12-year-old arrested for speaking Irish

Members of the PSNI stopped and assaulted 12-year-old Garvan Brown after he was asked a question and answered them in Irish.

The assault happened as he walked through the Fernabbey estate in Derry with his older sister at around 1pm on Tuesday 12 August.

The schoolboy told how two PSNI members were sitting in a car with the door opened and as he walked past one of them said something.

"I turned to my sister and asked "Cad é a dúirt sé?" which is Irish for what did he say. Then the PSNI men jumped out of the car and asked me what kind of language I was using."

At this point, the PSNI officers arrested the boy, grabbed him by his arms and tried to force him into the car. According to a PSNI spokesperson, the boy was arrested for disorderly behaviour but was 'de arrested' when a crowd gathered.

The boy's father, Sean, said it was a disgrace that his son could be treated in this way. "The only reason I can see for what happened to my son was he was speaking Gaelic and wearing a Celtic football top," he said.

Sinn Féin councillor Gearóid Ó hEára said the sectarian and racist attitudes of the PSNI lies at the route of this assault and their actions gives a clear example of the problems that remain in the current policing arrangements.