Over the past number of days tensions have been high in the Newlodge area of north Belfast with sporadic rioting taking place. The RUC/PSNI have made out to the media that trouble is being started by anti-social elements or youths in the area under the guidance of "older individuals" but, they have failed to mention their own actions which have been a leading factor in what is happening.
Our members on the ground have witnessed first hand the behaviour of crown forces who are acting in a militarized fashion and who have numerous armoured jeeps filled with heavy clad and armed riot squad, parked in the streets and carparks around the area aswell as mobile telescopic cameras watching the movements of local people going about their lives. On top of this, jeeps have been seen driving menacingly towards young people in the street with lights flashing, sirens blaring and engines revving in an attempt to draw the youth of the NewLodge into confrontation.
In the face of such intimidation and harassment it's easy to sympathise with the actions of young people who are, in a sense, being held to ramsom in their own area by a sectarian militia of the British state, as has been the recurring case in Republican areas for decades.
We would appeal to the youth of the NewLodge to be weary of the tactics being deployed by the British crown forces who will seek to manipulate natural community resistance as a tool in the media to demonize and criminalise the area.
This is the real face of British policing in Ireland, not the false portrayal of a friendly neighborhood police force providing a service to the community and keeping the peace.
Reject British policing in Ireland, Beir Bua!
Our members on the ground have witnessed first hand the behaviour of crown forces who are acting in a militarized fashion and who have numerous armoured jeeps filled with heavy clad and armed riot squad, parked in the streets and carparks around the area aswell as mobile telescopic cameras watching the movements of local people going about their lives. On top of this, jeeps have been seen driving menacingly towards young people in the street with lights flashing, sirens blaring and engines revving in an attempt to draw the youth of the NewLodge into confrontation.
In the face of such intimidation and harassment it's easy to sympathise with the actions of young people who are, in a sense, being held to ramsom in their own area by a sectarian militia of the British state, as has been the recurring case in Republican areas for decades.
We would appeal to the youth of the NewLodge to be weary of the tactics being deployed by the British crown forces who will seek to manipulate natural community resistance as a tool in the media to demonize and criminalise the area.
This is the real face of British policing in Ireland, not the false portrayal of a friendly neighborhood police force providing a service to the community and keeping the peace.
Reject British policing in Ireland, Beir Bua!
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