Police action over Bloody Sunday walk defies belief

At the time of writing, two pieces of news have broken.

The first is almost incredulous. It’s reported that the PSNI has forwarded a file on seven individuals to the PPS on what they considered possibly being an “unlawful procession” last August to a Derry courthouse.

Those involved are believed to include some relatives of the 13 innocent people unlawfully killed by British soldiers on Bloody Sunday in 1971, along with a handful of supporters including the MP for Foyle, SDLP leader Colum Eastwood.

The Bloody Sunday families are victims of British state transgressions and yet, with great dignity and fortitude, have continued their pursuit of justice for over half a century. They have refused to be cowed by political obduracy and establishment attempts to cover up and, indeed, protect those who committed murder whilst wearing a British uniform on that fateful day.

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The PSNI was supposed to be a fresh beginning for policing in Northern Ireland. Much of that start has been squandered in recent years by inept operational performance and tone deaf leadership at the top of policing including senior officers and the Policing Board.

Speaking as a former member of the original Northern Ireland Policing Board, it’s difficult to comprehend a more stupid, ill-conceived and potentially self-harming action taken by the police than calling these individuals in for interview in the first place.

Where was the judgement being exercised by PSNI commanders in Derry? Where was the sensitivity? Where was the common sense?

Many have high expectations of the new Chief Constable Jon Boutcher – not least for his considered approach towards victims and their families. The Derry debacle may not be the most auspicious of beginnings.

Working as an aide to the late Seamus Mallon MP, I remember being locked out of a RUC station, unable to make representations on behalf of constituents, and was therefore forced to make complaints from the street through the sanger. No-one wants to experience this type of community estrangement ever again.

To traumatise further the families of the Bloody Sunday victims demonstrates a lack of nous, policing skills and community understanding. This is a failure with a capital F.

Colum Eastwood as an elected representative was correct to do what he did. And he should do it again and again in support of his constituents. His predecessor, the late John Hume, would expect no less and Hume faced down police batons and water cannon to carry out his legally entitled role as a Stormont MP for Derry.

That Eastwood has been referred to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner by an attention-craving, marginal loyalist blogger will hardly cost the MP a sleepless night.

The ball now lies in the hands of the PPS and on the recommendation of the PSNI. Common sense should prevail because much capital in terms of community confidence in justice is at stake.

And yet in the parallel world of loyalist paramilitarism, and 25 years after their non-compliant ceasefires, the UVF and UDA appear to roam at large, engaging in nefarious illegal activities whilst allegedly participating in the world’s longest, record breaking, farcical transitioning process.

Where was the judgement being exercised by PSNI commanders in Derry? Where was the sensitivity? Where was the common sense?

Which takes me back to the other bit of news – the death of General Sir Frank Kitson at the age of 97.

This decorated soldier pioneered counter insurgency tactics during the Troubles but decided they should only be applied to the nationalist community. Loyalists weren’t only given a free rein but collusion was actively encouraged.

Both the Bloody Sunday and Ballymurphy Massacres occurred on his watch. Kitson enjoyed a longevity denied to many others who died through the dirty war tactics he developed in the north and during the independence struggles in Kenya and Malaya.

Like many leading loyalist and militant republican paramilitaries, Kitson was a willing, war-mongering protagonist who escapes to the grave leaving a legacy of lost lives, hurt and unanswered questions for victims’ families.