PRESS RELEASE-BRITISH POLICING IS POLITICAL POLICING

The recent announcement of the recruitment of 50 part time PSNI officers for the Newry and Mourne area (and despite the medias portrayal of it as a bold step forward) is nothing more than an extension of the British governments normalization policy in Ireland.

These people who will take up their positions in July of this year will be no different than any other member of the RUC in that their principle aim will be to maintain the status quo and defend Britain's illegal claim to sovereignty in the six occupied counties.

The recent claims which have been made by the constitutional political parties that policing has now changed were exposed for what they were, when only the day after the recent assembly elections independent republican Gerry McGeough was arrested leaving a polling station in Omagh. This arrest was clearly politically motivated and was intended as a message to all republicans that nothing has changed and that those who oppose the British presence in Ireland will be removed and silenced.

The fact is that as long as there is a dispute over the constitutional status of the six counties British policing will remain political policing as it is there to carry out the will and enforce the laws of one of the main protagonists in the conflict.

We in the 32 County Sovereignty Movement fully recognize that people need civic policing, but civic policing can only come from a police force that is neutral on the constitutional issue. With this in mind we have been calling for an international police force as outlined in our documents "No other law" and "The Necessity of Policing and The Necessity for Constitutional Change " and we would urge all people who really do seek non-political policing to read and comment on these documents.

It has also been brought to our attention that several teachers and others with influence over young people in the South Armagh area have been urging them to consider a career in the PSNI. We would ask them to carefully think about how they use their influence as they are asking these young people to put themselves in the firing line, something which could have fatal consequences.

We would also call on the people of South Armagh to reject British Policing as they have always done and give their full support to those who seek to end the occupation of our country.

Kevin Murphy

P.R.O.

32 County Sovereignty Movement

South Armagh