9 August 2007 Edition
Support the demand for Truth - wear a black ribbon
The struggle for truth about the reality and consequences of British state violence in Ireland is the theme for this Sunday’s national march and rally in Belfast.
March organisers also want to highlight in particular, the issue collusion between British forces and unionist paramilitaries and the state cover-up of murderous operations by the British military and their loyalist surrogates against the nationalist population in various parts of the North and in the 26 Counties.
British policy in Ireland over the past number of decades resulted in many thousands of victims being killed, injured or bereaved. It is now time that the British Government came clean and admitted that state murder was official policy in the North throughout the recent armed conflict. The facts are that the combined actions of official British state forces and unionist paramilitaries resulted in 1,414 deaths.
The various activities of the British state involved shoot-to-kill operations, the indiscriminate use of rubber and plastic bullets, and the setting up, arming and direction of unionist paramilitary death squads. These death squads were used to assassinate political opponents and to carry out widespread sectarian murder with the aim of terrorising the nationalist and republican population.
Collusion with unionist paramilitaries was a central plank of British policy and a series of reports in recent times by the Ombudsman’s office has exposed the extent to which British armed forces and the RUC controlled and directed the death squads.
Naturally the British state wants to bury the truth of what happened in the North over the past four decades or so. But victims’ groups are determined to get them to admit the truth - that the murder of nationalists was a routine, state policy.
This week also marks the anniversary of internment without trial in the Six Counties. In the course of the first three days of the internment operation 26 people were killed, 11 of these deaths occurred in the Ballymurphy area of Belfast alone. This marked the early days of the British army’s shoot-kill-policy that led to so many deaths in subsequent years.
Those attending Sunday’s march and those who cannot attend but who support the demand for Truth are being asked to wear a black ribbon in solidarity with the all the victims and their families.
March organisers also want to highlight in particular, the issue collusion between British forces and unionist paramilitaries and the state cover-up of murderous operations by the British military and their loyalist surrogates against the nationalist population in various parts of the North and in the 26 Counties.
British policy in Ireland over the past number of decades resulted in many thousands of victims being killed, injured or bereaved. It is now time that the British Government came clean and admitted that state murder was official policy in the North throughout the recent armed conflict. The facts are that the combined actions of official British state forces and unionist paramilitaries resulted in 1,414 deaths.
The various activities of the British state involved shoot-to-kill operations, the indiscriminate use of rubber and plastic bullets, and the setting up, arming and direction of unionist paramilitary death squads. These death squads were used to assassinate political opponents and to carry out widespread sectarian murder with the aim of terrorising the nationalist and republican population.
Collusion with unionist paramilitaries was a central plank of British policy and a series of reports in recent times by the Ombudsman’s office has exposed the extent to which British armed forces and the RUC controlled and directed the death squads.
Naturally the British state wants to bury the truth of what happened in the North over the past four decades or so. But victims’ groups are determined to get them to admit the truth - that the murder of nationalists was a routine, state policy.
This week also marks the anniversary of internment without trial in the Six Counties. In the course of the first three days of the internment operation 26 people were killed, 11 of these deaths occurred in the Ballymurphy area of Belfast alone. This marked the early days of the British army’s shoot-kill-policy that led to so many deaths in subsequent years.
Those attending Sunday’s march and those who cannot attend but who support the demand for Truth are being asked to wear a black ribbon in solidarity with the all the victims and their families.