BY TONY HUNT
BELFAST, Northern Ireland - "The British government is
the obstacle to peace in our country," declared Gerry
Adams, president of Sinn Fein, to an August 13 rally of
several thousand in front of Belfast City Hall. The
demonstrators gathered in front of this symbol of Britain's
past imperial might, after a disciplined and peaceful march
to commemorate the mass internment of Catholics by the
British government in 1971.
The marchers, of all ages, carried placards and banners calling for "All Party Peace Talks Now," the main demand of the demonstration, and wore green ribbons to show solidarity with Irish political prisoners. Some carried signs with the names of prisoners. Placards and T-shirts proclaimed "Irish and Equal" and "Disband the RUC" (Royal Ulster Constabulary).
The British government has demanded that the Irish Republican Army (IRA) surrender all its weapons before commencing all party talks.
"Sinn Fein is committed to taking all guns - the British army guns, the plastic bullet guns, the RUC guns, and the loyalist guns - honorably out of Irish politics," Adams said. And he warned London that there could be no expectation that the IRA would disarm until this was accomplished.
He said the British government's insistence on "an IRA surrender is a diversion" from the peace process.
Earlier the march came under attack from loyalist thugs who hurled rocks and other missiles at the demonstrators. The RUC made no effort to prevent this assault but instead faced off against those seeking to defend the march.
The day before the demonstration, peaceful protests by residents of the Bogside neighborhood in Derry and Lower Ormeau in Belfast, in which Militant reporters participated, were attacked by the RUC. The protests were organized in these predominantly Catholic neighborhoods to prevent the loyalist "Apprentice Boys" parade from passing through.
In the Lower Ormeau the RUC deployed more than 30 armored vehicles. The riot police drew their batons and shot plastic bullets into the crowd to clear 200 peaceful protesters. One man was hospitalized with severe facial injuries caused by a plastic bullet.
Several minutes later an Apprentice Boys march of 20 from Ballynafeigh marched through the community. One of the marchers feigned the use of a submachine gun as he passed Sean Graham's bookie shop. Five people were shot dead by loyalist gunmen there in 1992.
Michael Goodwin, a resident of the Lower Ormeau community, where 2,500 people live, described these parades as "triumphalist" and explained that the people of the community are demanding that they be re-routed.
At the Belfast rally, Adams saluted the resistance of the people in the areas that were attacked and condemned the RUC for its role in the largely Catholic communities. "For a long time we were told the RUC could be reformed. It cannot be reformed," he said. "The responsibility for the RUC rests with the British government and it is not acceptable to nationalists."
Adams ended the rally by explaining the Irish struggle had gained a sense of power through 25 years of resistance. He noted that wherever he had traveled in the last few years, from South Africa to Britain to North America, "They know you people here are unbeatable. They know throughout the world the struggle for Irish freedom has found an echo."
Tony Hunt is a member of the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union in Manchester, England. Ann Fiander, a member of the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union, contributed to this article.