Issue 177, Saoirse: Irish Freedom (January, 2002)

              1 w w f it irish freedom the voice of the republican movement uimh177 eana1r — january 2002 http://saoirse.rr.nu 1 70p stg usa 30 p.a provo support special branch integration the aim ruair 6 bradaigh president republican sinn fein has stated on december 14 that the current imbroglio between the six-county police ombudsman and the ruc/psni establishment is clearly a device to draw the provos into the new policing board and into recruiting for the renamed british police force in ireland in view of the denials on all sides in the six counties of responsibility for the leaking of the ombudsman's report it would appear that british intelligence under the direct control of the westminster government must bear the weight of that charge in this way the english establishment hopes to discredit and remove the top tier of the ruc/psni and integrate the special branch into the renamed strur thereby making the new police arrangements acceptable and getting the provos active support as i hundreds of nationalists took to the streets of ardoyne in north belfast on january 9 following attacks on parents collecting their children from holy cross girls primary school the loyalists resumed their blockade and campaign of terror against the school and for the first time the building itself was attacked and was forced to close for the following day when the parents went up the ardoyne road to collect their children from school loyalists punched and jostled them one nationalist woman was punched by three loyalist men and another woman was struck by a car three nationalist residents going up the crumlin road to assist their neighbours were hit by a shotgun blast fired by loyalists residents homes were attacked on the crumlin road the holy cross children had to be taken home by bus as we went to press the disturbances escalated with nationalists attacking the british crown forces and loyalists from the glenbryn area attacking nationalists and the crown forces helicopters 200 british troops and 300 ruc/psni officers were in the area and at least two residents were struck by plastic bullets and hospitalised the conflict widened out from the glenbryn and ardoyne road areas as cars were hijacked and set on fire and petrol bombs were thrown at the crown forces the chairman of the school's board of governors fr aidan troy said that in reality the dispute never ended parents and children had endured 13 weeks of verbal and physical abuse starting in june 2001 and resuming in september until it was suspended in december in a similar fashion the previous loyalist picket on harryville catholic church in ballymena had lasted 18 months reducing the building to a blockhouse fortification in truth these tragic events are the outworkings of an agreement which raised contrary expectations in a most duplicitous fashion republican sinn fein has been saying from the start that the stormont agreement aiming as it did to please everyone by assuring both nationalists and loyalists that they had won would serve only to increase conflict and sectarianism the loyalists feel under threat that their ascendancy will be lost and have carried out a campaign of nightly pipe bomb attacks on nationalist in their homes the republican analysis is supported by the findings of a survey by the university of ulster january 4 which has shown segregation and sectarianism have increased since the current process began among young people 60 had never had a meaningful conversation with anyone from the other community while 60 of all age groups had been verbally or physically attacked in belfast research has shown that only five per cent of nationalists had jobs in loyalist areas and eight per cent of loyalist worked in companies in nationalists areas sixty-three per cent of the population in belfast lived in areas 90 loyalist or 90 nationalist and these figures rose to 66 by 200 1 . ardoyne runts in the 1996 drumcree protests by loyalists had resulted in 3,000 people living in areas dominated by the other community returning to live in areas dominated by their own between 1996 and 2001 6,000 families have moved in this manner another example of the way the stormont agreement has aggravated the situation in the six occupied counties is in the figures of punishment attacks which reached an all-time high in 2001 the number of punishment shootings last year was just two incidents less than the highest annual total in 1975 all of which supports the republican argument that the stormont agreement is unworkable because it promised totally contradictory ultimate objectives to unionists on one hand and to nationalists on the other british rule and irish national independence cannot be reconciled and one or other must yield in the long term the agreement is a recipe for continuing instability and sectarianism the only viable alternative to decades of drumcrees harryvilles and holy cross schools is the new federal ireland free from british rule nua feilire poblachtach republican resistance calendar 2002 resistance from this month the price of saoirse will increase to 1 7 op stg the cost of producing the paper rose substantially in 2001 and we regret that we must now pass this increase on to our readers we would like to take this opportunity to thank all our readers and look forward to your continued support in the future there can never be peace m freiand until the foreign oppressive british presence fc removed leaving nil the trish jgfr c-ople as a unit to control their own affairs and determine their own destiniet as a ereiga people free in mind and body separate and distinct pbysicalty culturally and economically bobby sands 1954-1*8 4 3stg each 5/£4 stg including p&p order now from 223 parnel street dublin 1 telephone 872 9747 e-mail saoirse@jol.ie ath tain re ar leitheoiri go