23 July 1998 Edition

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SFY protest against harassment

Sinn Féin Youth members in Dublin protested at what they termed ``renewed efforts by the Gardaí Special Branch to harass and intimidate'' them.

The protest was held outside the Special Branch headquarters in Dublin's Harcourt Street. Dublin SFY Co-ordinator Matt Carthy said, ``Last Friday alone 13 members of SFY along with five international guests were stopped and questioned by a known Special Branch Garda and his colleagues, who refused to disclose their names.''

SFY members held posters at the picket bearing the names of some offending Gardaí. One Garda, posted at the gate of the station, physically assaulted a SFY member, quite unashamedly, in full view of passers by. The young man, who had not commited an offence, displayed remarkable patience and dignity considering the extent of the assaults.

Carthy, who also said that one Special Branch Garda had initiated a campaign of intimidation by driving past various members' homes while ensuring ``that the political activists knew that it was them he was surveying'', commended the resolve of SFY members in the face of this ``pathetic behaviour'' and concluded that ``Sinn Féin Youth refuse to allow this situation to continue. We will not allow the Gardaí or anyone else to hamper the work we have undertaken.'' Efforts to intimidate, he said ``are in vain''.

 

SFY builds contacts in London

Sinn Fein Youth national organiser Eoin O'Broin met several youth and student groups in London on the weekend of 11/12 July.

He was there to speak at a student conference organised by the Student Broad Left group, a coalition of student union officers from across England. Speaking during a session on Ireland O'Broin gave a political briefing on the state of the peace process. Focusing on the Orange Order's siege of the Garvaghy Road he said that ``some media commentators are presenting this issue as a conflict between two intransigent sides. This is simply a lie. The residents have bent over backwards to create a solution to this situation, it is the Orange Order who is refusing to budge.''

The conference dealt with issues such as the American blockade of Cuba, British government cuts to education grants, anti-racism and a range of other issues.

During the day O'Broin also met with British Labour MP Ken Livingstone and lobbied him over increasing levels of militarisation in nationalist areas of the six counties.

Student Broad Left organised a series of meetings for the SFY representative. O'Broin met with National Assembly Against Racism activists Atma Singh and Brooks Duke. Meetings were also held with Student Broad Left officers and Young Labour Left activists, a left lobby group within the British Labour party.

O'Broin also had the opportunity of meeting with Bengali young people in a youth project in inner city Tower Hamlets.

O'Broin said that ``the weekend was a valuable experience for both Sinn Fein Youth and those we met. It is clear that the Black and Asian communities suffer similar problems to young nationalists especially in terms of policing and discrimination. There are many areas where a common dialogue is possible and we are looking at some of these for work in the future.''

 


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Ireland