The Men Behind the Masks

Once again the young people of Derry are being used as pawns in a game of draconian politics by dissident Republicans who want nothing more than to bring us back to the dark days when the gun and bomb ruled the streets and alleyways of many a town and city in NEI.  The same ‘men’ were behind the murder of journalist Lyra McKee, or knew who carried out that shooting of an innocent woman fatally shot by bullets aimed at police.  These dissident ‘hardmen’ rarely do any of this dirty work themselves, instead choosing to bring kids as young as 12 onto the streets to throw petrol bombs and bricks at police in a vicious cycle of events.

Masked men walk our streets, the PSNI go to the scene where masked men are walking said streets, and rightly so.  When the PSNI turn up they are attacked by children who have been gathered up by so-called ‘republicans’ who won’t do the dirty work themselves but are happy to have children do it which means those so-called ‘hard men’ aren’t actually doing anything to free Ireland but instead are luring kids into trouble, possible serious injury and jail time…much like a certain Loyalist balloon did during the much publicised ‘Fleg Protests’.  The dissidents will then come out claiming they attacked the PSNI because they made heavy-handed incursions into nationalist and Republican areas but the truth is, it was heavy-handed because petrol bombs were being thrown at them and they made the incursion because masked men were on the streets of Derry.  If you don’t want PSNI in nationalist and Republican areas, don’t walk the streets in masks.

You see Derry is better than this.  Derry led the way for all of us in sorting out extremely contentious parades within its own city.  The likes of ‘Black Saturday’ has been for the most part peaceful for quite some time now with most, not all but most of the marchers, supporters, and bands passing peacefully.  There will always be the odd problem like Parachute Regiment flags being sold at stands and bands wearing “No Apology, No Surrender” t-shirts with the same Regiment’s logo on them.  In past years these bands and stands have been dealt with by the RBP in Derry with bands being banned from attending again.

The PSNI is by no means perfect, as an organisation it is far from perfect and we all know it.  However, in voting for the GFA we voted for the PSNI.  The PSNI is our police force and they are accountable to us through the Northern Ireland Policing Board and they must be held to account if they are involved in or carry out actions that we as citizens of NEI deem heavy-handed or outrageous…or corrupt.

What happened today shows the utter failure of everything dissident Republicans stand for.  There is no political foresight with dissident parties like Saoradh.  Their goal is a united Ireland…that’s it.  There is no plan, no logical steps, no foresight or planning involved other than to injure or kill police officers (or innocent journalists) and they do it at this time of year using young children.  If they’re such hard men, why not stand up, no masks, no petrol bombs and speak their mind and respect what ‘we the people’ voted for democratically?  That being an end to violence, an end to masked men roaming our streets, and an end to violence, death, and bloodshed.

No, dissident Republicans respect nothing and no one, not even their own communities.  If they did they would take the same route as Martin McGuinness and work for a better NEI where our children have proper education, where our health service works for everyone, and where children from impoverished households who are in receipt of free school meals receive holiday payments simply to allow them to eat properly.  None of this matters to dissident Republicans because they need the same kids to do their dirty work on the streets.  They’re the scum of the earth and they really should do us all a favour and crawl back under the rock they scurried out from.  Clearly, they aren’t as confident or aware of our future as Martin was.

“I am so confident in my Irishness that I have no desire to chip away at the Britishness of my neighbours.” 

– Martin McGuinness.

Once again the young people of Derry are being used as pawns in a game of draconian politics by dissident Republicans who want nothing more than to bring us back to the dark days when the gun and bomb ruled the streets and alleyways of many a town and city in NEI.  The same ‘men’ were behind the murder of journalist Lyra McKee, or knew who carried out that shooting of an innocent woman fatally shot by bullets aimed at police.  These dissident ‘hardmen’ rarely do any of this dirty work themselves, instead choosing to bring kids as young as 12 onto the streets to throw petrol bombs and bricks at police in a vicious cycle of events.

Masked men walk our streets, the PSNI go to the scene where masked men are walking said streets, and rightly so.  When the PSNI turn up they are attacked by children who have been gathered up by so-called ‘republicans’ who won’t do the dirty work themselves but are happy to have children do it which means those so-called ‘hard men’ aren’t actually doing anything to free Ireland but instead are luring kids into trouble, possible serious injury and jail time…much like a certain Loyalist balloon did during the much publicised ‘Fleg Protests’.  The dissidents will then come out claiming they attacked the PSNI because they made heavy-handed incursions into nationalist and Republican areas but the truth is, it was heavy-handed because petrol bombs were being thrown at them and they made the incursion because masked men were on the streets of Derry.  If you don’t want PSNI in nationalist and Republican areas, don’t walk the streets in masks.

You see Derry is better than this.  Derry led the way for all of us in sorting out extremely contentious parades within its own city.  The likes of ‘Black Saturday’ has been for the most part peaceful for quite some time now with most, not all but most of the marchers, supporters, and bands passing peacefully.  There will always be the odd problem like Parachute Regiment flags being sold at stands and bands wearing “No Apology, No Surrender” t-shirts with the same Regiment’s logo on them.  In past years these bands and stands have been dealt with by the RBP in Derry with bands being banned from attending again.

The PSNI is by no means perfect, as an organisation it is far from perfect and we all know it.  However, in voting for the GFA we voted for the PSNI.  The PSNI is our police force and they are accountable to us through the Northern Ireland Policing Board and they must be held to account if they are involved in or carry out actions that we as citizens of NEI deem heavy-handed or outrageous…or corrupt.

What happened today shows the utter failure of everything dissident Republicans stand for.  There is no political foresight with dissident parties like Saoradh.  Their goal is a united Ireland…that’s it.  There is no plan, no logical steps, no foresight or planning involved other than to injure or kill police officers (or innocent journalists) and they do it at this time of year using young children.  If they’re such hard men, why not stand up, no masks, no petrol bombs and speak their mind and respect what ‘we the people’ voted for democratically?  That being an end to violence, an end to masked men roaming our streets, and an end to violence, death, and bloodshed.

No, dissident Republicans respect nothing and no one, not even their own communities.  If they did they would take the same route as Martin McGuinness and work for a better NEI where our children have proper education, where our health service works for everyone, and where children from impoverished households who are in receipt of free school meals receive holiday payments simply to allow them to eat properly.  None of this matters to dissident Republicans because they need the same kids to do their dirty work on the streets.  They’re the scum of the earth and they really should do us all a favour and crawl back under the rock they scurried out from.  Clearly, they aren’t as confident or aware of our future as Martin was.

“I am so confident in my Irishness that I have no desire to chip away at the Britishness of my neighbours.” 

– Martin McGuinness.

Once again the young people of Derry are being used as pawns in a game of draconian politics by dissident Republicans who want nothing more than to bring us back to the dark days when the gun and bomb ruled the streets and alleyways of many a town and city in NEI.  The same ‘men’ were behind the murder of journalist Lyra McKee, or knew who carried out that shooting of an innocent woman fatally shot by bullets aimed at police.  These dissident ‘hardmen’ rarely do any of this dirty work themselves, instead choosing to bring kids as young as 12 onto the streets to throw petrol bombs and bricks at police in a vicious cycle of events.

Masked men walk our streets, the PSNI go to the scene where masked men are walking said streets, and rightly so.  When the PSNI turn up they are attacked by children who have been gathered up by so-called ‘republicans’ who won’t do the dirty work themselves but are happy to have children do it which means those so-called ‘hard men’ aren’t actually doing anything to free Ireland but instead are luring kids into trouble, possible serious injury and jail time…much like a certain Loyalist balloon did during the much publicised ‘Fleg Protests’.  The dissidents will then come out claiming they attacked the PSNI because they made heavy-handed incursions into nationalist and Republican areas but the truth is, it was heavy-handed because petrol bombs were being thrown at them and they made the incursion because masked men were on the streets of Derry.  If you don’t want PSNI in nationalist and Republican areas, don’t walk the streets in masks.

You see Derry is better than this.  Derry led the way for all of us in sorting out extremely contentious parades within its own city.  The likes of ‘Black Saturday’ has been for the most part peaceful for quite some time now with most, not all but most of the marchers, supporters, and bands passing peacefully.  There will always be the odd problem like Parachute Regiment flags being sold at stands and bands wearing “No Apology, No Surrender” t-shirts with the same Regiment’s logo on them.  In past years these bands and stands have been dealt with by the RBP in Derry with bands being banned from attending again.

The PSNI is by no means perfect, as an organisation it is far from perfect and we all know it.  However, in voting for the GFA we voted for the PSNI.  The PSNI is our police force and they are accountable to us through the Northern Ireland Policing Board and they must be held to account if they are involved in or carry out actions that we as citizens of NEI deem heavy-handed or outrageous…or corrupt.

What happened today shows the utter failure of everything dissident Republicans stand for.  There is no political foresight with dissident parties like Saoradh.  Their goal is a united Ireland…that’s it.  There is no plan, no logical steps, no foresight or planning involved other than to injure or kill police officers (or innocent journalists) and they do it at this time of year using young children.  If they’re such hard men, why not stand up, no masks, no petrol bombs and speak their mind and respect what ‘we the people’ voted for democratically?  That being an end to violence, an end to masked men roaming our streets, and an end to violence, death, and bloodshed.

No, dissident Republicans respect nothing and no one, not even their own communities.  If they did they would take the same route as Martin McGuinness and work for a better NEI where our children have proper education, where our health service works for everyone, and where children from impoverished households who are in receipt of free school meals receive holiday payments simply to allow them to eat properly.  None of this matters to dissident Republicans because they need the same kids to do their dirty work on the streets.  They’re the scum of the earth and they really should do us all a favour and crawl back under the rock they scurried out from.  Clearly, they aren’t as confident or aware of our future as Martin was.

“I am so confident in my Irishness that I have no desire to chip away at the Britishness of my neighbours.” 

– Martin McGuinness.