Youth activists rooftop protest

Ógra Shinn Fein in strabane held a Smash Political Policing protest at railway street in the town on Saturday 27 May. The protest was in response to the recent harassment of young republicans in west Tyrone by the RUC/PSNI.

During the protest, a number of Ógra activists occupied the rooftop of the library and dropped a banner reading Smash Political Policing Now. The protestors sounded airhorns and whistles to get the public's attention, while activists on the ground distributed information leaflets on political policing.

While returning from the protest one young activist was approached and grabbed by a member of the PSNI, though when confronted by another group of protestors the harassment ceased.

Speaking on the protest Ógra Shinn Fein spokesperson Seán Mac Giolla Easpaig said, "Today young people have decided to challenge the injustices carried out on a daily basis by the RUC/PSNI. The use of this police force as a political tool against Republicans by those with a unionist securocrat agenda, is an accepted fact and has been in operation since the formation of the state police in the six counties. If we are to move into the future in an Ireland of equals, then political and sectarian policing must be confined to the history books". " We in Ógra Shinn Féin will continue to challenge and expose the political, partisan nature of this so-called "new police service".