“Cameron and Hunt reports, and more recently the Bennett…”

Cameron and Hunt reports, and more recently the Bennett report, testify to the sectarian brutality of the RUC, without being able to reform it. The pogroms of '69, and the constant vicious oppression since then, show Chief Constable, Jack Hermon. clearly how the RUC remains a force orange bigots leavened with a few quisling thugs from the Nationalist community. Nothing testifies more strongly to the failure of any reform that the fact that no RUC member has ever been charged with any murder or assault committed on duty over the past twelve years.

RUC IMPARTIALITY -A JOKE] The grounds for Hermon!s claims rests on a senies of arrests of RUC members over the past months for their involvement in Leoyalist gangs - William McCaughey and his assoc-— iates for killings, bombings anda kidnapping in the Co Derry/Armagh areas — and more recently, the arrest of Sergeant McCormick for robberies and the killing of a RUC man. Just what are these arrests intended to accomplish? It can not be to charge all those involved in loyalist groups in the past. If this were so 20-30% of the RUC, including sections of the present leadership, would be charged with participation in the 'For Ulster! group in 1974 -1975. What is intendedis to stop the present participation of RUC men in loyalist groups and arrest those who refuse to pay attention to a 'nod and wink! from their superiors, There is nothing new about this. In the twenties, members of the B Specials were interned in order to stop activity in the loyalist groups which Stormont felt was no longer necessary and even embarassing.

“a It will take a lot more than this to reform the RUC, Its sectarianism rests not on the individual bigotry of the members but in the very nature of the force. All police forces exist to protect property rights and class rule - this is why Marxists oppose them. Because the North is a sectarian state, the RUC is inevitably a sectarian force.

In defence of this state, they and the British saturate anti-unionist areas and torture and imprison anti-imperialists while ignoring and even collaborating with the sectarian gangsters of the UDA and UVF.

REPRESSION AND "SECURITY! Hermon's statement is more than just an opportunist use of some arrests. It was also the announcement of an increased presence in the ghettoes and anew RUC, He said: 'the message coming through to the RUC is that the community wants and needs policing!'', We can only assume that this message was conveyed by notes wrapped around the bricks that Nationalist youth were throwing at the RUC during the August demonstrations.

But however much or little the antiunionists want policing, Hermon and Atkins.are going to ensure that they get it. The RUC alongside the Army set out to disrupt demonstrations, to Provoke violence (by praising the Union Jack and screaming 'Fenian bastards! on the Andersonstown Rd. With four dead and several young people seriously WHO DARES TO SPEAK? also supported. for example), and then to smash opposition with the maximum force, injured by plastic bullets. In Derry, they fulfilled their traditional role by defending the Apprentice Boys! coat-trailing - including their right! to flaunt the banner donated by RUC murderer McCaughey. Even more traditional was their assault on protesting antiunionist youth afterwards, On the following day, Atkins congratulated the RUC on their work and announ— ced that the RUC and UDR were to come to the fore in riot control with the eventual aim of returning the British army to barracks (see table).

Against this background of continuing violence by the state forces and plans for further attacks, we have to view comments on Hermon!s speech - a call by Michael Canavan, SDLP law and order spokesman, for support for the RUC anda statement by Jim Sultivan of SF WP saying that only a small minority of policemen are 'bad! apples! and need to be weeded out. Both organisations followed up on these statements with condemnations of the young people who fought the RUC as 'hooligans! - a description that unfortunately the Provisionals The SFWP and SDLP base their support for the RUC on the hopeless dream of a reformed six counties and their refusal to fight for a lasting solution based on a United Ireland. In the absence of any real reform, they are reduced to greeting with cries of joy the solemn assurances - of the RUC themselves! Their hope for any peace and stability under a reformed RUC is similar to a hope that Jews could find peace and stability under a reformed SS, ANTI- IMPERIALIST UNITY But this ludicrous collaboration is balanced by the fightback that developed against RUC invasions all over the six counties - a resistance that was largely spontaneous and which the the British themselves admit was broader and more determined than anything since the heights of the struggle in 1972 - '73.

Of course, this was marred by its unco-ordinated nature and by pointless and undirected acts which. greatly inconvenienced the local population. The anti-imperialist movement must bear responsibility for this. They have a duty to defend the areas and to organise a united political fightback against the RUC which would provide leadership for the young people on whom ‘the brunt of the repression falls. This res— ponsibility nas nut aisappeared but will become even greater as the RUC and UDR move to consolidate their position and anti-imperialists look for leadership and organization in order to resist.