Return of the NI security state?

By Barbara Muldoon

In the aftermath of the killing of three members of the
security forces, the Northern Ireland state has thrown every effort into
creating an idea that there are now only two sides in the North.

In an echo of
the ultimatum that was issued to people in order to pressure them into
supporting the US led “war on terror”, people in the North are being told that
they are either with the state or they are with the terrorists.  As was to be
expected, every mainstream political party has lined up very clearly behind the
state. Sinn Fein has fallen over themselves to be seen to be backing the PSNI
in their fight against anyone who would try to bring us back to “the bad old
days”.

The truth is that “the bad old days” were never that far
away to begin with.  Prior to the killings in early March, Hugh Orde announced
that the Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR) was to be brought into the North
to weed out dissident republicans.  The SRR are a shadowy unit who are anonymous,
unaccountable and highly sinister.  A few years ago two members of the unit
were discovered sitting in a car outside a Police station in Basra City, armed
to the teeth and dressed as Arabs.  At the time there had been rumours that
some of the attacks that were taking place in Iraq were being committed by
“outside forces” intent on fuelling a sectarian war.  Following their arrest,
the Iraqi Police were investigating just what the pair had been up to when
British tanks rolled up to the Police station, demolished much of the compound
and freed the two men.

Although the SRR as a unit are a recent addition to the
British army, they are far from new.  In fact they cut their teeth on the
people of Northern Ireland. An anonymous top level military source, speaking
after the unit was set up in 2005 said they would use “methods developed on the
mean streets of Ulster during the Troubles. We got very good at doing this in
Northern Ireland in the 1980s and 1990s, and now we want to transfer this
capability to the global war on terrorism”. The source was referring to the
fact that the unit encompasses elements such as the Force Research Unit (FRU)
who are known to have colluded extensively with loyalists in the killings of a
huge number of innocent Catholics.

It is not just the SRR who should not be trusted. The
reality is that many of those who serve in the PSNI are the same officers who
served in the old RUC and who were also responsible for colluding in the
killings of numerous innocent Catholics, most notably Rosemary Nelson, the
human rights lawyer.

Following the killings of the three in March, the Police
rounded up and interned a number of prominent republicans.  Most of these had
not aligned themselves with “armed struggle dissidents” but were nevertheless critical
of the PSNI and critical of Sinn Fein’s support of them. Most of these were not
charged. Instead, use was made of the draconian 28 day detention now available
to the Police. Most of them have now been released.

Of course, much is made of the fact that the Police are now
accountable to the NI Policing Board.  Less is made of the fact that two of the
members of the board are members of the deeply sectarian Orange Order and that
other notable members include Ian Paisley Jnr, a man widely regarded as a
sectarian bigot who has publicly stated that gay people are “abhorrent”.  Even
less is made of the fact that Hugh Orde didn’t even bother to tell the Policing
Board when he decided to deploy the SRR.

It is not just republicans who fall foul of the PSNI.  On
17th March this year, the PSNI went into the Holylands area of South Belfast
and confronted students celebrating St Patrick’s Day.  The Police said they
were forced to go into the area after drunken students rioted.  Videos posted
on Youtube show the students sitting out in their gardens and in the street
drinking and generally having a good time. It can clearly be seen that events
were entirely good natured until jeeps drafted in dozens of Police officers in
riot gear.

Then, at the end of March, the Northern Ireland football
team played Poland at Windsor Park in Belfast. On the day of the game, there
were violent clashes between the fans on both sides. The Police heaped the
entire blame onto the Polish supporters.  A number of Polish fans were arrested
and appeared in court. The Police did not arrest one single Northern Ireland
fan. Nor did they make one single arrest when later that night the homes of up
to thirty Polish families were attacked in an area less than a mile from the
football ground.    

The northern state is not something that should be defended.
It is a deeply reactionary repressive entity that should be opposed by
everyone.