Six County Parades Commission yesterday [Monday] when they staged a dignified peaceful protest against the annual sectarian antics which they are expected to endure.

As yesterday’s unwanted Orange march approached the Ardoyne shops, around 200 residents and supporters, including a number of éirígí activists, took to the road and staged a sit-down protest. It took dozens of riot clad, baton wielding PSNI officers nearly five hours to drag the determined peaceful protestors from the path of the sectarian march, injuring many in the process.

The PSNI only managed to hem the residents back into Ardoyne at around 9 o’clock by firing dozens of plastic bullets, baton charging protestors and turning water canon on women and children. A number of people were injured by baton rounds.

Rúnaí ginearálta éirígí Breandán Mac Cionnaith said: “The residents of Ardoyne should be commended for the disciplined, dignified manner in which they objected to yesterday’s sectarian coat-trailing session.

“The people of Ardoyne, like people everywhere, have fundamental human rights. One of these rights is to be able to live free from the threat of sectarian harassment. When this right is taken from them, as it is annually by the Orange Order and the PSNI, they have a right to resist. Yesterday’s sit-down protest was a commendable example of resistance.

“The Six County Parades Commission now needs to realise that the residents of Ardoyne will not meekly accept being walked over by triumphalist bigots, nor should they be expected to. The only just resolution to this problem is accepting the right of Ardoyne residents to a life free from sectarian intimidation and banning the Orange Order march from the area.”

Responding to the firing of over 70 plastic bullets by the PSNI, Mac Cionnaith said: “The PSNI has proven yet again that it is a sectarian militia that will use any means necessary to enforce the writ of the Orange state in nationalist communities.

“Plastic bullets are a lethal weapon – they maim and kill innocent people. Those nationalist parties who claim to oppose the use of these weapons should withdraw their support from the PSNI immediately.”

Ireland’s Largest Council Calls For Plastic Bullets To Be Banned

Dublin City Council last night [Monday] adopted an historic motion calling for the banning of the use of plastic bullets in the Six Counties. The motion, which was proposed by éirígí activist Councillor Louise Minihan, received the unanimous backing of Ireland’s largest council. Indeed such was the support for the motion that no debate or discussion was required prior to voting.

The motion stated that: “This council notes with deep concern the firing of plastic bullets by the PSNI in Belfast on July 13 and August 31 2009. These lethal weapons have already killed seventeen Irish citizens and injured and maimed countless others. This council calls for the immediate banning of the use of plastic bullets under any circumstances in the Six Counties before they cause further injury or death.”

Having been adopted by Dublin City Council the motion will now be circulated to all county and city councils in the Twenty-Six Counties, providing each of these councils with the opportunity to follow the lead of Dublin City.

Prior to the council meeting more then forty éirígí activists and supporters gathered outside City Hall to protest against plastic bullets and lobby councillors to support the motion calling for their banning. Holding ‘Plastic Bullets Kill’ placards they mingled with those attending a protest in support of the striking Dublin dockers, who were also holding a protest to coincide with the monthly council meeting.

Speaking after the adoption of the motion éirígí Chairperson Brian Leeson said: “The adoption of this anti-plastic bullets motion marks a significant victory in the campaign to have these barbaric weapons banned. All of the councillors that supported this motion are to be commended for rising above petty party politics and seeing the outlawing of plastic bullets for the human rights issue that it is.

“In adopting this motion Dublin City Council is sending a very clear message to the occupying authorities and their henchmen in the PSNI – that the firing of plastic bullets at Irish citizens is not acceptable. The adoption of this motion also sends a message of solidarity to the people of the Ardoyne, the Short Strand and the rest of the Six Counties. On too many occasions in the past the elected institutions of the Twenty-Six Counties have been silent with regard to the activities of Britain’s forces in the Six Counties. Hopefully tonight’s motion marks a change in this pattern.

“The submission of this motion was just one of a number of initiatives taken by éirígí in response to the firing of plastic bullets by the PSNI in the Ardoyne area of Belfast on July 13th and again in the Short Strand area on August 31st. As welcome as the Dublin City motion is, we know that plastic bullets will not be banned as a result of council motions alone. It is only through the building of a mass campaign on the streets, in the elected institutions and within society at large that sufficient pressure will be brought to bear on the British government to outlaw these lethal weapons.”

Brian concluded: “I would encourage socialists, republicans and democrats across the Twenty-Six Counties to contact their local councillors and lobby them to support the anti-plastic bullet motion when it comes before their respective councils. They should also try to organise protests and other events to highlight the issue of plastic bullets and the unacceptable toll of human suffering that they cause. If other councils follow Dublin’s example it will add real political weight to the campaign to have plastic bullets permanently banned from Ireland.”

Internment Anniversary Marked in Dublin and Enniskillen

The thirty-eighth anniversary of the introduction of internment was marked yesterday (Saturday) with éirígí protests in Dublin and Enniskillen. At both locations the theme of protest was the same – demanding an end to 28-day detention and the use of plastic bullets by the occupation forces.

Over 60 éirígí activists and supporters attended the protest outside the British Embassy in Dublin, while 25 people joined the protest at the PSNI barracks in Enniskillen.

Banners and placards bearing the slogans ‘End 28-day detention’, ‘Plastic bullets kill’, ‘Britain out of Ireland’ and ‘PSNI - RUC No Change’ were well received in both locations with many motorists beeping their car horns in support.

At the Dublin protest éirígí’s Ursula Ní Shionnain read the names of all seventeen people killed by plastic bullets, before a minute’s silence was observed in their memory.

Speaking outside of the British Embassy, éirígí chairperson Brian Leeson said: “It is encouraging to see so many people here today. 28-day detention is simply internment by a different name. Its introduction marks a significant roll-back of basic civil liberties that were hard fought for over many years. The fact that a 17 year old was detained under this legislation earlier this year is a particularly worrying development.”

Brian continued, “It is no coincidence that in the last six months we have seen the introduction of 28 detentions, the re-deployment of British Army Special Forces and plastic bullets being used again. All of these measures are part of the wider British counter-insurgency strategy in Ireland. Protests like today’s are important in highlighting the fact that the nature of the occupation remains fundamentally unchanged, despite the veneer of normalisation that Britain is so keen to promote.”

Sligo éirígí activist Gerry Casey, who attended the Enniskillen demonstration, said that "those politicians and political parties that support the Good Friday Agreement and who have now given their full support to the PSNI claimed an era of supposedly “accountable” policing was at hand."

He added: "The repressive tactics of the PSNI in recent months however have left those claims lying in tatters. While they may have changed their name and uniform, the PSNI remain the same discredited, human rights abusing, British paramilitary police force, intent on stifling all political opposition to the British occupation."

He concluded: "Sinn Fein and the SDLP must now admit that they have failed to reform the PSNI as they claimed they would do. They must now withdraw their support for British policing in Ireland."

Enniskillen & Dublin protests re 28-Day Detentions and Plastic Bullets

The use of 28-day detention legislation and the firing of lethal plastic bullets by the PSNI are proof positive of the British government's willingness to use repression to maintain its occupation of the Six Counties. éirígí will be protesting against both of these dangerous measures in Dublin and Fermanagh on August 8. Click here for more.

People from Sligo interested in travelling to the Enniskillen protest should e-mail eirigisligeach@gmail.com for more information

Oppose Plastic Bullets and Twenty-Eight Day Detention Public Protest, 2pm, Saturday August 8, British Embassy, Dublin

In 2009, Britain has reintroduced internment without trial to Ireland, in the form of twenty-eight day detention periods. Irish citizens can now be held by the occupation forces for up to four weeks without being charged or convicted. Earlier this year republicans were detained for the first time using this draconian legislation.

If further evidence was needed of the true nature of Britain’s role in Ireland the behaviour of the paramilitary PSNI on July 13, 2009 provides it. As residents of the Ardoyne district of North Belfast gathered on that date to peacefully protest against an unwanted sectarian march, they were met by hundreds of PSNI members in full riot gear. Within hours the PSNI were indiscriminately firing plastic bullets, injuring ten people.

Plastic and rubber bullets have already killed seventeen people in Ireland. The use of such lethal weapons for ‘crowd control’ purposes has long been condemned by all right-thinking people across Ireland and beyond.

On August 8th 2009 éirígí will hold a public protest outside of the British Embassy in Dublin to mark the introduction of internment in 1971 and to oppose both twenty-eight day detention and the use of plastic bullets today.

Speaking in advance of the protest éirígí chairperson Brian Leeson said, “Over the course of the last twelve months there has been a dramatic escalation in British operations in Ireland. We have seen the British Army redeployed in the form of the Special Reconnaissance Regiment, twenty-eight day detention introduced, peaceful protests forcibly suppressed, and most recently we have seen plastic bullets being fired once again. In addition there has been a noticeable upsurge in harassment and attempts to recruit informers.

“Our protest on August 8 will give people in Dublin an opportunity to show their opposition to the ongoing occupation in general and twenty-eight day detention and plastic bullet use in particular. I would encourage everyone who supports Irish freedom to come along to the protest and make their voice heard.”