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Eirigi disappointed with council motion failure

Eirígí in Newry have expressed their disappointment at the outcome of last Monday night’s council meeting during which a motion challenging alleged PSNI ‘harassment’ in the area failed to get passed.
The text of the motion read as follows: “This council notes, with grave concern, the ongoing harassment of republican activists in the Newry area by the PSNI. Members of the socialist republican party éirígí, along with other republicans, are being harassed on an almost daily basis while going about their everyday business and while engaging in legitimate political activities. This harassment includes regular stop and searches which in the past have been condemned by the European courts of human rights. It is imperative that Newry and Mourne District Council condemn this unnecessary harassment and call for this type of political policing to stop.”
Eirígí’s Stephen Murney spoke to Newry Times about the motion. “This was a motion regarding ongoing human rights abuses being carried out by the PSNI. It’s disappointing that the council failed to pass this motion. Constitutional nationalist councillors proposed that it should be amended. However, the proposed amendment would have simply watered down the motion by giving misplaced credence to obviously failed and cosmetic accountability mechanisms. The three so-called accountability mechanisms, namely the Police Ombudsman’s Office, the Policing Board and the district policing partnership have all proven themselves to be inherently flawed and ineffective.”
“Eirígí’s view is that these bodies have been proven to possess no powers capable of altering the ethos and impact of British policing in occupied Ireland. The fact that even members of the Policing Board have admitted that they have no powers to hold the PSNI to account further vindicates our analysis. There is no “new policing dispensation” as some claim. How can there be a “new dispensation” when most PSNI members served when the force was called the RUC? On top of that they continue to use repressive legislation and tactics the RUC used, so there’s nothing “new” about it,” Murney added.

Short URL: https://newrytimes.com/?p=7802

Posted by on Mar 7 2012. Filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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