Crown forces pile into Springfield Road residents

national | miscellaneous | news report Saturday July 20, 2002 17:35 by McMean

An eleven-year-old schoolgirl was taken to Grosvenor Road barracks and was illegally questioned and forcibly fingerprinted despite the fact that she was a minor.

A clearly pregnant woman, who pleaded for the safety of her
unborn child, was deliberately batoned in the stomach by the
PSNI/RUC and had to be rushed to hospital.

A Catholic man was beaten, thrown into a jeep by the PSNI, driven
to a loyalist area where he feared he might be handed over to a
loyalist mob, before being released without charge.

These are just three reasons why nationalist residents on the
Springfield Road view the PSNI as nothing more than the RUC in
another guise. All three incidents occurred on 12 July and were
part of a PSNI and British Army operation to facilitate an
illegal Orange Order parade through a nationalist area of West
Belfast.

According to legislation governing parades in the north of
Ireland, at least 14 days notice must be given prior to any
proposed march. By 3pm on 11 July, just a few hours before the
Orange Order intended to march into nationalist West Belfast, no
application had been forthcoming.

At the time, a spokesperson for the Springfield Residents, Action
Group, Frances McAuley, said residents would be "watching with
interest to see how this particular legal difficulty is
overcome".

Earlier in the week, the residents had officially withdrawn from
a process of consultation with the Parades Commission after a
number of proposals by the community were rejected out of hand.

"We are not prepared to facilitate, as we have done in previous
years, the Orange Order's march through our area - we have seen
every attempt at an accommodation thrown back in our face,"
Frances McAuley had said.

Residents called for the Orange Order to reroute away from the
flashpoint area of Workman's Avenue to the former Mackies site.

To appreciate the bizarre lengths to which the British government
and relevant authorities are prepared to go in order to force an
anti-Catholic parade through a Catholic neighbourhood, a little
knowledge of local geography is necessary.

Access to the nationalist Springfield Road from the loyalist
Ainsworth Avenue is only possible through a gate in the peace
wall. The gate, which is wide enough for vehicles to pass
through, is permanently welded shut with the exception of two
days a year.

One day in June and on 12 July, British Army engineers break the
seal to facilitate three Orange Order marches into nationalist
West Belfast. The soldiers return to reweld the gate after the
parades.

This year, despite the fact that Orangemen had even failed to
meet the legal requirements necessary, the PSNI and British Army
mounted a massive military operation to enable 12 Orangemen to
breach a peace wall and march along the nationalist Springfield
Road.

According to local residents, the scale of the military operation
even rivalled that at Drumcree. The unprovoked ferocity with
which a peaceful protest by local residents was baton charged and
fired upon by PSNI officers and British soldiers (firing over 40
plastic bullets) certainly rivalled Drumcree.

Despite the fact that Orangemen pelted members of the PSNI riot
squad and the British Army with bricks and breeze blocks, only
three plastic bullets were fired at Drumcree.

At one moment during the sustained Crown force assault on the
Springfield Road, by contrast, one PSNI officer was overheard
boasting that he had fired 17 plastic bullets within a matter of
minutes. Officially, the PSNI claim they 'only' fired 26 plastic
bullets.

Describing the PSNI offensive as a "total and absolute
onslaught", local community worker Sean O'Hare said the PSNI's
actions on the Springfield Road, compared to their softly, softly
approach at Drumcree, "shows that the PSNI continues to act in a
sectarian way against the nationalist community".

Tensions within the West Belfast community, already running high,
had been further fuelled when earlier in the day eleven-year-old
schoolgirl Leanne Dillon had been arrested and taken to Grosvenor
barracks. The child is believed to have been involved in a minor
incident during which a small stick had been throw towards a PSNI
patrol.

Instead of seeking out the child's parents, the PSNI immediately
arrested her and she was driven away. At the barracks she was
questioned, despite the fact that as a minor she was entitled to
an accompanying adult. As if this wasn't sufficiently traumatic,
although parental permission was refused, the child was forcibly
fingerprinted before being released.

A short time later, the PSNI mounted a full-scale baton and
plastic bullet attack against peaceful protestors. A young
pregnant woman was standing beside a local SDLP councillor when a
PSNI officer deliberately batoned her in the stomach.

Moments before the entirely unprovoked attack, the woman had
informed the baton-wielding officer of her pregnancy and pleaded
to be left alone. The PSNI officer's response was to smash his
baton into her extended stomach. The woman was rushed to hospital
where she was scanned before being allowed to return home.

John Leatham had been acting as an Observer when the PSNI baton
charged protestors. John was chased onto waste ground, where he
was batoned to the ground before being dragged along the ground
and thrown into a PSNI jeep.

Despite the fact that John had not been arrested, he was detained
for over 40 minutes in the jeep before being driven into the
loyalist Lanark Way, where he feared that he was about to be
handed over to a loyalist mob. John was released without charge.

Local Sinn Fein councillor Tom Hartley said it had been clear
from the systematic build up of PSNI and other military vehicles
and personnel that the decision had been taken to confront the
residents' peaceful protest. The PSNI were 'heavy handed' and
'aggressive' said Hartley.

The Residents Action Group is currently seeking legal advice.
"The entire blame for what happened on the Springfield Road on
the Twelfth lies at the door of the Parades Commission who were
determined to facilitate twelve Orangemen parading through a
nationalist area," said Frances McAuley.