Republican News · Thursday 6 March 2003

Brits flood Clady/Glebe

Sinn Féin representative Gerard Foley said that people in the Clady/Glebe area of Tyrone are incensed at unparalleled levels of Crown Force activity in the last fortnight.

"The levels of Crown Force activity witnessed in this part of Tyrone in the last fortnight are the worst experienced since the well before the ceasefires," he said. "Local people are demanding that the intrusive, disruptive and abusive presence of this alien military force ends immediately.

"People are alarmed at the massive increase in patterns of low-flying helicopters and British Army and RUC/PSNI patrols throughout this rural area. The British Army is dug in at various locations throughout and is causing widespread disruption.

"It is ironic that this area, which has been completely peaceful since the cessations, is now being subject to such an oppressive British military presence. It is an affront to the people of this area and lays threadbare the British government's claims of being engaged in an ongoing programme of demilitarisation.

"In the Clady/Glebe area, like in many other areas of the North, the clear evidence is that the crown forces are engaged in blatant remilitarisation instead of demilitarisation."