Tag: Police

Real IRA threatens more ‘executions’ of police and disrupt the Queen’s historic visit

By Rob Hastings

A member of the Real IRA reads a statement during a 1916 Easter Rising memorial at Cregan Cemetery in Londonderry yesterday

The Real IRA warned yesterday that it planned to kill more police in Northern Ireland and disrupt the Queen’s historic visit to Ireland. At a rally in Londonderry to mark the anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising against British rule, a masked member of the dissident republican group told supporters that police would be considered “as liable for execution as anyone, regardless of their religion, cultural background or motivation”. In a statement, the group also branded the Queen a war criminal ahead of her first visit to the Republic from 17 to 20 May.

It called on “any young nationalist who may have been sold the lie” that the Police Service of Northern Ireland had been reformed and was non-political to think again. “Those who think they are serving their community are in fact serving the occupation and will be treated as such,” the statement said.

The rally, held by the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, came three weeks after PC Ronan Kerr, 25, was killed by a nationalist car bomb in Omagh, Co Tyrone. The masked Real IRA man formed part of a colour party of seven people, all dressed in full paramilitary uniform. Between 200 and 300 people attended the event, which was monitored by a police helicopter.

The Real IRA statement said the Queen’s visit was an insult that should be resisted by “all self-respecting Irishmen and women”, and was an attempt to “further the selfish interests of a self-serving elite”. “The Irish people will not capitulate,” it added. “The Queen of England is wanted for war crimes in Ireland and not wanted on Irish soil. We will do our best to ensure she and the gombeen [usurer] class that act as her cheerleaders get that message.”

Mark Durkan, the MP for Foyle and former leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), condemned the speech, saying: “The Real IRA … is morally and politically bankrupt when they are driven to attack and threaten nationalists who want to serve the community and their country.”

Police aross the province were kept on high alert all weekend. They fear an attack is imminent and have urged the public to remain vigilant. Dissident groups are said to be keen to use the royal visit to Dublin to their advantage, invoking hatred of the monarchy as a way to stir up deep-seated resentment at political division of the island.

Earlier, three men appeared in court in Newry, Co Down, charged with possessing guns and preparing for terrorism. Brian Sheridan, 34, Brian Cavlan, 35, and Dominic Dines, 39, were held on Friday in South Armagh. In later searches in the same area, police found explosives and bomb-making equipment.

The İndependent

May 5, 2011
Royal wedding: Police probe racist attack at Middletons’ local pub party (UK)

Royal wedding: Police probe racist attack at Middletons’ local pub party (UK): “A party to celebrate the royal wedding at the Middletons’ local pub ended in a punch-up when a drunken gatecrasher attacked three guests.

Landlord of the Old Boot Inn John Hayley, 55, held the £15-a-head bash for 350 regulars after returning from Westminster Abbey, where he had been a wedding guest.

But a fight broke out after a thug is said to have called an Asian woman a “f***ing P***” when she sat in someone else’s seat.

The attacker then grabbed her and threw her to the floor before attacking her sister-in-law and a male pal outside. The Asian woman was left with a cut face and black eye. The thug fled before police arrived.

The pub, in Bucklebury, Berks, is a regular haunt of Kate’s parents, Carole and Michael Middleton, who have lived nearby for the past 10 years. Kate and Wills have also popped in.

Charlie Hewitt, 47, whose girlfriend Liza Simpson, 39, was attacked by the thug, said: “They were having a delightful day and really enjoying the party. When they got to the Boot it all got a bit unsavoury and some not nice things were said. It really upset her, though, and it’s a real shame to end such a lovely day like that.”

A police spokesman said they were investigating.

Mr Hayley organised the party months ago and he had employed bouncers to stop trouble.

Speaking outside the Abbey after the wedding, he said: “I was sat right at the front. Kate walked so close, I could have touched her dress.”

Chasing Evil

May 4, 2011
Police search Sarkozy party HQ in L’Oreal investigation

MP party chief Xavier Bertrand says that police searched the party headquarters in Paris on Wednesday as part of their ongoing investigation into the alleged involvement of Labour Minister Eric Woerth in the L’Oreal scandal.

French police probing a party financing scandal linked to L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt have searched the headquarters of President Nicolas Sarkozy’s majority UMP, the party said Thursday.

Police from the financial investigations squad searched the Paris headquarters on Wednesday afternoon, the party’s leader Xavier Bertrand said, in the latest development of the months-long scandal.

Several judicial investigations are under way into affairs linked to Bettencourt’s fortune, including allegations of tax evasion and illegal campaign funding that have implicated Labour Minister Eric Woerth.

The party’s director general Eric Cesari told AFP the police had come to look for “correspondance between Eric Woerth and Patrice de Maistre”, the manager of Bettencourt’s 17-billion-euro (22-billion-dollar) fortune.

Woerth was previously UMP treasurer and head fundraiser for Sarkozy’s 2007 presidential campaign. He has been accused of a conflict of interest because his wife worked for Maistre, helping manage the billionairess’s estate.

Woerth denies any wrongdoing but has been politically weakened and the long-running investigation has undermined his and Sarkozy’s attempt to push through pensions reform.

Cesari said police had announced their visit and spent an hour a half at the headquarters checking archives, but did not take anything with them.

Police told AFP the search was ordered by a prosecutor in the western Paris suburb of Nanterre who is investigating various aspects of Bettencourt’s affairs and allegations implicating Woerth.

The magazine Paris Match reported on its website that investigators were searching for a letter sent by Woerth to Sarkozy in March 2007 in which Woerth called for Maistre to receive France’s top state honour, the Legion d’Honneur.

France 24

September 9, 2010
Police charged over Ahmad ‘assault’

Four police officers have been accused of assaulting terror suspect Babar Ahmad as they arrested him in 2003.

The officers, all members of the Metropolitan Police’s territorial support group, will be charged with causing actual bodily harm.

The Crown Prosecution Service said Pcs Nigel Cowley, John Donohue, Roderick James-Bowen and Mark Jones will appear before magistrates on September 22.

Ahmad, 36, was held by officers who raided his home in Tooting, south London, in December 2003. In March last year the Met paid £60,000 damages as lawyers for Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson admitted he was the victim of violence.

Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer’s decision to bring criminal charges came after an independent review by retired senior judge Sir Geoffrey Grigson into the handling of the case. An original Met inquiry concluded no officer should be disciplined and prosecutors did not bring criminal charges.

Ahmad remains in Long Lartin prison after the European Court of Human Rights halted his extradition to the United States to face terror charges. The court will announce next year whether transferring him breaches his rights by exposing him to life imprisonment without parole and solitary confinement.

ITN

August 12, 2010
Bomb explodes in N.Ireland, police say targeted

BELFAST (Reuters) – A bomb destroyed a bridge in Northern Ireland late on Saturday in an attack police said was targeted at its officers.

The blast happened on a country road near the south Armagh border. No one was injured. It came as police in the Republic of Ireland questioned five men as part of a probe into dissident Republican militants active in Northern Ireland.

Police Chief Superintendent Alisdair Robinson said the explosion was “a totally reckless act that could easily have led to loss of life if anybody had been driving past at the time.”

“However I believe at this stage the real target was my officers. This was an attempt to lure police into the area to injure or kill them,” he said.

A 1998 peace agreement largely ended three decades of violence between predominantly Catholic groups who want a united Ireland and mainly Protestant unionists who want Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom.

The main paramilitary organisations on both sides, such as the Provisional IRA, have surrendered their weapons, but militant splinter groups have stepped up attacks recently.

Dissidents have attacked security forces several times, with the Real IRA believed to be leading much of the campaign including car bombings and shooting at police officers.

The bridge attack took place ahead of a day of parades on Monday by the pro-British Orange Order, made up of Protestants who want Northern Ireland to remain a British province.

The marchers, who wear orange sashes and bowler hats to commemorate a 17th century victory of Protestants over Catholics, cause tension each year with the Catholic minority, many of whom would like to see a united Ireland.

Last year, nationalist rioters attacked police with bricks, bottles and other missiles on the day.

(Reporting by Ian Graham, Writing by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Editing by Maria Golovnina)

The Star Online

July 11, 2010
July 7 inquests to probe alleged ‘failings’ of Police and Security Services

The inquests into the deaths of 52 people in the July 7 bombings will scrutinise alleged failings by police and the security services.

Coroner Lady Justice Hallett said it is “not too remote” to investigate what was known in the years before the atrocities took place.

She told the Royal Courts of Justice that inquests into the deaths of the four suicide bombers will be held separately and she will sit without a jury.

Announcing that she will resume the inquests later this year, Lady Hallett said: “The scope of the inquest into the 52 deaths will include the alleged intelligence failings and the immediate aftermath of the bombings.

“I am sure however that the survivors, despite not being granted interested persons status, will play an important part in the process. I will do all I can to make sure their interests are properly taken into account.”

ITN

May 21, 2010