Issue 185, Saoirse : Irish Freedom (September, 2002)

              uimh 184 mean fomhair — september 2002 http://saoirse.rr.nu 1 70p stg usa 30 p.a huge increases in plastic bullets use as we go to press • it is estimated that the firing of plastic bullets by british crown forces has increased to about 250 for the year 2002 compared to 91 fired for 2001 the british colonial police ruc/psni fired three rounds during clashes with loyal ist at drumcree but were able to let off 36 rounds in the direction of nationalists protesting at the twelfth july parade in belfast's springfield road the use of this lethal weapon is well on the way to being tripled in one year a 28-year-old limerick man who was taken from his home by 26-county eru plainclothes police driven to an isolated spot by the river shannon and threatened had to jump into the river to escape from the men republican sinn fein has called for a full investigation into the actions of the police christy dunne of prospect a member of republican sinn fein was arrested by two plainclothes police early on friday morn ing august 9 and was told he was being taken to dublin for questioning in an ongoing investigation driving through limerick the police told mr dunne to have a good look at it because he was going to be shot the car turned off the mail dublin road at castleconnell and drove to the world's end where it braked heavily and one of the police shouted this is it christy dunne leaped from the car and ran back up towards castleconnell village as the vehicle reversed at speed and gained on him he then jumped into the river shannon and swam to the centre o the river where he circled for about 15 minutes before the police left the scene he made his way towards the village and he was assisted by two local peo plewho made telephone calls for him and summoned a taxi to take him back to the city the man's solicitor john devane wrote to the garda commissioner and the minister for justice for an explanation and to confirm that the two emergency response unit members involved belonged of the 26 county police he has initiat ed legal proceedings against the 26-county police and the 26-county state in an attempt to cover up the incident the 26-county police later on august 9 con ducted house-to-house enquiries around christy dunne's home and asked peo ple if they had seen a silver coloured car in the area earli er christy dunne's statement clearly said the eru mem bers were driving a wine coloured vehicle the 26-county police also initially denied to the media that an of their offi cers were involved but later changed this to no com ment limerick-based vice president o republican sinn fein des long called for a full investigation into the actions of the policemen involved they have engaged in criminal behav iour they have issued threats and abducted an innocent man — we are demanding a full must be no cover up on this very serious incident he said des long said that when he returned to limerick after the traumatic incident the victim of the abduction and death threat made a detailed statement at roxboro garda station christy dunne displayed a cool presence of mind by making his escape from the car and he has now given a detailed statement to the police complete with the names of those involved as shown on their garda warrant cards and full descriptions of their physical appearances and the clothes they were wearing he has also given a m • christy dunne description of the car with the year and some of the registra tion numbers so it will be a simple matter for the garda commissioner to confirm that two of his men were involved in this death threat and unlaw ful kidnapping christy dunne is a mem ber of the limerick branch of dear commissioner byrne ! enclose herewith copy letter forwarded to the minister for justice of clearly asking for an explanation m connection with an arrest and dele client christopher dunne who was arrested on the 9th day of august 2 approximately 9.35 a.m from his house in prospect limerick ft is my instructions to call upon you as the officer commanding an c to confirm that detective garda a whelan and detective garda b or indeed members of the emergency response unit or in fact are memb siochana stationed m dublin it is my instructions that if you deny tha are members of an garda siochana that i am to make a formal applic court pursuant to discovery once proceedings issue and this letter will you with the costs of same 1 am further instructed to say to you commissioner byrne that my die considerable trauma as a result of what may have been a lawful arrest even though we will also be questioning the validity of that particular • solicitor's letter of august 18 2002 to the 26-county police commissioner pat byrne the letter names the two eru men involved as dets a whelan and b o'brien republican sinn fein and he is fully entitled to exercise his democratic and constitutional ram bo exercise from the political police for over the past 1 2 months members i)f republican sinn fein in limerick have been continu ally harassed and intimidated by the police and this latest incident is obviously the cul mination of an ongoing cam paign by the police to silence those who politically oppose the presence of british troops in ireland we are now demanding a full public investigation into this appalling incident because it is unlawful for innocent citizens to be treated in this manner by the police the police must also be accountable to the rule of law hey should not engage in unlawful and in criminal activity thai threaten the safe ty and security of innocent citizens.*1 christy dunne said that he could not comment pub licly on the incident as he had gi en b detail ¦ nl to the police outlining the threats made against him and he now wanted the case fully investi gated amnesty probe call the case was : referred to amnesty international by republican sinn fein joe lynch spokesperson for the minister executive of the organisation said on august 1 2 he said that the incident was a serious abuse of police power and the victim was put in fear of his life by the mem bers of the emergency response unit the fact is that so far the garda response has been to deny the incident — to deny that it took place and to insist thai llie police were not involved said joe lynch for far too long we have heard this particular refrain from the garda authorities the time has now come for the police to answer the serious questions raised by this appalling incident if the police were not involved then why was there no protection offered to christy dunne so far the police have not reported back to the vic tim — they have said they are engaged in fully investigating the complaint made at roxboro garda station but to date there has been no contact made with christy dunne we are concerned with the continued protection oi civil liberties and for this rea son we are now supply ing full details of the abduction and descriptions of the undercover police involved to amnesty international and we are requesting a full investigation by amnesty international into this most appalling incident since this most s incident on august 18 special branch members dan haugh molloy and susan delaney boarded a bus going from limerick to a republican commemoration in kerry and took the names of all the passeng on monday august 19 people leaving a republican sinn fein meeting at the gaelic league hall had their names and addresses taken by four special branch mem bers people bu saoirse on o'connell street are being followed their names taken and they are being threatened the owner of a night club was visited by the special branch and told to sack named security men or he would not sell a pint after 12.30am the security man was sacked republican sinn fein said its members have a numb complaints with the garda complaints board for harass ment assault and public order we will not be intimi dated we will continue to carrj the republican message to our people the organisa tion said 98u ard-fheis 2002 dublin october 19-20 for further details contact ard-oifig 223 parnell street dublin 1 teil 872 9747 fax 872 9757 e-mail saoirse@iol ie