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The camera never lies. Or so they say. It is a well-known
phrase, but it is doubtful if there ever was a time when it
was entirely true.
You can, of course, get the camera to tell the story that
you want it to tell, by careful positioning or timing.
In relation to the recent rioting in Belfast and elsewhere
following the Whiterock parade, of course, the cameras were
right on hand to record events. The PSNI was quick to release
their footage of the disorder. The Chief Constable was quick
to condemn the Orange Order. Almost too quick!
For when it comes to the choreography of the situation, some
factors have not been highlighted.
Firstly, eyewitness accounts suggest there were two sides
to the story. There are accounts of heavy-handed actions by
the PSNI on the ground. There are accounts of a member of
the Army driving a landrover haphazardly through a crowd of
peaceful protestors, to the point where a bandsman was knocked
down.
Given the aim of the PSNI being a non-partisan force, there
are also worrying accounts of some officers allegedly being
abusive to Orangemen and supporters.
UUP communications officer Alex Benjamin has claimed he heard
officers shouting 'Protestant b******s' or 'Orange b******s
at protestors near the constituency offices of the UUP leader
Sir Reg Empey. Similar accounts have also come from North
Belfast.
Mr Benjamin, who is not an Orangeman, said in a statement
that he had always supported the police and had no truck with
paramilitaries, "That aside, what I witnessed .... was
a provocative, rampant police, completely disinterested in
taking effective measures to calm the situation, instead opting
for heavy-handed tactics which I believe 100 per cent led
to the escalation of the situation," he says.
"The police surged up the Albertbridge Road, knocking
women to the ground with their landrovers and pushing and
hitting people who were in their way. Had these people been
rioters with scarves around their faces or brandishing petrol
bombs they could at least have had an excuse. But women with
no weapons and political representatives who were trying to
reason with them and defuse tensions were herded like sheep
going to an abattoir," Mr Benjamin notes.
John Little, a retired riot control officer, who has more
than 30 years service behind him, also witnessed events on
the Albertbridge Road. He saw baton round injuries on two
children of seven and others from age nine upwards.
Yet according to the rules, police officers are not allowed
to fire at children. He accused the PSNI of a shambolic response
to the events of that Saturday and claims the police actions
will help drive ordinary Protestants into the arms of paramilitaries.
Similar accounts from across the city suggest that the PSNI
actions left much to be questioned in their aftermath. That
is, of course, if all actions were those of the PSNI.
Witnesses have told us of how some of the PSNI officers spoke
with English accents, how one made a reference to his 'battalion'
and how another asked where in Belfast he actually was. Perhaps
this could account for the reason why some of the officers
did not have their numbers visible as they are supposed to
have.
Most ordinary, decent, law-abiding people will find it hard
to believe that the police were anything but correct in everything
they did. But they should listen to those who can give firsthand
accounts that tell a different story.
But why would police act in a provocative manner? Maybe the
answer lies in a statement made by the present Secretary of
State, Peter Hain MP, back in 1986.
"I think it's helpful, from the point of view of people
who wish to seek a united Ireland, to have the loyalist community
in open revolt against the Thatcher Government. That is one
of the preconditions for making advances .... " he said
in Labour and Ireland magazine.
Peter Hain was a strong anti-partionist and sharer of the
views of the Troops Out Movement. He was also a member of
Time to Go, a group which demanded a phased withdrawal by
Britain ahead of the establishment of a 32-county republic.
Mr Hain had the audacity to suggest recently that Protestants
should be content that there was peace. Most people accept
that there has to be compromise on everyone's part for the
betterment of all. But in the political marketplace the price
of peace appears to have had to be paid by the unionist community,
while as far as the nationalist and republican community is
concerned 'everything must go'.
Perhaps someone, somewhere, believes that unionists need
to be defeated by force in order to allow political progress
to be made. The most important organisation to defeat in this
context is, of course, the Orange Order, an organisation symbolic
of the entire Protestant community and its rich heritage.
The IRA has been trying to defeat the Orange through attacks
on members - over 200 of whom have died in the Troubles -
and by seeking to destroy our Orange Halls.
Sinn Fein has been trying to defeat the Orange Order by attacking
parades. They hold no brief for the idea of 'an Ireland of
equals' in the backwoods of republican thought.
Now it looks as if the PSNI wants to get in on the act. Being
aggressively heavy-handed - firing many more baton rounds
than at republicans when they rioted at Ardoyne, for example
- could win approval from the Shinners. Maybe it might even
encourage them onto the policing boards. Given that the begging
bowl of Adams and Co. is never filled, it seems unlikely.
But even if it were likely, at what cost would this be achieved?
The end result given present form would be the total alienation
of a large swathe of the unionist, Protestant and Orange community.
In an editorial in August 2005 the Shankill Mirror newspaper
warned of abusive behaviour from police, inaction in defending
Protestant communities under attack, and policing in crisis.
This is not an isolated warning or complaint. Working-class
communities are proving a barometer of opinion within the
wider community at present. They and other such communities
need to be assisted rather than alienated.
Because in terms of assisting to bring peace to Northern
Ireland present actions by those in authority fall lamentably
short. Secretaries of State, even those who support a United
Ireland, should know better.
And it will take more than a visit to the Somme Centre by
Peter Hain and lip service to the brave men of the 36th Ulster
Division to mend the fences broken down in recent months.
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