Britain Still Jailing Without Trial

national | rights, freedoms and repression | news report Saturday July 26, 2008 13:20 by éirígí press at eirigi dot org

37 years ago, the doors of working class nationalist homes across the Six Counties came crashing down as the British government's armed thugs went on the offensive in defence of the Stormont junta.

Britain Interns the Innocent

Fearful of the resurgent popularity of the freedom struggle and the example set by the civil rights movement, Brian Faulkner set out to break the nationalist people with one of the most draconian weapons at his disposal - internment.

By August 1971, internment without trial had been used by the Stormont regime in every decade of its existence. Like the return of British troops to Irish streets in 1969, putting people in internment camps was designed to shore up British rule in the Six Counties.

Hundreds of Irish citizens were carted off to torture centres, one of the most infamous being Palace Barracks, and on to prison camps as the world looked on aghast.

Working class nationalist communities met the latest outrage of the occupation with tenactiy and defiance. The IRA went on the offensive, the people took to the streets and the British state ceased to function in large swathes of the North.

Less than a year later, Stormont was gone and the British government was in direct confrontation with a risen people.

Fast forward to 2008 and Britain is still using all the repressive measures possible to stamp out dissent and protect the wealthy.

In June this year, the Westminster parliament passed legislation that enables the British state to hold people for 42-days without trial.

This legislation will doubtless be used against minority communities in Britain and, in time, Irish opponents of the British occupation.

Ironically, one of the places from which the spooks are probably selcting 42-day detainees is the new MI5 spy base in Palace Barracks. They might even be doing it 37 years to the day from when Irish civillians were being tortured and selected for indefinite detainment in the very same spot.

While it is important to remember the tumultuous events of 1971, it is even more vital to challenge the repressive policies of the British government, and their very presence in Ireland, in the here and now.

To that end éirígí will be organising a number of events nationwide to commemorate the injustice of internment and challenge the injustice of 42-day detention.

Saturday, August 9, Dublin: Assemble at the British Embassy, Merrion Road, D4 at 3pm.

The details of more events will be added to this site in the coming days.

Bígí Linn!