In the past few days residents of a Newry housing estate have approached the Republican party Saoradh with grave concerns about the involvement of the PSNI in a community based fun day which took part in the Barcroft estate.
A representative of Saoradh said:
“A PSNI vehicle and armed personnel complete with guns were present in what can only be described as a meek attempt to normalise British state forces in the Newry area.
Disturbingly one of the PSNI members pictured at the event, Warren Roberts, has been personally involved in the harassment of Republican families in the Newry area.”
“The residents also said that they had received no prior notice that the PSNI would be taking part in the events.
A number of residents from the Barcroft estate contacted Saoradh’s Newry office regarding the PSNI’s presence at this event.
Those residents said that their families, including children, were unable to attend the event due to the PSNI presence.”
“That presence, they said, effectively meant that the fun-day was not the inclusive or welcoming event it should have been for all residents of the estate.
While the community group in question should be commended for organising a very successful community festival, it’s very unfortunate that they felt the need to invite members of the British state forces to take part, in effect they actually took a political position.”
“It should also be mentioned that a number of families in Newry, including the Barcroft estate, have in the past been subjected to early morning house raids by this same force, and young children have also had to go through the ordeal of watching their parents having to endure hundreds of stop and searches at the hands of this force with their children present.
In fact, a number of residents of the Barcroft area have had incidents of PSNI harassment and brutality logged and documented with the independent human rights organisation CAJ and their legal representatives.”
“What we have here is a situation where some local community associations seem to ignore the reality of the adverse impact that the PSNI is having within our communities, particularly in regards to young children.
They ignore the harassment, house raids and arrests and pursue a strategy of providing fig-leaf cover for the force by including them in events such as this. It’s part of the long running “charm offensive” strategy that goes back to when the force was named the RUC.”
“On another more serious note, it’s quite alarming that these PSNI gunmen and women were carrying firearms in the vicinity of children. All right-thinking people would agree that loaded weapons should not be permitted to be anywhere near young children.
We would urge local community groups to seriously reconsider such attempts to normalise an abnormal force. If they insist on inviting the PSNI to participate in such events then they should have the courtesy of giving residents prior notice to ensure that young children with previous traumatic experiences at the hands of the PSNI won’t have to endure further stress and trauma.”
ENDS/CRÍOCH
CLANRYE NEWS 