Post by Sinn Féin Poblachtach - Cork on Mar 22, 2007 1:49:48 GMT
Harassment of Sinn Féin (Poblachtach) continues
THE harassment of members of Republican Sinn Féin continues on both sides of the British imposed border.
In the run-up to the Stormont elections in the Occupied Six Counties many of the members and supporters were stopped, questioned and delayed on their canvass for no other reason than to disrupt their canvass. The Director of Elections, Michael Lavelle, was singled out for particular attention and on two occasions was held for more than an hour while his car and himself were searched.
Since then two plain-clothes RUC/PSNI have called to the Sinn Féin office on the Falls Road on the pretext of looking for video footage covering the outside of the shop in their investigation into a murder. The murder that took place was nowhere near the office and could have no possible bearing on video footage outside the office. The ‘normalisation’ policy of accepting British rule did not take long to come to the Falls Road so soon after the Provisionals accepted British policing. Not for many years have two RUC men walked down the Falls Road on their own without the full back-up of the British Army let alone knock on the door of a Republican office.
Towards the end of last week two members of Republican Sinn Féin in Belfast were visited in their homes by uniformed RUC/PSNI members and informed that their lives are under threat from a previously unknown group.
In Dublin in the early hours of March 14, the home of a member was raided by plainclothes gardaí. At about 4am they knocked up the family and in a very aggressive way proceeded to turn the house up-side down. Out in the garden ornaments were overturned and the garden shed emptied of its contents. They said they were looking for a gun and said that the raid was in direct relation to a shooting that had taken place the previous evening. Naturally nothing was found and the gardaí moved out leaving the house and shed in shambles.
On two occasions over the last two weeks members of a family were stopped and questioned in Tallaght. The first was by Special Branchman Eric Brennan and the second time by Sgt O’Reilly. One of the family members is a member of RSF so again the pressure is being applied to people to leave the organisation. The first occasion two people were entering the house when Brennan pulled up along side them and asked for their names and addresses and asked one non-member why was he going to the house. On the second occasion a car with three male occupants (one a member) was searched under the Drugs Act by O’Reilly.
The 26-County Special Branch have tried to intimidate many of the younger members in Dublin into leaving the organisation. Mobile phones are taken from people for no reason on a regular basis. Money too is taken from people without any justification. The public coming into the bookstore in Parnell Street are subjected to stop, question and search when they leave – in some cases they have been told that they are not to go into the shop again.
If you are stopped by the gardaí/Special Branch, ask for identification, why you are being stopped and under what act. Write down their names and if you are unhappy with their conduct go to a solicitor, don’t put up with intimidation and harassment.
www.rsfcork.com
THE harassment of members of Republican Sinn Féin continues on both sides of the British imposed border.
In the run-up to the Stormont elections in the Occupied Six Counties many of the members and supporters were stopped, questioned and delayed on their canvass for no other reason than to disrupt their canvass. The Director of Elections, Michael Lavelle, was singled out for particular attention and on two occasions was held for more than an hour while his car and himself were searched.
Since then two plain-clothes RUC/PSNI have called to the Sinn Féin office on the Falls Road on the pretext of looking for video footage covering the outside of the shop in their investigation into a murder. The murder that took place was nowhere near the office and could have no possible bearing on video footage outside the office. The ‘normalisation’ policy of accepting British rule did not take long to come to the Falls Road so soon after the Provisionals accepted British policing. Not for many years have two RUC men walked down the Falls Road on their own without the full back-up of the British Army let alone knock on the door of a Republican office.
Towards the end of last week two members of Republican Sinn Féin in Belfast were visited in their homes by uniformed RUC/PSNI members and informed that their lives are under threat from a previously unknown group.
In Dublin in the early hours of March 14, the home of a member was raided by plainclothes gardaí. At about 4am they knocked up the family and in a very aggressive way proceeded to turn the house up-side down. Out in the garden ornaments were overturned and the garden shed emptied of its contents. They said they were looking for a gun and said that the raid was in direct relation to a shooting that had taken place the previous evening. Naturally nothing was found and the gardaí moved out leaving the house and shed in shambles.
On two occasions over the last two weeks members of a family were stopped and questioned in Tallaght. The first was by Special Branchman Eric Brennan and the second time by Sgt O’Reilly. One of the family members is a member of RSF so again the pressure is being applied to people to leave the organisation. The first occasion two people were entering the house when Brennan pulled up along side them and asked for their names and addresses and asked one non-member why was he going to the house. On the second occasion a car with three male occupants (one a member) was searched under the Drugs Act by O’Reilly.
The 26-County Special Branch have tried to intimidate many of the younger members in Dublin into leaving the organisation. Mobile phones are taken from people for no reason on a regular basis. Money too is taken from people without any justification. The public coming into the bookstore in Parnell Street are subjected to stop, question and search when they leave – in some cases they have been told that they are not to go into the shop again.
If you are stopped by the gardaí/Special Branch, ask for identification, why you are being stopped and under what act. Write down their names and if you are unhappy with their conduct go to a solicitor, don’t put up with intimidation and harassment.
www.rsfcork.com
