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RSF condemns arrest of SAOIRSE seller![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() The arrest under the Public Order Act of a newspaper seller in Limerick has been condemned as a move by the State to crush any alternative political view, the vice-president of Republican Sinn Féin said today. Des Long said the arrest of Timmy King while selling papers at Thomas Street on Saturday last is an escalation of the attempt by the political police to crush any alternative analysis of the failed Belfast Agreement. "To arrest Timmy King while selling political papers at a spot traditionally used for this purpose since the formation of the 26 County State represents an attack on civil liberties and freedom of expression," said Mr. Long. "To arrest and detain him under the latest Public Order Act is a grotesque abuse of existing law and it is tantamount to abuse of legislation by the political police. He was not causing an obstruction - he was simply exercising a civil right - a right of free association and free speech as enshrined in the constitutional rights granted to all citizens. "Remember the famous words from the second world war - 'they came for the Jews and I did not protest because I was not a Jew. Then they came for the communists and the trade unionists, and I did not protest - and when they came for me there was no one left to protest.' "Today we are calling on the Irish Council of Civil Liberties to take note of and examine the way the police are abusing the the Public Order Act to quell any alternative political viewpoint. We are asking the Council to investigate the police action against Timmy King who is the chairman of the Munster Executive of Republican Sinn Féin. This trumped up charge is simply a way of trying to intimidate him into not selling a political newspaper on the streets of Limerick."
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