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Helicopter crash highlights the sham of ‘demilitarisation’

19/03/07

The crashing of a military helicopter used by British occupation forces in Co. Armagh on Sunday, has highlighted the sham that is Britain’s so-called ‘demilitarisation’ process.

Six members of the occupation forces were injured when their helicopter crashed into a field seconds after taking off from the British army base in Crossmaglen.

The incident has highlighted the continued military occupation of Ireland’s six north-eastern counties. As of 31 January 2007, the British military preserve installations and bases on at least 20 sites across the occupied area and maintain in excess of 7,500 heavily armed soldiers. According to British government spokespersons, the British aim to hold, at all times, ‘a permanent garrison of 5000’.

Speaking after the crash, éirígí spokesperson Brian Leeson commented ‘Sundays crash exposes the fact that Britain continues to view Ireland through a colonial vortex, using this country's land, sea and air space as a training ground for its military. Just one of the tools Britain has used in Ireland, throughout centuries of occupation, has been the training of its military personnel. The recent installation of Jonathan Evans as head of MI5 is further evidence of this’.

‘Evans, served in occupied Ireland alongside the infamous Force Research Unit (FRU), at a time when that particular wing of the British army was busy colluding with loyalist death squads in the importation of weapons, intelligence gathering activities and the murder of dozens of nationalists and republicans’.

‘The Irish people should be aware, that far from ‘demilitarising’, Britain is merely readjusting its military in Ireland to suit its own needs’.