Successful Anti-PSNI protest held at British embassy, Dublin

On Saturday (February 27), more than 70 republican activists braved the freezing weather to attend an éirígí anti-PSNI protest at the British embassy, in Dublin.

The event, which was organised as part of éirígí's recently launched Different Name, Same Aim campaign, gave republicans from Dublin and the surrounding areas the opportunity to voice their opposition to Britain’s paramilitary police force.

Protesters held a variety of placards and banners containing messages such as ‘Plastic Bullets Kill’, ‘No to Internment – No to 28 Day Detention’, ‘Stop PSNI Harassment – Smash Section 44 Now’ and ‘Britain Out of Ireland – Saoirse Anois’.

The PSNI has gone into overdrive with the use of its repressive tactics in recent times. Last year alone, 28,420 people in the Six Counties were stopped & searched by the PSNI under repressive legislation.

Despite the fact that this legislation was declared unlawful by the European Court of Human Rights in January this year, the PSNI has continued using it; harassing political activists, community workers, sports people and even school children on a daily basis.

Meanwhile, the force continues to use plastic bullets, CS gas and Tasers on a regular basis, while remaining routinely armed with pistols and assault rifles and working hand-in-glove with the British army and MI5.

These are not the actions of a depoliticised, civic police service, they are the ways of a sectarian paramilitary force – they are the ways of the RUC.

It is also important to recognise that the PSNI will not be fundamentally altered by the devolution of limited policing & justice powers to the Stormont administration, if it ever happens.

The British government has prepared for this eventuality by stating that, in matters relating to what it calls ‘national security, the PSNI will not be accountable to a Six County justice minister, it will be accountable to the British secretary of state.

The British government is retaining its control over the PSNI, ensuring it will continue to be the frontline of the occupation. Republicans, socialists and democrats must oppose this force.

Over the coming months éirígí will be stepping up its opposition to the PSNI and British rule in Ireland, both in the occupied Six Counties and here in the Twenty-Six Counties. We would encourage anyone who agrees with our analysis to put their shoulder to that wheel and join us in rebuilding popular resistance to the occupation.