Vol.59/No.17           May 1, 1995 
 
 
Rallies Demand, "Free Irish Political Prisoners" Sinn Fein Calls On London To Quit Stalling On Talks (Front Page)  

BY NAOMI CRAINE
"If the British refuse to listen to reasoned and reasonable argument, then let them listen to the sound of marching feet and angry voices," said Gerry Adams. "We cannot accept the exclusion of the Sinn Fein from dialogue." Adams, the president of Sinn Fein, was speaking to more than 1,000 people gathered for an April 16 graveside commemoration in Dublin, Ireland.

The same day several thousand marched to a cemetery in west Belfast to mark the anniversary of the Easter Rising against British rule in Ireland. The 1916 rebellion was crushed by British forces after nearly a week of fighting and its leaders executed.

Dozens of actions took place Easter Sunday this year in cities and neighborhoods across Ireland, north and south. Additional processions were held in several cities the following day, and 3,000 turned out April 18 for a commemorative march near the Sinn Fein office in Belfast.

In New York, several hundred supporters of Irish self- determination marked the anniversary of the uprising at an event in Queens, many of them workers who recently immigrated from Ireland. Other celebrations took place in Irish communities internationally.

Sean Garland, an unemployed worker and member of the Young Socialists who participated in the Belfast march, remarked that the commemoration there was bigger than similar events in previous years. "People, including a significant number of youth, lined the parade route," he noted.

Sinn Fein leader Martin McGuinness addressed the rally in Belfast. He and Adams both demanded the British government stop stalling and include the republican party in talks on the future of Northern Ireland, which has been under direct British military occupation for the last quarter-century.

In an attempt to slow negotiations and take the onus off its troops as the source of violence in Ulster, London has demanded that the Irish Republican Army (IRA) completely disarm before Sinn Fein is allowed to fully participate in the negotiations. "For 25 years, the British failed to defeat the republican struggle," said Adams. "They are now seeking a victory by subverting the peace process."

Sinn Fein, he said, was willing to discuss disarmament with London, if a governmental minister were assigned to negotiate instead of just lower level officials. "I want to see all of the weapons - the IRA weapons, the British weapons, the unionist weapons, and the loyalist weapons - taken permanently out of commission," he said. There are still more than 17,000 British troops in Northern Ireland and the pro-British Royal Ulster Constabulary, a force of nearly 10,000 with heavy weapons, continues to patrol the streets. Several rightist paramilitary forces also remain armed.

The discovery of a cache of guns belonging to the pro- British Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) April 14 in Belfast highlighted the hypocrisy of the British government's position. In March, London declared that politicians linked to the UVF had given sufficient assurance that the paramilitary group would disarm, while Sinn Fein had not.

Campaign for political prisoners
The Easter rallies are part of a step-up in actions in support of Irish self-determination and for democratic rights. Two weeks earlier 5,000 people demonstrated in Crossmaglen in the north of Ireland demanding the release of all political prisoners jailed for their part in the struggle. It was the largest protest ever in that village, known as a center of resistance to the British occupation. Participants came from throughout Ireland, including 26 buses from Belfast.

The action was part of a campaign organized by Saoirse, a new all-Ireland organization demanding the release of all Irish political prisoners held in the jails of Britain, Germany, Ireland, and the United States. The rallying call of the campaign is, "Bring them home."

In an interview with An Phoblacht/Republican News, Saoirse spokesperson Raymond McCartney said the prisoner campaign is modeled on the experience of mobilizations to support the Irish political prisoners who carried out hunger strikes and other protests in the early 1980s. McCartney himself was jailed for more than 17 years at Long Kesh and took part in the actions. The mass mobilizations outside prison walls in support of the hunger strikers "brought the issue to a lot of people, and we must aim to do the same," he said.

Prisoners in Long Kesh are planning to start their own Saoirse group, which will launch a letter-writing campaign, McCartney said.

Mitchel McLaughlin, national chairperson of Sinn Fein, addressed the April 2 demonstration in Crossmaglen. Since the August 1994 cease-fire, "the conditions of republican prisoners in English jails have actually deteriorated, especially in Belmarsh and Full Sutton," he told the protesters. "Relatives of the prisoners held in the Special Secure Units in both prisons have highlighted the ritual abuse of the human rights of these defenseless men.

"When we talk of demilitarization," McLaughlin continued, "we mean the entire scope of the British army garrison, the massive fortifications such as this monstrosity behind me, the huge spy posts that dot the border landscape and which dominate skyscapes in nationalist urban communities in Belfast, Derry, Cookstown, and other towns."

The Crossmaglen demonstration was not mentioned in the British press, which is subject to government censorship on all coverage from northern Ireland.

London's position of not holding direct talks with Sinn Fein is becoming more untenable, and is highlighting its weakened position. Cardinal Cahal Daly, the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland, spoke out April 16 in favor of opening negotiations. Daly, who had been vocal in demanding the IRA disarm, said this was necessary to avoid the appearance of a stalemate.

The British government can run from the peace process "but they cannot hide from it," said McLaughlin at the Saoirse rally. "The British empire has gone. Forever! It is kaput."

Days before the Easter Rising anniversary, Patrick Mayhew, Britain's Northern Ireland secretary, announced the withdrawal of another 400 troops from the occupied six counties. Another contingent of 400 soldiers left in March. The latest withdrawal will bring the number of British troops stationed in Northern Ireland to 17,500, down from approximately 30,000 in 1992. Peter Robinson, leader of the Democratic Unionist party in Northern Ireland, griped that these moves represented a "unilateral decommissioning" by the army.

Several permanent vehicle road blocks outside police stations and army installations in northern Ireland were dismantled April 12. In addition, the Dublin government released seven republican prisoners in the week before Easter.

Further actions planned
More actions are being planned in Ireland and elsewhere to demand freedom for the prisoners and press London to begin serious talks.

Saoirse is organizing a series of marches, lectures, exhibitions, and fund-raisers in May, beginning with the May 5 anniversary of the death of Bobby Sands during prisoner hunger strikes in 1981. Sands was elected to parliament as a Sinn Fein candidate while in prison, and was the first of the protesters to die. Hunger strike commemorations will take place across Ireland May 5-7, and in New York as well on May 6.A national conference on political prisoners organized by Saoirse is scheduled for June 3 in Dublin.

A commemoration of the 1972 civil rights march in Derry that became known as Bloody Sunday after soldiers gunned down 13 demonstrators is also being planned.

Sinn Fein president Adams will be on a speaking tour in the United States May 9-25, traveling from Maine to California to Washington, D.C. In addition, Martin McGuinness will be speak at a public meeting in London May 7.

Marcella Fitzgerald and Jonathan Silberman in London contributed to this article.

 
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home