Saoradh leaders held in raids

Saoradh has protested against the detention of its chairperson, national organiser and two Belfast activists, after they were seized in early morning raids on Thursday.

Saoradh chairperson, Davy Jordan, its national organiser, Joe Barr and activists Grainne McCreesh and Alan Lundy, were all released unconditionally on Thursday night after a lengthy interrogation.

The party said the four had been dragged from their homes as part of a “relentless” attack from the “forces of British imperialism”.

The incident is one of hundreds of raids, detentions and general harassment of Saoradh members on both sides of the border, they said.

A relatively new republican party, Saoradh activists are routinely detained by police on a stop-and-search basis and often interrogated, interned or jailed by non-jury courts.

“The targeting of Saoradh is relentless and constant and exposes the reality of the continued British Occupation of Ireland,” the party said.

“These attacks are futile and will fail to achieve their objective of smashing the credible republican alternative to the status quo that Saoradh provides.”

UNACCOUNTABLE

The issue of PSNI harassment remains a concern for nationalists and republicans across the North of Ireland.

In a letter posted to a number of Derry schools last week, independent Derry councillor, Gary Donnelly, described the PSNI as “unaccountable” and “controlled by MI5”. He asked schools in the city not to engage with the force.

“It’s heavily armed personnel...carry out on a regular basis aggressive stop and searches and house raids. I have witnessed at first hand the traumatic consequences of these actions particularly on children,” he wrote.

VINDICTIVE

In a separate development, it emerged this week that the mother of murdered Catholic schoolboy Michael McIlveen is to be subjected to a prosecution by the PSNI over a trivial incident involving one of her son’s sectarian killers.

Michael McIlveen, known as Mickybo, died from brain injuries sustained after being kicked and beaten by Protestant youths who pursued him into an alleyway in May 2006.

The grieving mother is accused of pulling the hat off her son’s murderer and slapping him when they met in public by chance in Ballymena. Mervyn Moon, who was sentenced to ten years for his role in the killing, has no complaint against Mrs McIlveen, but the PSNI has insisted on bringing a prosecution for assault.

Prosecutors have refused to withdraw the case, and despite an appeal to the High Court this week, Mrs McIlveen has been ordered to appear before the criminal court.

Urgent Appeal