Since British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and her crony pals in Westminster introduced legislation that categorised Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation, there have been hundreds of arrests made across Britain and the North of Ireland.
Over the past number of weekends, many protesters in Derry have shamefully received letters too from the PSNI regarding their participation in Palestine solidarity demonstrations. In some cases they have also been asked to attend the Strand Road police station for “voluntary” questioning.
In response to this outrageous fact, the Derry Communists joined over 100 people in showing support for those affected at the solidarity demonstration on Saturday 9 August.
At the same time as this demonstration, just over 100 meters up the hill in the Diamond area of the town, 10,000 members of the Apprentice Boys of Derry along with many more Loyalists marched through our city centre, in their yearly, deliberate provocation of the Nationalist community of Derry.
They marched flying flags of paramilitary organisations such as the UDA. In just Derry the UDA killed five men in the Top of the Hill bar shooting during the Troubles and murdered a further 8 in the Greysteel massacre. Palestine Action, instead, have not killed a single person and exist solely to protest the genocide of the Palestinian people. Who are the real terrorists here?
Well, if you ask the PSNI, it is not the ones flying UDA flags, but those suspected of supporting Palestine Action. The downright hypocrisy from the PSNI is absolutely sickening. But it comes as no surprise to anyone in Derry. This is another perfect example of the sectarian nature of the PSNI and the whole rotten statelet in the North.
Pro-Palestine protesters receive cautions for “being in possession of items likely to show support of a proscribed organisation” while loyalists flying and selling actual paramilitary flags have faced no repercussions so far – on the contrary their ‘leaders’ cash in fact checks from the so-called peace process.
The Revolutionary Communists in Derry and across Ireland oppose the repression of the Palestine solidarity movement and defend the right to free speech and protest. The charges against Mo Chara, the arrest of an elderly woman in Belfast, and the intimidation of activists in Derry will not cower us.
Derry has a proud tradition of fighting against imperialism, be it against the British occupation of the North or the “little loyal Jewish Ulster” the imperialists have created in the Middle East – unleashing horrors to all workers and people of the region for their own cynical interests.
The Derry communists are fighting against imperialism, against capitalism, against Westminster, Stormont and the Dáil – for a 32-counties workers’ state. Join us!
