16.4.04
Irelandclick.com
PSNI spotted taking down tricolours
The PSNI took down tricolours from masts in Ardoyne on the day before North Belfast republicans held their Easter Rising commemoration march.
Sinn Féin councillor Margaret McClenaghan said eyewitnesses saw PSNI members standing on top of Land Rovers with ladders removing Irish Tricolours in the early hours of Easter Monday.
The North Belfast commemoration committee had lined the parade route in Ardoyne with tricolours flying from every lamppost.
However, on Easter Saturday night a handful of local anti-socials removed about 30 of them from the route.
But on Easter Monday morning, more were removed in Balholm Drive by the PSNI.
Margaret McClenaghan said it showed once again that the PSNI had not changed its sectarian spots.
“It was so disappointing to see much of the hard work the committee put into the march thrown away. On one night a few well-known trouble makers removed flags,” she said.
“But then the next night, the PSNI were seen with ladders on their jeeps removing even more. It’s as if the anti-socials and the PSNI were working hand in hand to put a dampener on the parade.
“And the fact that the PSNI chose to take down Irish national flags on the route of an Easter commemoration march shows that sectarianism is still alive and well in the ranks of the PSNI.”
The PSNI declined to comment.
Journalist:: Andrea McKernon
PSNI spotted taking down tricolours
The PSNI took down tricolours from masts in Ardoyne on the day before North Belfast republicans held their Easter Rising commemoration march.
Sinn Féin councillor Margaret McClenaghan said eyewitnesses saw PSNI members standing on top of Land Rovers with ladders removing Irish Tricolours in the early hours of Easter Monday.
The North Belfast commemoration committee had lined the parade route in Ardoyne with tricolours flying from every lamppost.
However, on Easter Saturday night a handful of local anti-socials removed about 30 of them from the route.
But on Easter Monday morning, more were removed in Balholm Drive by the PSNI.
Margaret McClenaghan said it showed once again that the PSNI had not changed its sectarian spots.
“It was so disappointing to see much of the hard work the committee put into the march thrown away. On one night a few well-known trouble makers removed flags,” she said.
“But then the next night, the PSNI were seen with ladders on their jeeps removing even more. It’s as if the anti-socials and the PSNI were working hand in hand to put a dampener on the parade.
“And the fact that the PSNI chose to take down Irish national flags on the route of an Easter commemoration march shows that sectarianism is still alive and well in the ranks of the PSNI.”
The PSNI declined to comment.
Journalist:: Andrea McKernon
