British witchunt in West Belfast

WEST BELFAST WITCHUNT

There are plenty of examples around the world of an Oppressed population being forced to rise without weapons or with pitifully few weapons and being met by terror. Palastine repression and witchunt; the in which 500 people, many of them young children, have been Filled by intifada in Israeli forces: more recently the barbaric supression of Chinese students and workers, fol lwed the terror = lies, misinformation and show trials.

At hose few events have desonstrated sore clearly Britain's role in lreland than the trials following the killing of two plainciothes soldiers at the Belfast funeral of Caolwhin Mac Bradaigh - himself a victia of the Milltown massacre.

Britain causes the violence. British repression unleashed a chain of blood. They were responsible for all the deaths, including the deaths of their om soldiers, and they have responded with a savage witchunt against the people of West Belfast which adds a new link to the chain of violence and repression. Gibralter relatives call for an inquiry.

THE FACTS

The facts are as follows: The British tried to. claw back a criminalisation policy defeated at great cost an the hunger strikes by unleashing sass intimidation and violence against republican funerals. Margaret Thatcher authorised the assassination of 3 IRA reapers in Gibralter and the RUC kidnapped the bodies as they crossed the border to prevent desonstrations of support.

fichael Stone, a Loyalist who saw himself as an auxilliary seaber of the inperialist forces, carried their policy to its logical conclusion by launching an arved attack on

PAGE 18

the funerals of the Gibralter 3. He was captured at the cost of 3 lives simply through the raw unarmed courage of West Belfast youth, When 2 glainclothes soldiers, in circumstances which have never been explained by the British, drove into the mourners and opened fire the same raw courage overcase and disarmed them and they were subsequently shot, The British have broken new ground in their drive for vengeance, On ist June Alex Murphy and Henry Maguire were found quilty of the murder of the soldiers. Chief Justice Hutton sentenced them to life leprisonment and recommended that they serve 2) years. [his was on the evidence of videotape - not one videotape - but a whole series of tapes spliced and joined to make a script for the prosecution, Jo help things along a little the tapes were computer enhanced. The court saw not what the tapes recorded but artificial pictures formed by conputer software. Even then what the tapes showed was that the tea defendents had NOT killed the soldiers - the surder verdict

involved a similiar doctrine to the doctrine of ‘comson purpose’ evolved by South African courts to pack Black desonstrators into One sonth later came annther turn of the screw - Judge McCallum sentenced Sean Lennon to 15 years and David McConnell to 9 years for “falsely imprisoning’ the two soldiers, The charges were based on the same sort of evidence and referred to the immediate struggle around the car when people were struggling desperately to defend theeselves.

dudge HcCallum referred to the right to self defence - he ruled it out. So its now official - its illegal for Morthern Nationalists to defend themselves. Sean Lennon's father was found not guilty - he is 43 and walks with the aid of 2 stick.

Yet gore was to come. A few days later Brendan Hoyne was arrested and charged with Easing gréeviows bodily hare to one of the soldiers. He is the Jlst person to be charged, 16 months after the attack, The ROC at the funeral of Volunteer Marley. State violence set the Scene for the Milltown massacre.

RC have indicated that they plan to sake

CONTRAST

All this is in sharp contrast to the trial of Milltom killer Michael Stone. Stone kept faith with his ipperialist sasters and presented no detence. He was presented a5 a lone gadean and no other arrests were made.

Tt was never explained how he obtained modem weaponry which had just been seuggled into Ireland, fow he claimed to have access to RUC intelligence files, how fe could launch his attack directly under the quns of British soldiers. or why a wan of heavily and only returned to rescue Stone after he had been captured. Mothing was ever said of Stome’s links with the UDA, which remains a legal organisation. There 15 also a sharp contrast mith the

PAGE 19

punishment seted out to the teo Grish soldiers who have ever faced the courts for killing civilians. The killer of Kidso Reilly served [8 eonths. The killer af Aiden McAnespie was fined ‘an undisclosed am.

SILENCE

The nighteare of terror that the British are Casting over West Belfast is accompanied by a deafening silence. [t is the silence of the Nationalist politicians who support the Anglo-[rish agreewent and claim to have ended “the natioanlist nightmare’.

The witchunt won't go away. We have to fight back, to organise, and to challenge and break the silence of the Nationalist collaborators.

FRANK ROSSA,