RUC breaks own rules
By Pádraig MacDabhaid
North Belfast Sinn Féin Assembly member Gerry Kelly has called on the RUC to explain why it flouted its own new regulations on the firing of plastic bullets on Thursday night, 29 July, in the Clifton Park Avenue/Rose Street area of North Belfast.
``The RUC fired a number of plastic bullets at a group of young nationalists, while ignoring another group of loyalists who were cutting through nearby fencing with a grinder,'' he explained.
One eyewitness said that the RUC arrived in full riot gear and began to attack the nationalist youths with batons and plastic bullets.
Kelly pointed out that at the start of the week the RUC had announced that it would no longer fire plastic bullets in any situation other than to protect life.
``No police force, let alone the RUC, should be allowed to fire on young people with impunity,'' said Kelly.
Meanwhile, spokesman for The Victims and Survivors Trust, (VAST), Brendan McLoughlin has echoed the call for a banning of the use of plastic bullets.
Vast is a registered charity dedicated to the memory of all those who have lost their lives as a result of the ``Anglo/Irish war'' and is aimed at helping people in their transition from being a victim to becoming a survivor.
McLoughlin said: ``This lethal weapon has been used for the duration of the Troubles and has resulted in the deaths of 17 civilians, all of whom died in controversial circumstances. Most of these were children, while hundreds of people have been maimed and traumatised''.
The plastic bullet, he said, ``is not a tool that can be allowed in any society that purports to be civilised, it is not something which goes hand in hand with any normal human rights agenda''.
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