THE  following details give an example of the type of harassment that Republican Sinn Féin members receive. Young members receive the most continuous harassment. The details below give an account of incidents which occurred to one 20-year-old member (‘Adam’) from Dublin in December and the first two weeks of January. Such incidents happen regularly throughout the year.

About an hour-and-a-half before this occurred he had left a meeting of the Dublin organisation in Republican Sinn Féin’s head office.
January 6, 2002. Adam was waiting at the assembly point for the Seán Sabhat Commemoration in Limerick with a group of friends. They were approached by three Special Branchmen. He was asked his name and address. By coincidence the Detective who was taking down this information had the same name. Despite this he insisted that Adam spell his name. He was quite abusive about this.

Other people at the commemoration got similar treatment.

December 25, 2001. Adam was stopped and searched at the Christmas morning swim in Dublin in aid of Republican prisoners. He was approached by two uniformed Gardaí. He was asked his name and address. Other people at the swim got similar treatment.

December 22, 2001. Adam was selling copies of SAOIRSE outside the GPO in O’Connell St. He arrived at about 12 noon. Within a few minutes he was approached by a uniformed Guard. He was asked his name and address. He was told he was being arrested for membership of an illegal organisation. He was brought to Store Street Garda barracks where he was told that SAOIRSE was illegal, etc. He was released without charge at around 4pm with the papers etc being returned to him.

Mid December, 2001. Adam was leaving Republican Sinn Féin Head Office having collected about 40 copies of SAOIRSE for sale. As he was walking on Moore Street he was approached by two detectives. He was asked his name and address. His bag was searched and the copies of SAOIRSE were seized. The Branchmen claimed it was an illegal paper.

In addition to these incidents the Special Branch regularly call to his home where he lives with his mother and brother and sister. Sometimes his mother lets them in. Once in they would look around the flat. They would tell his mother that Adam is in an illegal organisation and they are concerned for him etc.
Usually two detectives call to the flat at a time. If let in they would often stay an hour. When challenged one time about searching a bag in the flat one of them replied: “We’re the law. We can do whatever we want.”

These calls to Adams home are regular. In December they called about 3-4 times. This is regular throughout the year.

In addition to the incidents recorded here, which deal with December and January, Adam has been arrested a number of times during the year.

People get stopped on the street so many times that they often lose count. People are often arrested under the Drugs Act because this allows the Gardaí to strip-search the person. Young Republicans are the most vulnerable to this type of harassment.
 

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NEWS FROM SAOIRSE (freedom). The Voice of the Irish Republican Movement. Republican Sinn Féin http://rsf.ie 223 Parnell Street, Dublin 1 229 Falls Road, Belfast

Web layout by SAOIRSE -- Irish Freedom February 11, 2002  Send links, events notifications, articles, comments etc, to the editor at: saoirse@iol.ie.