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29 April 1999 Edition

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Glasgow police brutalise nationalists

Scottish police have been accused of abusing the rights of six young people from Belfast after sisters Tina, Jackie and Joleen O'Neill, brother and sister Marty and Cathleen Flood and another friend, Alison Jackson, were attacked by Glasgow police last week.

The six had been in Glasgow for the funeral of Tina's husband, Brendan Sharkey, and had been out for the night on Wednesday, 20 April, when one of the women was arrested..

The following day, Strathclyde police raided the house in which the six, from Ligoniel in North Belfast, were staying. One of the women, Tina O'Neill, told An Phoblacht that she was denied medical attention despite being in a distressed state, and another woman who was menstruating said she was denied sanitary towels.

All six, who were held overnight, were charged with assault and resisting arrest. Despite being held in the police barracks overnight, none were questioned about the incidents with which they were charged.

Kevin Winters, from solicitors Madden and Finucane, said the case was one of the most serious abuses of rights he had seen and that he was in the process of arranging for a Glasgow solicitor to defend the charges and to investigate the possibility of suing the Strathclyde Police for wrongful arrest.

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