Divis tower revisited

Gerry Adams took journalists on the roof of Divis Tower in west Belfast to view the now-vacated site of an infamous British spy-post.

Throughout the conflict, up until last month, the tower was bristling with spy
Antenna, cameras and listening devices.

It has now been stripped of its spy cameras and the troops have gone as part of the demilitarisation process, following the IRA's historic statement in July.

Yesterday at the top of a staircase Mr Adams pulled open the heavy steel door on which was painted a Royal Artillery badge and the latin motto 'Ubique Quo Fas Et Gloria Ducunt', which means 'everywhere and wherever right and glory lead'. He then climbed a steep ladder onto Divis roof.

\This was the exact spot where once British soldiers watched and noted the movements of Mr Adams and other republicans on the Falls.

From this vantage point the Sinn Fein office, with the Bobby Sands mural on its gable wall, is clearly seen.

Yesterday Mr Adams told journalists: "This is where the Brits used to be. They were on the floors below this.

"We have campaigned for a very long time to have them removed.

"Harking back to the very dark days - Sinn Fein's office was very visible from here as was the immediate neighbourhood below the tower, yet a number of people were killed in all of these places.

"And in the last year or so the excuse the British used for the British army being here was that they could keep an eye to people on the Shankill.

"We found this to be no argument for their presence."

The baseone of the key British army observation posts overlooking Belfast and was first installed in the 1970s.

During the 1980s the soldiers took over the nineteenth and eighteenth floors.

The plan now is to convert the empty security post into ten new flats.

Urgent Appeal