éirígí: For A Socialist Republic

RUC still calling the shots

12/03/07

A Freedom of Information Act request has confirmed that the core of the ‘P.S.N.I’ transferred en masse from the ‘Royal Ulster Constabulary’.

71 per cent of serving PSNI officers previously operated with the notoriously sectarian RUC. This accounts for 6,508 members of the 9,131 strong force.

The figures will be a blow to those advocating that bigots and human rights abusers can be rooted out of policing structures in the occupied area. It has previously been reported that the overwhelming majority of PSNI dropouts came from the broad catholic community (see éirígí news archives 05/01/07).

éirígí spokesperson Dáithi Mac An Mháistír has called on nationalists and republicans to show the same contempt for the PSNI as they did the RUC.

“Talk of rooting out an old order appears somewhat naive whenever the bulk of the force you have given your allegiance to is made up of that old order.

“Indeed, the term ‘old order’ is hardly appropriate in these circumstance as the the ‘new order’ is made up of the same people that made up the ‘old order’.

“Given that these experienced human-rights abusers maintain all the apparatus of counter-insurgency at their disposal, including thousands of plastic bullets, the nationalist and republican population should treat them with nothing but the hostility they deserve.

Dáithi continued: “How many of this 71 per cent were involved in running the ‘illegal’ pro-British death squads? How many habitually fired plastic bullets at nationalist demonstrators and children? How many worked in the torture centres?

“We always knew that the primary role of the PSNI was the same as that of the RUC, to protect the British state in Ireland. The fact that over 70% of PSNI members were previously members of the RUC confirms that not only has the PSNI the same role as the RUC it is also largely made up of the same people.”

“They should not be allowed to masquerade as a civic police service until the next time they feel the need to engage in large-scale repression.”

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