| Posted on December 18, 2011 at 3:30 PM |
In this issue:
1. SAOIRSE editorial: Republican Sinn Féin defends its name
2. Statement ‘bogus’ – Continuity IRA
3. Agent provocateurs using the name Sinn Féin
4. Not a member of Republican Sinn Féin
5. Fight the cuts by refusing to pay property tax -- Republican Sinn Féin
6. Republican Sinn Féin supports student occupation of TD’s office
7. Bloody Sunday group to stage march on 40th anniversary
8. British army defuses bomb close to Keady RUC/PSNI barracks
9. Miami Showband murders: collusion between loyalist killers and State forces
10. Statement from Christie Walsh
11. Checkpoint death family considers legal action
12. 300 guns stolen or lost from British army bases
13. Daniel Hegarty's family call for soldier's prosecution
14. Provo bosses let hunger-strikers die – they know who they are and so do I
15. 1921 Treaty of Surrender on display
16. Friday of resistance in Bil'in
1. SAOIRSE editorial: Republican Sinn Féin defends its name
IT has become necessary to once again place on the public record a number of facts and restate the position of Republican Sinn Féin regarding the activities of a Limerick-based splinter group which has been attempting to steal the historic and honourable name of Republican Sinn Féin.
First of all it is important to provide the background to the activities of this splinter group. We repeat here the facts set out by the President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton at the 2010 Ard Fheis; “On April 30, a statement appeared on a new Limerick website entitled limerickrepublicans.com.
“It said: ‘Limerick Republicans formerly aligned to RSF have taken a decision after consulting with the membership over several months to dissolve the existing organisation in the city.’ A further statement from the same source said they had formed a new grouping called ‘LIRO-Limerick Independent Republican Organisation’.
“Then they changed their name to “RSF – Real Sinn Féin”. In a newspaper interview, a spokesperson demanded that we hand over our offices in Dublin and Belfast and control of our monthly paper SAOIRSE to them. These demands were angrily rejected by us immediately.
“By October they had changed their name again, this time they stole our honoured title Republican Sinn Féin. The name they threw away in April they now embraced six months later. Now they claimed to be the Republican Movement of history and said we consisted of only a small number of individuals.
“We have not changed our name several times over six months. We remain what we were for more than a century, through 1916 and the First (all-Ireland) Dáil of 1919-1922 – the historic Republican Movement and we yield to no one in that regard.”
The leadership of this splinter group comprises people who were dismissed from, or refused to accept, the democratic decisions of various Ard-Fheiseanna of Republican Sinn Féin, including the election of a new President in 2009. It has also come to the attention of Republican Sinn Féin that members of this splinter group have been using its name in the Dublin area.
In Kerry the Comhairle Ceantair issued a statement in response to an individual from the Listowel area who has similarly misused the name of the organisation. Republican Sinn Féin reiterates that such people have no connection to Republican Sinn Féin and calls on them to desist from such actions immediately. This splinter group has attempted to sow confusion in the minds of the Republican community and by its actions and criminal activity has besmirched Irish Republicanism.
They should disband now, as they have no role to play. This was highlighted when a small number of this splinter group were told to leave the POW protest at the British Embassy on December 3 by Republican Sinn Féin and the 32-County Sovereignty Committee, as a group with criminal links is not welcome at any Republican meeting, demonstration, picket or commemoration.
A banner carried by them bearing the name of Republican Sinn Féin was taken from them to reinforce the point that they have no right to use the name or title of the organisation.
Over its 106-year history Republican Sinn Fein has endured repression and censorship from the British and 26-County states as well as attempts by former Republicans to hijack or divert it from the road to the All-Ireland Republic of 1916.
On each occasion these methods have failed and this latest manifestation will be no more successful. Once more we call on people to be alert to those who would attempt to cloak their criminal enterprises under the noble banner of Republicanism and reject them for the frauds and charlatans that they are.
2. Statement ‘bogus’ – Continuity IRA
IN A statement received on December 2 by media outlets, including SAOIRSE, the Continuity IRA said:
“Statement from the Irish Republican Publicity Bureau
“Contrary to a bogus statement issued on November 30, the Continuity IRA was no way involved in the recent shooting of David D’Arcy. We see such a false statement as an attempt to associate us with criminality and we reject such actions.
B Ó Ruairc
Rúnaí.”
3. Agent provocateurs using the name Sinn Féin
IN A statement on December 1, Comhairle Ceantair, Ciarraí, Sinn Féin Poblachtach, said:
“In recent days it has come to our attention that allegations have been made against members of our organisation at a commemoration to honour Eddie Carmody, Ballylongford, Co. Kerry, at the monument dedicated to his memory.
“These allegations come from a person or persons claiming to be members of Sinn Féin Poblachtach (Republican Sinn Féin). They do not represent our organisation in any way, shape or form.
“The facts are that this group can be described as a minute group of people mostly from the Limerick city area who were at one time members of our organisation, and were expelled because they refused to accept the democratically-elected leadership at the 2009 Ard-Fheis.
“This is an elaborate and callous attempt to gain publicity from wherever possible and to discredit our members in honouring the people who have given their lives for the cause of a 32-County independent Republic.
“They claim to be acting for the benefit of Irish Republicanism, but their vindictive and petty attempts only serve those who have a vested interest in keeping this country partitioned and occupied by British Crown Forces and their police and civil apparatus in the Six-County Statelet.
“Back in 2009 this group issued statements in the media that they were going to take over our offices in Dublin and Belfast and also our newspaper SAOIRSE-Irish Freedom. This was another one of their foolish, naïve and ill-conceived plans that failed simply because true Republicans do not accept their ridiculous claims to the name of Sinn Féin and only see them as agent provocateurs with their own self interests.”
4. Not a member of Republican Sinn Féin
ON Saturday, December 3, John Horan. PRO, Comhairle Ceantair Átha Cliath, Republican Sinn Féin, sent the following letter to the print media:
“A chara
“In light of media speculation it needs to be clarified that Liam Kenny, Clondalkin , resigned in writing from Republican Sinn Féin on September 23, 2010 and on October 18, 2010, he accepted a letter from the Clondalkin-based Máire Drumm/Kevin Barry Cumann of Republican Sinn Féin confirming that his letter of resignation had been accepted.
“From September 23, 2010, Liam Kenny had no input, locally or nationally, to or with the Republican Movement.”
In a further clarification, National PRO of Republican Sinn Féin, Geraldine McNamara, wrote to the Limerick Post newspaper on December 6:
“Dear Editor,
“It has come to my attention that there are persons in your area sending articles to your paper in the name of Republican Sinn Fein.
“I wish to point out to you that these people are not members of our organisation as they were dismissed from it almost two years ago.
“Mr Des Long is not Vice-President, neither is he a member.
“Our Vice-Presidents are Fergal Moore and Geraldine Taylor. Our head Office is 223 Parnell Street, Dublin.
“We do not wish to be associated with these people nor do we wish to see our name used falsely.
“If you wish further information please contact me or our head office.”
5. Fight the cuts by refusing to pay property tax -- Republican Sinn Féin
AT its December meeting the Ard Chomhairle of Republican Sinn Féin called on people not to register in January for the 100 Euro property tax.
“We are calling on people not to register for payment of the 100 Euro property tax this coming January. This tax is just the latest in a wave of attacks on working people by the 26-County Administration in order to prop up the failed EU banking system and currency. By refusing to register, working people will be empowering themselves while also sending out a strong message to the political and financial elite that they will not allow the many to be sacrificed in order to protect the vested interests of the few.
“As we predicted, the last 26-County election did not deliver any political or economic change. It was merely a case of exchanging one set of gombeen politicians for another. For too long the Leinster House political class have used working people as voting fodder at election time, the campaign against the property tax allows ordinary Irish people to once more find their own political voice. By thinking and acting in their own interests rather than those of a powerful elite, this campaign can be mark the beginning of the fight back against the cuts and the first step in reclaiming our nation.”
6. Republican Sinn Féin supports student occupation of TD’s office
ON December 4 Kildare Republican Sinn Féin expressed its support for the students who occupied the constituency office of Fine Gael TD Anthony Lawler in Naas. “Their action is a positive statement of the determination of ordinary people throughout Ireland to resist the attacks of the financial and political elite on essential social services as well as education and health in both the 26 and Six-County states.
“Education is a right for all people and its provision a marker of any civilised society. By its policies the present Fine Gael/Labour administration is sacrificing not only this but future generations to bailout the failed and undemocratic EU political, economic and banking system. The radical action of a new generation in protesting their right to access third level education gives hope for the future.”
7. Bloody Sunday group to stage march on 40th anniversary
ON December 16 the organisers of a march to mark the 40th anniversary of Bloody Sunday have defended their decision to stage the event.
In a statement issued to the Derry Journal, signed by, among others, the families of Bloody Sunday victims Jim Wray and William Nash, the march organisers said: “We, as Bloody Sunday family members, feel the need to commemorate this important anniversary in solidarity with the people of Derry by continuing the ‘March for Justice’ - justice that, in our opinion, has never been achieved.
“Over the years, the Bloody Sunday families have been strongly supported by a broad range of groups and individuals from across the world. Bloody Sunday has become synonymous with injustice and the march has provided a platform for other people who have been denied a voice.
“We respect the right of everyone to commemorate the 40th anniversary in a manner of their choosing.
“We would encourage everyone to support all commemorative events. Equally, we would expect that our right to commemorate Bloody Sunday by continuing with the traditional march should be respected.”
The march organisers have invited the public to attend a meeting in Pilot’s Row on January 6 at 8 pm.
8. British army defuses bomb close to Keady RUC/PSNI barracks
ON December 13 a British army bomb disposal team defused a bomb in Keady in south Armagh which was discovered close to the RUC/PSNI barracks. A number of houses were evacuated following a telephone bomb. The device, which was taken away for forensic examination, was described by British colonial police as viable.
9. Miami Showband murders: collusion between loyalist killers and State forces
A LOYALIST assassin known as The Jackal received a tipoff from a senior member of the RUC which that helped him elude justice over the killing of an Irish pop band in the mid-1970s, according to a report by the British Historical Enquiries Team (Het), which found that Robin Jackson was linked to the murders of three members of the Miami Showband in July 1975.
The pop group were on their way back to Dublin when their minibus was stopped by a fake army patrol near the border. The Het report found that Jackson, a member of loyalist paramilitary group the Ulster Volunteer Force from North Armagh, had been linked to one of the murder weapons by his fingerprints. Jackson later claimed in police interviews he had been tipped off by a senior Royal Ulster Constabulary officer to lie low after the killings.
Jackson, who emigrated for a period of the 1980s to South Africa, has since died from cancer. In 1984 he helped organise the attempted murder of the then Sunday World northern editor Jim Campbell, who had named Jackson as the leader of the UVF in Mid-Ulster, which was responsible for shootings and bombings against nationalists in the so-called “Murder Triangle” of North Armagh.
The report, which was released on December 14, said Jackson claimed he was tipped off that his fingerprints had been found on a silencer attached to a Luger pistol used in the Miami Showband murders. The Het team said the murders raised “disturbing questions about collusive and corrupt behaviour”. It said the review “has found no means to assuage or rebut these concerns and that is a deeply troubling matter”.
The bogus army patrol comprised soldiers from the Ulster Defence Regiment and UVF members in Armagh. Members of the band were made to line up at the side of the road while one UVF member tried to hide a bomb on the bus. The plan was that the bomb would explode en route, killing everyone on board as it entered Dublin. But the bomb went off prematurely, killing Harris Boyle and Wesley Somerville, who were members of the UDR, as well as the UVF.
After the explosion the other members of the UVF gang then opened fire on the band, killing lead singer Fran O'Toole, guitarist Tony Geraghty, and trumpeter Brian McCoy. The bass player, Stephen Travers, barely survived his injuries.
Three members of the UDR were eventually convicted for their part in the attack. James Somerville, Thomas Crozier and James McDowell received life sentences and remained in jail until their early release under the terms of the Stormont Agreement in 1998 when Republican and loyalist prisoners were given a de facto amnesty as part of the peace settlement.
Commenting on the report, band member Des McAlea, who survived the attack, said: “It's been a long time but we've got justice at last.” He described the Het findings as “quite shocking” and “mind-blowing”. “The fact that there was collusion in this is such a tragedy for all of us concerned,” he added. “To think that people were supposed to be protecting us and they were actually involved in this terrible tragedy.”
Former band member Des McAlea, who escaped the 1975 UVF attack by fleeing across a field in the darkness, was overcome with emotion when he addressed a press conference in Dublin on December 14.
He praised the families of those who were killed for the “patience and dignity” they had demonstrated over the last 36 years.
“It’s been a long and winding road for all of them and for us. Justice at last – hallelujah,” he said.
Stephen Travers, who was badly injured in the attack, said the survivors and families of those who died would always want to know more about what happened.
“But we’re very grateful for what we’ve got today. What’s happened today is that the door has been opened . . . they can’t argue when we accuse them of colluding with the paramilitaries.”
David O’Toole, a nephew of the band’s lead singer, Fran O’Toole, who was killed, said the family was “reasonably happy” with the report.
“These dreadful murders absolutely tore apart our lives and those of our families. They left two young women without their husbands and four very young children fatherless,” David O’Toole said. “We hope that this report can bring some closure to us and help us to come to terms with our terrible loss.”
Keith McCoy, son of Brian McCoy, who was also killed, said: “We the families of Tony [Anthony Geraghty], Brian and Fran, as well as survivors Stephen and Des, have waited a very long time, over 36 years in fact, to learn the circumstances surrounding the deaths of our loved ones, who were shot down so brutally and so callously in the early hours of a summer morning.”
10. Statement from Christie Walsh
“MY name is Christy Walsh and for 22 years I have been trying to clear my name of a crime that I did not commit. I was convicted in 1992 by a non-jury Diplock Court; where the pre-trial process involved denial of access to a lawyer after my arrest and no right of silence during interrogations. Despite being presented with signed copies of my statements made during interrogations the Diplock Judge, John Petrie, convicted me for remaining silent as his ‘main criticism’.
“In January 2002, the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal, having found my conviction to have been 'unlawful', then revived it on entirely different grounds. In 2010, another Court of Appeal then found the revived conviction 'unsafe'; observing that I am ‘a person of previous good character’. Soon afterwards, the [Stormont] Justice Minister, David Ford, MLA intervened to revive the malicious prosecution case against me and he continues to do so. The following Department of Justice internal advisory seemingly reflects the Justice Minister, and his department’s, concern is that my innocence might expose other injustices, as follows,
“He also refers to his previous (mistaken) suggestions that we regard him as guilty... If Walsh's application succeeds it may gain a higher profile and raise questions over other convictions’.
“In March 2010, before leaving the Court of Appeal, I took one of the Prosecutor's files with me. I now hold in my possession indelible evidence of serious impropriety within the NI Public Prosecution Service which are the basis for the Justice Minister's concerns as expressed above. The solid and overwhelming facts place the Prosecution Service closer to the object of crime than they ever did me. For a modest sample of the quality of evidence in my possession see http://www.christywalsh.com/theprosecution.html
“The Justice Minister, David Ford, MLA is actively involved in a cover-up of what appears to be serious criminal conduct by a Crown Prosecutor, Mr Gary McCrudden. This email is intended to raise awareness and prevent the Justice Minister from successfully concealing the truth, and in that regard, I ask that if there is anyone whom you feel should be aware, or, who might be interested in the facts of this case, then please forward my email to them on my behalf.
"Thank you for your time.
Christy Walsh, December 14, 2011.
For more information see: http://www.christywalsh.com.
11. Checkpoint death family considers legal action
IT was reported on December 15 that the family of a young man shot dead in a stolen car, as he tried to escape an RUC/PSNI checkpoint in Ballinahinch, Co Down in 2006, say they are considering taking legal action against the British colonial police.
It has emerged that the RUC man who opened fire on 23-year-old Steven Colwell in April 2006 had a history of mental health problems and had previously pulled his gun in a domestic incident but wasn't disciplined over the Easter Sunday shooting and instead returned to work.
A report by British Police Ombudsman Al Hutchinson has now found that the RUC man’s judgements in relation to the incident at the checkpoint were “critically flawed”.
*
The brother of Steven Colwell has said his family may take legal action against the chief constable and the officer.
“We never received an apology personally from the police. That's hard to accept," said Neil Colwell.
12. 300 guns stolen or lost from British army bases
MORE than 300 pistols, rifles and machine guns have been lost or stolen at British army bases in the past five years.
Soldiers either misplaced the weapons or illegally sold them on the black market. The figures obtained by a newspaper under the Freedom of Information Act revealed that 45 pistols, 65 rifles and 76 machine guns have been lost since 2006.
A total of 58 pistols, 52 rifles and four machine guns were stolen. Of all 300, only 39 were recovered.
The worst year was 2010 when 82 guns were lost, 65 of them machine guns capable of firing 750 rounds a minute. That same year 11 SA80 assault rifles – standard issue to British army troops in Afghanistan and Iraq – vanished with six 9mm pistols.
13. Daniel Hegarty's family call for soldier's prosecution
THE sister of a 15-year-old boy shot dead almost 40 years ago has said she wants the soldier responsible brought before the courts.
On December 9 jurors at the inquest of Daniel Hegarty unanimously found that he posed no risk when he was shot twice in Derry during Operation Motorman in July 1972.
His cousin Christopher was wounded.
Daniel's sister Margaret Brady said she wanted the courts to tell the soldier he had committed a crime.
“Justice has been done, but at the end of the day this man should be prosecuted. I'm not out for revenge, I'm just out for the truth.”
The family's solicitor, Des Doherty, said prosecutions were now a “definite possibility”.
“The full rigour of the law has to be applied and it is now of course a matter for the coroner,” the solicitor said. “This case was not about vengeance. It was about justice.”
The jury rejected claims that warnings had been shouted to the two teenagers before they were shot.
The operation was aimed at reclaiming “no-go areas” in the city from the IRA. Daniel, who was a labourer, was shot twice in the head by a soldier close to his home in Creggan. His cousin Christopher, 16, was shot in the head by the same soldier but survived.
The jury found that none of the soldiers present attempted to “approach the injured youths to either search them or provide medical assistance”.
This is the second inquest into Daniel's death.
In 1972 there were a number of “no-go areas” for the British army in Derry.
The initial inquest was held in 1973 and recorded an open verdict. A second inquest was ordered by the Six-County Attorney General in 2009 following an examination by the Historical Enquiries Team.
The report found that the RUC investigation at the time was “hopelessly inadequate and dreadful”.
The inquest opened on Monday and heard from Daniel's sister Margaret Brady. She described how her mother continued to set a place for him at the table and call him for dinner for months after his death.
14. Provo bosses let hunger-strikers die – they know who they are and so do I
AN ex-Provo prisoner who watched his comrades die on hunger-strike has blasted the IRA leadership for their “needless deaths”.
Richard O'Rawe says key IRA leaders should “hang their heads in shame” for rejecting a secret British offer which could have saved six hunger-strikers' lives in the notorious H-Blocks.
The West Belfast republican, who was the prisoners' public relations officer, claims “six men with hearts like lions were let die horrific deaths for nothing other than getting Sinn Féin votes”.
Four hunger-strikers were already dead when British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, capitulated and made her dramatic offer in July 1981 effectively granting most of the prisoners' demands.
O'Rawe, who bravely lifted the lid in 2001 on the secret British proposal to end the hunger-strike, was speaking after his account was proven true by documents just lodged in an Irish university.
He's now urging republicans all over Ireland to urgently revise their understanding of what happened during the H-Block death fast that made headlines across the world.
“The evidence is there for all to see. It's the biggest cover-up in the history of Irish Republicanism,” he told the Sunday World.
The hunger-strike was run on the outside by a clandestine committee set up by the Army Council. Its members included the North's best known Provos who were also in Sinn Féin.
“These men should have the guts to finally come clean and tell how they let six Republicans, whose boots they weren't fit to lace, needlessly die horrific deaths in a H-block hell-hole.
“Let them explain how they rejected an offer which meant Joe McDonnell, Martin Hurson, Kevin Lynch, Tom McElwee, Kieran Doherty and Mickey Devine would all have lived.”
O'Rawe spoke of the threats and intimidation he and his family had suffered since he exposed the leadership's lies. “ ‘Richard O'Rawe H-Block traitor’ was written on the wall opposite my home. Well, it's now as clear as daylight who betrayed the hunger-strikers.”
Papers donated to the National University of Ireland in Galway by Derry businessman, Brendan Duddy, show how the IRA prison leadership accepted a substantial British offer to end the death fast.
Known as the 'Mountain Climber', Duddy was the messenger between the British and the IRA. His notes show – as O'Rawe claimed in his best-selling book Blanketmen – that the British made an offer on 5 July 1981 effectively granting the prisoners' five demands except free association.
Joe McDonnell, the fifth hunger-striker, was hovering on the brink of death so urgent action was required. Duddy relayed the offer to Martin McGuinness who told Gerry Adams. Danny Morrison was then despatched to the H-Blocks to brief Bik McFarlane, the IRA commander in the jail.
When he returned to his cell, McFarlane told O'Rawe the good news. “We were both delighted. A few hours free movement every day wasn't worth one more life," says O'Rawe.
“The British were compromising on prison uniforms, work, visits, letters and segregation. Bik wrote to Gerry Adams, accepting the offer.”
However, the Army Council committee then sent word into the jail that the offer wasn't enough. On 7 July, the IRA told the British that while the substance of the proposal was acceptable, the “tone” needed changing.
Joe McDonnell died the next day. “This fine “epublican died because an Army Council clique didn't like the 'tone' of a document,” says O'Rawe. “Five other great men, the bravest of the brave, followed him.
“The hunger-strikers were Spartacuses.
“They gave everything they had to the republican movement. They believed to their death in a 32 county socialist republic. This Army Council committee between them didn't have even an ounce of one hunger-striker's courage. They were a bunch of immoral, unscrupulous b*****ds.”
It was later revealed that the Army Council committee never briefed the entire Army Council itself on the details of the offer.
The hunger-strike had become “a cynical PR exercise to gain votes”, O'Rawe claims. It had to continue at least until Owen Carron won the Fermanagh and South Tyrone Westminister by-election in August, holding Bobby Sands' seat.
The official Provo line has always been that a callous, uncompromising British government let 10 men die. “That lie's now exposed,” says O'Rawe. “The hunger-strikers broke Margaret Thatcher. She blinked first. She gave in but the men weren't told,”
The ex-IRA man says he faced a campaign of vilification since he began exposing the truth about the hunger-strike: “I was told I could be shot. My children were harassed. ‘Your da's a liar’, people shouted at them.
“I was ostracised. Guys I'd operated with in the IRA, some of my best friends, snubbed me as the leadership spread their lies.”
O'Rawe (57) lives just across the road from Milltown Cemetery on the Falls where three hunger-strikers are buried.
He often visits the graves of Bobby Sands, Joe McDonnell, and Kieran Doherty: “It's heart-breaking but I don't need to go there to remember them because they never leave my mind.” On the 30th anniversary of the 10 deaths, he still breaks down in tears thinking of his comrades.
-- Suzanne Breen, Sunday World, December 11, 2011.
15. 1921 Treaty of Surrender on display
THE original Anglo Irish Treaty document of 1921 has been made available to the public for the first time on December 6 in an online exhibition marking 90 years to the day since its signing.
The Treaty was signed in the aftermath of the truce which ended the 1919-1921 War of Independence.
The original document was acquired by the National Archives of Ireland from the 26-County Department of the Taoiseach in 2002 and has never before been made available for public consultation, either in its original form or online.
The inked signatures of all the delegates are visible at the bottom of the seven-page document, with most of the Irish delegates having signed as Gaeilge (in Irish).
The signatures on the left of the final page are Arthur Griffith, Micheál Ó Coileáin (Michael Collins), Riobárd Bartún (Robert Barton), Eamonn S Ó Dugáin (Eamonn Duggan) and Seoirse Ghabháin Uí Dhubhthaigh (George Gavan Duffy).
On the British side, the delegates who signed were: David Lloyd George, Austen Chamberlain, Lord Birkenhead (signed as ‘Birkenhead’), and Winston Churchill, who was chiefly responsible for the military clauses in the Treaty.
The “Articles of Agreement for a Treaty between Great Britain and Ireland” were signed by both delegations at 2.15am on December 6th, 1921.
British prime minister David Lloyd George had issued an ultimatum to the Irish delegation, including Collins, that they must either sign the text of the Treaty as it stood, or face the consequence of an immediate resumption of war in the event of their refusal to sign.
Collins said on the signing of the document that he had signed his death warrant. At the time, he believed the Treaty creating of the Irish Free State would ultimately lead to full independence, but he was viewed by many as a traitor.
The split over the Treaty and its subsequent narrow ratification by the Dáil in January 1922 ultimately led to the Civil War of 1922-23.
According to the National Archives, the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 is “probably THE seminal document of the Irish Free State, which in turn evolved into the Republic of Ireland”.
16. Friday of resistance in Bil'in
IN the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people on December 2, 2011, five demonstrators were injured in addition to the dozens of people who suffered choking from inhaling poison gas in the village of Bil'in west of Ramallah.
The weekly march was organised by the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Bil'in for the revival of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people with the participation of many national symbols, politburo member of the Democratic Front Qais Abu Leila, Minister of Social Affairs Magda Almasri, the spokesman for Fatah movement Ahmed Assaf, a member of the Political Bureau of the Palestinian Liberation Front Hisham Abu Raya, a member of the senior leadership of the Popular Front-General Command in Palestine D..Shawkat Hammad, the Secretary of the Democratic Union of Palestinian “Feda” in Ramallah, Kamal Mohammed Ali, a member of the senior leadership of the movement of the Palestinian National Initiative, Salah al-Khawaja, many delegations from all parties and national movements, French and Brazilian delegation, dozens of Palestinians and international and Israeli peace activists.
The march began after Friday prayers from the center of the village heading to the land that was liberated a few months ago, where participants raised Palestinian flags, banners of Palestinian parties, pictures of the prisoner Hamza Burnat who is a photographer for Friends of justice and freedom, pictures of the prisoner Ashraf Abu Rahma, banners painted with the image of the prisoner leader Marwan Barghouti.
The protesters chanted the national slogans which called for the departure of the occupation and the demolition of the apartheid wall and also they called on Palestinians to remain faithful to the constants of Palestine and called for freedom for all prisoners.
Upon the arrival of participants to (Abu Lemon) area, they were able to remove some of the barbed wire, then the soldiers behind the concrete wall shot live bullets in the air, rubber bullets, sound grenades, density of tear gas canisters and they sprayed waste water mixed with chemicals towards the participants, which led to the wounding of five people including the journalist Walid Safe from Aljazeera International. Dozens of citizens and Israeli and international peace activists suffered cases of severe asphyxia and the car of the press and ambulance crews who had treated the wounded in the field, were also targeted.
Some of the participants threw stones at the occupation soldiers, many soldier jeeps chased the demonstrators in the olive groves to the outskirts of the village.
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