PSNI base attacked

A gun attack took place on Crossmaglen PSNI base at the weekend. Shots were aimed at the south Armagh PSNI barracks shortly before 11pm on Saturday night. Breakaway IRA groups claimed responsibility for two similar incidents In December 2009 and January this year.

Unionist lobbyist Wllliam Frazier urged the British government to crack down on republican activity in the area.

“There are no police resources to even give chase, never mind try and stop It,” he said.

There was also a bomb alert at Maghaberry prison in County Antrim on Monday.

A PSNI spokesperson said a suspicious object had been found in the prison grounds.

The controversial jail on the outskirts of Lisburn was on lockdown following the report. The incident was later described as “an elaborate hoax”.

The President of Republican Sinn Fein Des Dalton and its Patron Ruairi O Bradaigh visited the jail on Sunday, where they failed in a bid to meet the Duty Governor of the prison.

Up to 200 family, friends and former prisoners held a demonstration at the jail on the same day to support the prisoners’ campaign for political status.

Speaking at the rally, Des Dalton said “the conditions being endured by the Republican prisoners are a gross violation of even the most basic standards of human rights and are likely to have a detrimental effect on the health of the men.

“Republican Ireland stands by the POWs and the campaign for political status must be intensified to bring these conditions to an end.

“By their actions the men in Maghaberry are not allowing themselves to be passive victims of the British state but instead are giving the lie to the normalisation of British occupation. The struggle of the Republican prisoners in Maghaberry proclaims to Ireland and the world that British rule in Ireland is neither normal nor acceptable.

“The five demands of Republican prisoners must be met now.”

There were also events at the weekend in support of the prisoners in Newry and in Derry.

Urgent Appeal