15 November 2001 Edition
McGuinness slams British Army harassment in Tyrone
Mid-Ulster MP Martin Mc Guinness has called for an immediate end to the increasing British Army activity and harassment of Nationalists in the East and South Tyrone areas.
"Over the last few weeks we have had a number of reports of constituents being held at British Army, RIR checkpoints for over an hour for absolutely no other reason than they are nationalists,"
said McGuinness on Saturday last. "There has been a continuous and heavy British Army presence in the Dungannon area over the past year. More recently, the level of harassment has increased significantly. Two of our councillors were detained about a fortnight ago by the British Army/RIR for a period of time. Last Thursday, three local people were stopped and detained for over an hour by a British Army/RIR patrol outside Donaghmore.
"They were simply unable to provide any reason for detaining the men when asked to do so. It certainly was not the case that they needed to check identities as they were referring to all three on first name terms. It is highly significant that the details of at least one of those concerned was found in the hands of loyalist murder squads having originally been part of a military dossier.
"This type of behaviour is pure and simple harassment of nationalists. I will be writing to the Dublin government and to John Reid to demand an end to this and for a full explanation of the reason for the behaviour. The people of Tyrone are not prepared to accept this behaviour from either the British Army or the RUC.
"The history of collusion between the UDR/RIR and pro-Union death squads is well documented. It would appear that the leopard has yet to change its spots despite all the gloss and PR gimmickry from the British Government.
"This lesson should very quickly be learned by those who are now urging support for the repackaged RUC."
"Over the last few weeks we have had a number of reports of constituents being held at British Army, RIR checkpoints for over an hour for absolutely no other reason than they are nationalists,"
said McGuinness on Saturday last. "There has been a continuous and heavy British Army presence in the Dungannon area over the past year. More recently, the level of harassment has increased significantly. Two of our councillors were detained about a fortnight ago by the British Army/RIR for a period of time. Last Thursday, three local people were stopped and detained for over an hour by a British Army/RIR patrol outside Donaghmore.
"They were simply unable to provide any reason for detaining the men when asked to do so. It certainly was not the case that they needed to check identities as they were referring to all three on first name terms. It is highly significant that the details of at least one of those concerned was found in the hands of loyalist murder squads having originally been part of a military dossier.
"This type of behaviour is pure and simple harassment of nationalists. I will be writing to the Dublin government and to John Reid to demand an end to this and for a full explanation of the reason for the behaviour. The people of Tyrone are not prepared to accept this behaviour from either the British Army or the RUC.
"The history of collusion between the UDR/RIR and pro-Union death squads is well documented. It would appear that the leopard has yet to change its spots despite all the gloss and PR gimmickry from the British Government.
"This lesson should very quickly be learned by those who are now urging support for the repackaged RUC."