PeaceWatch slams Britain over Drumcree
United States human rights group, PeaceWatch Ireland, last week
launched their report on the events on the Garvaghy Road in this
July this year.
Seven PeaceWatch delegates were with the Garvaghy Road community
from 4-6 July and, crucially, they witnessed the RUC and British
Army attack which left nationalist residents beaten and angry and
led to widespread rioting in nationalist areas.
In their report, PeaceWatch say that British forces ``without
provocation and without issuing a verbal order to disperse,
attacked unarmed protestors.'' They report that the British
government chose a military rather than a political solution.
The report recommends that the RUC ``must be replaced'' and the
British military ``must reduce its presence in Northern Ireland,
with the goal of withdrawing its armed forces.'' They also say
that plastic bullets must be banned.
Pat Maher, the founder of PeaceWatch Ireland, who was present at
the report's launch in Buswell's Hotel in Dublin on Thursday 27
November, said that she did not believe that the Parades
Commission was adequate for dealing with the marching issue. ``The
legislation still leaves [the final decision] at the door of the
Chief Constable and the Secretary of State,'' she said.