The unnamed man was later released. According to the newspaper a Continuity IRA source said all the organisation’s members “were accounted for”.

A statement on May 22 from Republican Sinn Féin said:

“If true, a front page report in today’s (Thursday , 22 May 1997) Irish News regarding the abduction of a Republican indicate that as the Provisionals move even closer to the British parliament they appear to be willing to act for the British government in that they are doing the British Army’s work for them.

“Republican Sinn Féin has no desire to aggravate the situation and wants such actions to halt here and now. Gerry Adams in his recent book stated that such ideological differences cannot be resolved other than by political means.

“It is fair to ask him publicly now if the Provos are getting ready to act in support of the British forces, as the new Broy Harriers, against members of their own community?

“Will they repress genuine Republicans who according to their public statements, seek a New Ireland and reject the 26-County State as a basis for a permanent settlement? Will they coerce those who reject totally the Westminster parliament and believe the British government has no right whatever to rule in Ireland?

“As the outlines of the proposed internal settlement become clearer are they prepared to force an updated British rule on the nationalist community? And does Gerry Adams and his organisation approve of such action?

“These are serious questions which require answers. People are entitled to know where they stand before physical action in support of the alleged peace process develops any further.”
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This is because of the first-past-the-post system of voting in the British system and also the result of the policy of favouring the unionists in the drawing up of constituency boundaries in the Six Counties. As expected Gerry Adams (Provisional) won back the West Belfast seat from Joe Hendron of the SDLP with a majority of 7,909 votes, while his colleague Martin McGuinness won the Mid-Ulster seat from the sitting unionist representative William McCrea of the DUP by a margin of 1,883 votes.

The only other change was the win by the Ulster Unionist candidate, William Thompson, in the newly-created West Tyrone constituency. With only 34.9% of the vote, Thompson, the only unionist candidate, won by a margin of 1,161 votes ahead of SDLP (32.1%) and the Provisionals (30.86%).In Britain, the Labour Party led by Tony Blair had a landslide victory, winning 418 seats of a total of 659.

The Tories lost half their MPs, winning only 165 while the Liberal Democrats got 46 candidates elected.

One of Blair’s first moves was to appoint Marjorie ‘Mo’ Mowlam as direct ruler for the Six Occupied Counties, to succeed Patrick Mayhew.
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“The Provisional Movement would be mistaken to regard the results in the Westminster election in the Six Occupied Counties as a mandate to further their design of moving gradually towards taking seats in the British parliament.

“Such action would mean acceptance by them of the British government’s claim to rule and exercise sovereignty and jurisdiction in Ireland. The 127,000 people who voted for them did not endorse that and it would be politically very unwise to proceed on such an assumption.

“There is no doubt as to the Provos’ long-term intention to accept the British parliament. The Irish News (Belfast) on April 2 reported their plans to attend the Palace of Westminster ‘frequently’ which it regarded as ‘an important shift in policy’.

“The Irish Times, on May 5, described their move to open offices for their new MPs at Westminster thus: ‘The party’s policy of abstentionism seems set to become virtually meaningless as a result.’

“The change in electoral boundaries – as Republican Sinn Féin noted at the time – undoubtedly assisted Provo candidates. This was seen in West Belfast, in Mid-Ulster and in West Tyrone.

“Gerry Adams’s wishing Marjorie Mowlam well in her appointment (May 3) must surely be the first time ever a political leader claiming Republican credentials has welcomed a British Supremo or Viceroy to Ireland.

“Such action is merely ‘another small step on the road to full participation’ at Westminster (Irish News editorial April 2), a further stepping-stone on the road to the British parliament.

“It is all very reminiscent of de Valera’s weaving and political manoeuvring from 1923 to 1927 as he made his way towards accepting the 26-County parliament.

“However the nationally-minded people will not be taken for granted if the looming change by the Provos from revolution to constitutionalism in the Six Occupied Counties takes place, even gradually.

“There will always be those who reject British rule politically and even those who actively resist it. That is the lesson of Irish history.”
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The report To Serve Without Favour, Policing Human Rights and Accountability, was published on May 28. The British police used excessive force against peaceful nationalist demonstrators on the Garvaghy Road while failing to stop loyalists from setting up illegal road blocks, which “resulted in the effective submission of state authorities to the threat of unionist violence,” the report states.

Human Rights Watch said it was also concerned with reports of collusion between loyalist death squads and the British police and has called for an inquiry into the death of nationalist solicitor Pat Finucane. The report also calls for a more vigorous examination of pro-British death squad killings and the banning of plastic bullets.

Human Rights Watch also called for the closure of Castlereagh interrogation centre and for the video and audio-taping of British police interrogations in the Six Counties.

In an earlier report, and alone of human rights bodies in Ireland, England and the US, Human Rights Watch condemned the political test oath introduced by Margaret Thatcher for 1989 local council elections in the Six Counties.

They described it as an “undemocratic” restriction on free and fair elections. Republican Sinn Féin candidates, and three sitting councillors among them, refused to take the oath and were not allowed to stand for election. They were similarly barred from the Six-County elections in 1994 and 1997.
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Gerard Michael Moyna had been held for 48 hours under the Offences Against the State Act by the 26-County Special Branch in Sligo after having being discharged from Sligo General Hospital on Thursday, May 15.

On the expiry of that 48-hour period he was again arrested and charged with offences contrary to Section 3 of the Explosives Substances Act 1883, as substituted by Section 4 of the Criminal Law Act of 1976.

The Criminal Law Act has been described as the “dregs of Sunningdale” as it was introduced by the 26-County State in return for the ‘Council of Ireland’ advisory body which never came into being. The 26-County law has remained on the statute bok ever since to be used against Irish people.

The charge is being linked by the 26-County Special Branch and the British Crown Forces in briefings to the media to an incident in Belfast city centre on May 10 when a bomb in a red Proton car was defused by the British army. The vehicle contained a quantity of Semtex explosive, a timing unit, a battery and a detonator which had exploded prematurely. The car had been hijacked in Andersonstown at 6pm and was discovered at 7.10pm in College Avenue.

Gerard Moyna denied the charge. He was remanded in custody to the next sitting of Sligo District Court on Friday, May 23.

In an unprecedented move at that second hearing, members of his family and members of the public were refused entry to what was an in camera session of the Sligo District Court. Only Moyna’s lawyer, Peter Brady, was allowed into the court, while the 26-County police ringed the courthouse.

One observer asked “whatever happened to justice being seen to be done?”. Another said that even in the non-jury Special Court in Green Street, Dublin, members of the public and relatives could attend and sit in the public gallery.

It was also suggested that the banning of the public from the court may have been for the benefit of “shy” British Crown Forces personnel attending the hearing.
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“At its height 33 Prisoners of War were on hunger strike in 1980, including three women from Armagh jail. We remember them all today for the courage and sacrifice but the ten Republican prisoners who gave their lives in 1981 hold an everlasting place in our hearts.

“The intervention of prisoner-candidates has a long and honourable history in Irish politics. The successful election of hunger-strikers Bobby Sands in Fermanagh/South Tyrone and Kieran Doherty in Cavan/Monaghan and of H-Block prisoner Paddy Agnew in Louth during 1981 secured massive world-wide publicity for the prisoners.

“Sixteen years later it is a matter of regret that the nationalist parties in Mid-Ulster did not follow the lead of Republican Sinn Féin who stated publicly that it would not stand in opposition to Róisín McAliskey, currently suffering inhuman and vindictive treatment in a British jail.

“The 1980-81 hunger strikers were an important landmark in Irish revolutionary history in that they politicised and awakened an entire generation of young Irish people, at home and abroad, to the evil that is British colonial rule in Ireland.

“The hunger strikes also focused international attention on the plight of the people of British-occupied Ireland. Let us remain true to their memory by remaining true to their objectives: a British withdrawal from Ireland and Irish national independence. They did not count the cost and stood in direct line of succession to the men and women of Easter Week 1916.

“Republican Sinn Féin stands in the same direct line of succession and remains the only political organisation in Ireland challenging Britain’s right to rule here and calling unapologetically for a British withdrawal and a New Ireland.

“Beir Bua (Victory to the Irish people!),” the message concluded.
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Tempers flared as the loyalist bigots hurled bottles, stones, paint bombs and other missiles in the direction of Our Lady’s Church. Water service workers who had been operating in the area were forced to flee as their van was set ablaze.

The rioters then charged towards a mechanical digger pushing it down an embankment and attacked a lorry carrying stones. Their voracious appetite also included breaking up water mains, leaving many homes on the estate without water. In contrast to RUC treatment of nationalists, no plastic bullets were fired during the riot by the British police.

Former rugby international and DUP Councillor Davy Tweed was there to cheer on the Orange mob. The protest in now in its ninth month.
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On Monday, May 26 she gave birth to a baby girl weighing 5lbs 13oz and mother and baby are reported to be doing well. Her mother Bernadette and her partner, Seán McCotter are allowed access. Despite worries over the health of mother and baby, friends say she gained a little weight due to superior hospital food and proper medical treatment.
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Ten members of the House opposed deportation during a Special Orders debate on the cases against the men including Tyrone native Brian Pearson, who was recently awarded political asylum by a New York judge.

The decision to grant political asylum is being appealed by the Immigration and Naturalisation Service, the immigration arm of the US Justice Department. The various members of the House of Representatives highlighted individual aspects of each case including the fact that US citizen wives and children were also facing deportation.
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