‘Sectarian’ police attack defenceless child

A violent arrest of a 13-year-old boy in Coalisland, County Tyrone on the 19th of April is the latest abuse alleged to have been carried out by the PSNI against Catholic children.

A young teenager was with friends in the Lineside area of Coalisland when the incident occurred. The young man appeared to be singled out by the PSNI because his family are local republicans.

His father Brian Carron, who is a member of Saoradh, said the boy had been left shaken by the encounter.

In scenes reminiscent of the Middle East, the PSNI assaulted and brutally pinned the child against a metal fence. He was then pulled down a set of steps, placed in handcuffs and arrested for disorderly behaviour.

The incident was recorded by friends of the 13-year-old and uploaded to social media before being removed.

“This further highlights the censorship attempts that Crown Forces will go to in an attempt to remove bad publicity,” Saoradh said.

“Unfortunately this type of harassment from British Crown Forces is reality for Republicans in occupied Ireland today. The so called PSNI are merely a rebranded RUC who continue to harass Republicans and their families on a daily basis and commit these clear acts of child abuse.”

Meanwhile, new figures published this week have shown Catholics are almost twice as likely to be subjected to stop and search as Protestants.

Over the last year where more than 3100 cases of religious background was recorded during stop and searches, 63% were Catholic. The PSNI figures also show that less than one percent of these stops lead to any sort of arrest.

“While these figures alone would be hard to believe at the best of times, in the current climate of ongoing Loyalist protests and threats against the so called Protocol and Sea Border, including attacks on Nationalists and Republicans they only further highlight the two tier policing policy that’s in place,” Saoradh said.

They called for establishment figures to do more to speak out about anti-Catholic discrimination by the PSNI and said the harassment has nothing to do with “detecting crime”.

“While the tactics being employed are blatantly obvious, elected representatives, the Catholic Church, and a compliant media continue to speak out in support of the Crown Forces while at times actively recruiting for them.”

Urgent Appeal