Under these new laws, entire areas are now criminalised and branded as hostile in the eyes of the state and British Government. This is completely unacceptable.
Michael McLaughlin, IRSP
The IRSP have raised serious concerns regarding the establishment of a Quasi Militarised Border being implemented by the PSNI on behalf of the British Government.
Under the new “Border Security Act”, a mile wide zone is being established where anyone in that area can be stopped and searched by the PSNI in order to establish if they have been engaged in what they term, ‘hostile activity’.
Michael McLaughlin of the IRSP in Strabane has branded this as mass criminalisation against an entire population.
Michael has said, “My home town of Strabane straddles the British border in Ireland. Under these new laws, entire areas are now criminalised and branded as hostile in the eyes of the state and British Government. This is completely unacceptable.”
In 2017, the IRSP began publicly campaigning for a Border Poll on Irish Unity as a peaceful mechanism in ending partition and British interference in Ireland.
Michael went on to say, “the only hostile actor in this part of Ireland is the British government, who continue to impose the illegal partition of Ireland by deploying and controlling the heavily armed PSNI as a force to harass, threaten and criminalise these local communities. The only answer to this is the complete ending of partition and to allow our border communities to prosper in a United Ireland without being held hostage by the state.”
The IRSP call on local border communities to oppose this new draconian legislation and we ask anyone affected by this to highlight it on social media or by contacting the IRSP.
