Internment Anniversary Marked in Dublin and Enniskillen

The thirty-eighth anniversary of the introduction of internment was marked yesterday (Saturday) with éirígí protests in Dublin and Enniskillen. At both locations the theme of protest was the same – demanding an end to 28-day detention and the use of plastic bullets by the occupation forces.

Over 60 éirígí activists and supporters attended the protest outside the British Embassy in Dublin, while 25 people joined the protest at the PSNI barracks in Enniskillen.

Banners and placards bearing the slogans ‘End 28-day detention’, ‘Plastic bullets kill’, ‘Britain out of Ireland’ and ‘PSNI - RUC No Change’ were well received in both locations with many motorists beeping their car horns in support.

At the Dublin protest éirígí’s Ursula Ní Shionnain read the names of all seventeen people killed by plastic bullets, before a minute’s silence was observed in their memory.

Speaking outside of the British Embassy, éirígí chairperson Brian Leeson said: “It is encouraging to see so many people here today. 28-day detention is simply internment by a different name. Its introduction marks a significant roll-back of basic civil liberties that were hard fought for over many years. The fact that a 17 year old was detained under this legislation earlier this year is a particularly worrying development.”

Brian continued, “It is no coincidence that in the last six months we have seen the introduction of 28 detentions, the re-deployment of British Army Special Forces and plastic bullets being used again. All of these measures are part of the wider British counter-insurgency strategy in Ireland. Protests like today’s are important in highlighting the fact that the nature of the occupation remains fundamentally unchanged, despite the veneer of normalisation that Britain is so keen to promote.”

Sligo éirígí activist Gerry Casey, who attended the Enniskillen demonstration, said that "those politicians and political parties that support the Good Friday Agreement and who have now given their full support to the PSNI claimed an era of supposedly “accountable” policing was at hand."

He added: "The repressive tactics of the PSNI in recent months however have left those claims lying in tatters. While they may have changed their name and uniform, the PSNI remain the same discredited, human rights abusing, British paramilitary police force, intent on stifling all political opposition to the British occupation."

He concluded: "Sinn Fein and the SDLP must now admit that they have failed to reform the PSNI as they claimed they would do. They must now withdraw their support for British policing in Ireland."

Oppose Plastic Bullets and Twenty-Eight Day Detention Public Protest, 2pm, Saturday August 8, British Embassy, Dublin

In 2009, Britain has reintroduced internment without trial to Ireland, in the form of twenty-eight day detention periods. Irish citizens can now be held by the occupation forces for up to four weeks without being charged or convicted. Earlier this year republicans were detained for the first time using this draconian legislation.

If further evidence was needed of the true nature of Britain’s role in Ireland the behaviour of the paramilitary PSNI on July 13, 2009 provides it. As residents of the Ardoyne district of North Belfast gathered on that date to peacefully protest against an unwanted sectarian march, they were met by hundreds of PSNI members in full riot gear. Within hours the PSNI were indiscriminately firing plastic bullets, injuring ten people.

Plastic and rubber bullets have already killed seventeen people in Ireland. The use of such lethal weapons for ‘crowd control’ purposes has long been condemned by all right-thinking people across Ireland and beyond.

On August 8th 2009 éirígí will hold a public protest outside of the British Embassy in Dublin to mark the introduction of internment in 1971 and to oppose both twenty-eight day detention and the use of plastic bullets today.

Speaking in advance of the protest éirígí chairperson Brian Leeson said, “Over the course of the last twelve months there has been a dramatic escalation in British operations in Ireland. We have seen the British Army redeployed in the form of the Special Reconnaissance Regiment, twenty-eight day detention introduced, peaceful protests forcibly suppressed, and most recently we have seen plastic bullets being fired once again. In addition there has been a noticeable upsurge in harassment and attempts to recruit informers.

“Our protest on August 8 will give people in Dublin an opportunity to show their opposition to the ongoing occupation in general and twenty-eight day detention and plastic bullet use in particular. I would encourage everyone who supports Irish freedom to come along to the protest and make their voice heard.”