Castlereagh from the Inside!

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Northern Ireland marchers protest against another state frame-up earlier this month The Agony and 'Callous exploitation' by On the evening of Friday August 8 I attended an open air Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) meeting on political status in the Markets area of Belfast.

I was asked to address the meeting (as someone who had just come from Britain for the weekend).

It soon became clear that the army intended to keep a close watch. They drove around in a jeep taking photographs. I spoke developments in Britain; the fate of Tameside and Edinburgh Trades Councils and rank and file pressure in the Labour Party for a discussion on Ireland.

In conclusion I expressed solidarity for the struggle of the Irish people against the British Immediately after the meeting our car was stopped by the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RÚC). Having been questioned, three of us, two IRSP comrades and 1, were arrested by the 'peace keeping' British army.

We were taken to the inappropriately named Grand Central Hotel Barracks (the building was an hotel before its purchase by the army). I was forcibly photographed and had details such as the colour of my eyes, and my weight noted. I was refused a solicitor or the right to make a telephone call.

Short lived

At 10.15 p.m. I was released. My satisfaction was however short lived. I was immediately rearrested with the other two comrades under Section II of the Emergency Provision Act and taken to Castlereagh. We were detained here from 10.15 Friday night to 12.30 p.m. on Monday afternoon. In protest against my detention I went on hunger strike.

The RUC took my personal possessions such as watch and money and then locked me in a Confirmation that the police knew the National Front march was to take place in. Nuneaton while they were being banned in five other towns has come from the fascists themselves.

Martin Webster, national activities organiser for the NF, said that plans had been drawn up in advance and route maps small grey cell. It had no windows, two small grills which allowed in little or no air, a bed and chair. The bed was supplied with paper sheets and pillow cases.

As no sunlight entered the cell it was impossible to judge the time accurately.

In these circumstances I was held in solitary confinement, with absolutely no contact with other prisoners throughout my stay. When asked about exercise I was told that I could exercise in mv cell.

'Even the writing on the walls seemed designed to add to one's psychological disorientation and feeling of isolation. An initial comment was followed by one from the same prisoner dated many months later. All this compounded my dejection and sense of helplessness. Time passed extremely slowly.

In all I was interviewed five times. During the interrogations plain clothed guardians of the peace made numerous threats.

One interviewer told me that he could give evidence stating Trotskyists This sinister picket tme nor...

FRED that I had verbally admitted membership of the INLA and could have me put away in I ana i Kach for cir months on remand. I was told that I would be taken into the corridor where there were no cameras, and be beaten. (One of the results of the Bennett Report was the fitting of cameras in all interrogation rooms).

I was threatened with being placed in a loyalist area on my release where I was informed I would be torn apart limb by limb.

Threats were also made about my return to Britain. One warning was that I would be detained for seven davs and buru then deported to Southern Ireland (my place of origin).

The interviewer told me he would be waiting for me when I got off the boat and would get me during the seven days.

Others concentrated on my fate when I returned to Colchester. My name and other details would be passed to. squaddies in this garrison town. It was also threatened that my landlord and any future employer would be informed of my activities.

During the course of my detention I was also fingerprinted and again photographed.

I was repeatedly questioned about membership of left organisations in Britain and association with republican organisations. Questions were also asked about my attitude to the Northern Ireland statelet and the RUC.

The point was repeatedly made that my arrest and subsequent detention was due not to my presence in the six counties but to my association with republican figures and my expression of solidarity with the struggle of the Irish people.

Several things flow from the experience of others who were harassed during their visit to the six counties (eg. those who appeared in court) and my own.

Unnecessary

It is important that all who travel to Northern Ireland be well versed in their legal rights. They should know what questions they are obliged to answer and those they may refuse, how long they may be detained for, and at what stage they are entitled to see a solicitor. Lack of such information can result in unnecessary information being given away ana unnecessary physiological distress.

Discussion with the inhabitants of West Belfast makes it clear that the harassment meted out to some of us in Beltast was merely a very small taste of the manner in which the army continually treats the people of Ireland. Our experience must therefore strengthen our resolve to build an anti-imperialist movement in Britain committed to the immediate withdrawal of troops from Ireland.

• Francis Barry 16.8.80 true positions on the Polish strikes are only just beginning to emerge.

While the news pages continue to praise the strikers (though with less enthusiasm than they praise the dissidents)

the editorial columns have taken a decidedly luké warm line.

The Telegraph was the first to crack, warning the strikers of the dangers of not modifying their demands. The Daily Mail follower Teller. dese observer has called for increased aid for Poland as has the right wing Now magazine and aid of course means taking the side of the Polish bureaucracy against the strikers.

The Telegraph was the most honest advising its readers that what was required was enough change to embarrass the Soviet Union but not enough to destabilise Poland.

The truth is known in Fleet Street that pictures of the Pope notwithstanding, there is nothing for them in a determined move to overthrow the bureaucracy in Poland. It is not just a question of loans.

It is those on the streets of Brixton, Reading and picket lines throughout the world who take heart from the Polish strikes-not the poisonous witch-hunters of the Mail and the Telegraph.

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