19.9.03
ic Derry - 'Watch Your Back, Denis'
'Watch Your Back, Denis' Sep 19 2003
THE REAL IRA in Derry have issued a chilling threat to the vice chairman of the Policing Board, Denis Bradley, warning him that if his recent remarks result in a republican feud he will spend the rest of his life looking over his shoulder.
Real IRA sources spoke to the 'Journal' this week in the wake of a series of incidents in which members of District Policing Partnerships were targeted in Derry and elsewhere.
The sources said: "Our position on the DPPs and policing is quite simple and straightforward -these bodies are giving succour and support to the British forces in Ireland and, as such, they are collaborators. This being so, they must accept the consequences of collaborating with the British."
Referring to an offer made in Tuesday's Journal' by Mr. Bradley to talk to them, the republicans said: "We have no intention of talking to Denis Bradley as we have nothing to say to him unless he wants to meet us to discuss his resignation.
"This is a man who has been openly advocating 'mainstream republicans' to 'face down these people' and as far as we are concerned he is advocating a republican feud.
"If Denis Bradley thinks that a feud will solve his problem, with one side taking out the other, then he is badly mistaken.
"We can tell Denis Bradley that, as long as there is one republican left with breath in his body, then he had better not stop looking over his shoulder."
The republican group said it would be 'hilarious if it wasn't so ridiculous' for Denis Bradley to refer to the campaign for segregation in his appeal to the Real IRA.
The sources said: "Denis Bradley talks of his support for the campaign for segregation as if that should affect how we view the Policing Board and the DPPs.
"Is he forgetting that the very people who put the prisoners inside in the first place are the force that he is on the board of - the PSNI."
They added: "Denis Bradley has not been honest with the people who have joined the DPPs.
"He keeps telling them to hold their nerve as if this is something that is going to go away. Once again we reiterate the point. Anyone who collaborates with the British forces in Ireland must accept the consequences of their actions."
"I will neither be spooked nor bullied"
Speaking to the Journal last night, Denis Bradley had this to say: " The Real IRA cannot win this argument. The reason they cannot is the Good Friday Agreement and the referendum that followed that Agreement. The people of Ireland voted and the people of Ireland decided on the way forward. And in the true tradition of republicanism the voice of the Irish people is sovereign.
"If I were to follow the logic of the statement then it means that all people who have taken any part in the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement are collaborators -that includes the Irish government, the SDLP, Sinn Fein, President Clinton, the Catholic church as well as those who have taken part in policing partnerships.
"The Real IRA have to be asked and have to answer the question: Do they or do they not accept the sovereignty of the Irish people? And they must recognise that the Irish people cannot allow groups like the IRA to become sovereign otherwise we end up in chaos and mayhem.
"I do not want to see any more people hurt, in jail or dead. I have seen too much of all of that. I include in that members of the Real IRA. Neither can I allow myself to be spooked or bullied. I am very disappointed that they didn't have the decency or the courage to talk to me face to face.
"I would encourage all the people who have taken part in the new policing arrangements to continue if possible with what they are doing.
"I am more than aware that, ultimately, the only people who can protect the likes of me, Marian Quinn and those who sit on policing partnerships are the people of Derry. Personally, I think it's time that the community let its voice be heard but that's only for me to hope for and for the community to decide."
'Watch Your Back, Denis' Sep 19 2003
THE REAL IRA in Derry have issued a chilling threat to the vice chairman of the Policing Board, Denis Bradley, warning him that if his recent remarks result in a republican feud he will spend the rest of his life looking over his shoulder.
Real IRA sources spoke to the 'Journal' this week in the wake of a series of incidents in which members of District Policing Partnerships were targeted in Derry and elsewhere.
The sources said: "Our position on the DPPs and policing is quite simple and straightforward -these bodies are giving succour and support to the British forces in Ireland and, as such, they are collaborators. This being so, they must accept the consequences of collaborating with the British."
Referring to an offer made in Tuesday's Journal' by Mr. Bradley to talk to them, the republicans said: "We have no intention of talking to Denis Bradley as we have nothing to say to him unless he wants to meet us to discuss his resignation.
"This is a man who has been openly advocating 'mainstream republicans' to 'face down these people' and as far as we are concerned he is advocating a republican feud.
"If Denis Bradley thinks that a feud will solve his problem, with one side taking out the other, then he is badly mistaken.
"We can tell Denis Bradley that, as long as there is one republican left with breath in his body, then he had better not stop looking over his shoulder."
The republican group said it would be 'hilarious if it wasn't so ridiculous' for Denis Bradley to refer to the campaign for segregation in his appeal to the Real IRA.
The sources said: "Denis Bradley talks of his support for the campaign for segregation as if that should affect how we view the Policing Board and the DPPs.
"Is he forgetting that the very people who put the prisoners inside in the first place are the force that he is on the board of - the PSNI."
They added: "Denis Bradley has not been honest with the people who have joined the DPPs.
"He keeps telling them to hold their nerve as if this is something that is going to go away. Once again we reiterate the point. Anyone who collaborates with the British forces in Ireland must accept the consequences of their actions."
"I will neither be spooked nor bullied"
Speaking to the Journal last night, Denis Bradley had this to say: " The Real IRA cannot win this argument. The reason they cannot is the Good Friday Agreement and the referendum that followed that Agreement. The people of Ireland voted and the people of Ireland decided on the way forward. And in the true tradition of republicanism the voice of the Irish people is sovereign.
"If I were to follow the logic of the statement then it means that all people who have taken any part in the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement are collaborators -that includes the Irish government, the SDLP, Sinn Fein, President Clinton, the Catholic church as well as those who have taken part in policing partnerships.
"The Real IRA have to be asked and have to answer the question: Do they or do they not accept the sovereignty of the Irish people? And they must recognise that the Irish people cannot allow groups like the IRA to become sovereign otherwise we end up in chaos and mayhem.
"I do not want to see any more people hurt, in jail or dead. I have seen too much of all of that. I include in that members of the Real IRA. Neither can I allow myself to be spooked or bullied. I am very disappointed that they didn't have the decency or the courage to talk to me face to face.
"I would encourage all the people who have taken part in the new policing arrangements to continue if possible with what they are doing.
"I am more than aware that, ultimately, the only people who can protect the likes of me, Marian Quinn and those who sit on policing partnerships are the people of Derry. Personally, I think it's time that the community let its voice be heard but that's only for me to hope for and for the community to decide."
