South Armagh is the most militarised area in Western Europe. The 23,000 people there are, say the South Armagh Farmers and Residents Committee, the most searched, stopped and spied upon in the world. There is a spypost, bristling with the latest hi-tech surveillance equipment, for every thousand people in that rural area. The construction continues. And the frequency of British Army and RUC patrolling and mobile checkpoints with their attendant harassment have risen since the IRA declared a ceasefire. Free article