2 October 1997 Edition
Growing SF Youth protests
By Eoin O'Broin
Sinn Féin Youth took to the streets last weekend calling for the disbandment of the RUC.
On Sunday a crowd gathered outside Mountpottinger RUC barracks in East Belfast with flags, banners, placards and whistles. Youth activists, children and parents joined in the display of colour and resistance. At one point a number of youths scaled the front of the barracks and placed tricolours at a high vantage point.
On Monday, on the Crumlin Road, a crowd of local youths staged a similar protest calling for RUC disbandment and release of political prisoners. The protest was organised by the Ardoyne Sinn Féin Youth group.
Sinn Féin Youth activists from Belfast, South Armagh and Omagh staged a protest outside Lisanally British army barracks in Omagh town. Amid a heavy RUC presence, the activists marched from the barracks through the town to the courthouse in the town centre. The protest passed off without incident, although the visiting activists from Belfast and Armagh were given a heavy RUC escort from Omagh town.
Speaking after the Omagh rally, Sinn Féin Youth activist Deirdre Feehan said that "at present our protests are small, but as each week goes by the crowds are getting bigger. Young republicans are starting to have their voices heard across the north, in Camlough, in Omagh, in Derry and in Belfast".
Sinn Féin Youth took to the streets last weekend calling for the disbandment of the RUC.
On Sunday a crowd gathered outside Mountpottinger RUC barracks in East Belfast with flags, banners, placards and whistles. Youth activists, children and parents joined in the display of colour and resistance. At one point a number of youths scaled the front of the barracks and placed tricolours at a high vantage point.
On Monday, on the Crumlin Road, a crowd of local youths staged a similar protest calling for RUC disbandment and release of political prisoners. The protest was organised by the Ardoyne Sinn Féin Youth group.
Sinn Féin Youth activists from Belfast, South Armagh and Omagh staged a protest outside Lisanally British army barracks in Omagh town. Amid a heavy RUC presence, the activists marched from the barracks through the town to the courthouse in the town centre. The protest passed off without incident, although the visiting activists from Belfast and Armagh were given a heavy RUC escort from Omagh town.
Speaking after the Omagh rally, Sinn Féin Youth activist Deirdre Feehan said that "at present our protests are small, but as each week goes by the crowds are getting bigger. Young republicans are starting to have their voices heard across the north, in Camlough, in Omagh, in Derry and in Belfast".