4 December 1997 Edition
PeaceWatch slams Britain over Drumcree
United States human rights group, PeaceWatch Ireland, last week launched their report on the events on the Garvaghy Road in this July this year.
Seven PeaceWatch delegates were with the Garvaghy Road community from 4-6 July and, crucially, they witnessed the RUC and British Army attack which left nationalist residents beaten and angry and led to widespread rioting in nationalist areas.
In their report, PeaceWatch say that British forces ``without provocation and without issuing a verbal order to disperse, attacked unarmed protestors.'' They report that the British government chose a military rather than a political solution.
The report recommends that the RUC ``must be replaced'' and the British military ``must reduce its presence in Northern Ireland, with the goal of withdrawing its armed forces.'' They also say that plastic bullets must be banned.
Pat Maher, the founder of PeaceWatch Ireland, who was present at the report's launch in Buswell's Hotel in Dublin on Thursday 27 November, said that she did not believe that the Parades Commission was adequate for dealing with the marching issue. ``The legislation still leaves [the final decision] at the door of the Chief Constable and the Secretary of State,'' she said.
Seven PeaceWatch delegates were with the Garvaghy Road community from 4-6 July and, crucially, they witnessed the RUC and British Army attack which left nationalist residents beaten and angry and led to widespread rioting in nationalist areas.
In their report, PeaceWatch say that British forces ``without provocation and without issuing a verbal order to disperse, attacked unarmed protestors.'' They report that the British government chose a military rather than a political solution.
The report recommends that the RUC ``must be replaced'' and the British military ``must reduce its presence in Northern Ireland, with the goal of withdrawing its armed forces.'' They also say that plastic bullets must be banned.
Pat Maher, the founder of PeaceWatch Ireland, who was present at the report's launch in Buswell's Hotel in Dublin on Thursday 27 November, said that she did not believe that the Parades Commission was adequate for dealing with the marching issue. ``The legislation still leaves [the final decision] at the door of the Chief Constable and the Secretary of State,'' she said.