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Opponents of the peace process are gaining impetus

On Friday, October 4th 2002, the Northern Irish police force -- the PSNI -- raided the homes of Sinn Féin members and Sinn Féin’s Stormont party offices. They arrested 6 people. According to the police, they are accused of espionage. Three people have meanwhile been charged with "having information in their possession which is useful to terrorists."

The unionist parties outdo each other in accusations against Sinn Féin. The DUP has already withdrawn their minister from the common government. David Trimble has announced that he will resign from office if Sinn Féin has not been excluded from government within 7 days.

The Irish government has strongly criticized the manner in which the raid in the offices of the parliamentary building took place. An Irish secretary of state was speaking of methods that are usually employed only by semi-democratic countries.

Sinn Fèin condemned the raids as a politically motivated attack on their party and the peace process.

The peace process, which is in a deep crisis due to the withdrawal of the unionist parties from the Belfast agreement, has received a serious blow through this action.

Joint Statement from German-Ireland solidarity groups

11th of October, 2002

It was very obvious that when on Friday, October 4th 2002, a massive force of police raided the Stormont offices of Sinn Féin without a search warrant, that it was the old guard of the RUC in new uniforms. In the North of Ireland 'trivial' things like search warrants have always been replaced by the application of brute force.

This police action against Sinn Féin which is the biggest nationalist party in the North and one of whose members is now the current mayor of Belfast, has created a severe crisis in the North of Ireland.

It is now a heavy price that has to be paid for the lack of implementation by the British government of even the minimal police reforms demanded in the Good Friday Agreement.

There are still policemen on duty who have committed gross violations of human rights. The Special Branch, which has even been involved in contract killings to get rid of ‘inconvenient’ republican opponents, still exists. There are still no mechanisms to make the police accountable for their actions or to demand answers.

On April 28, 2002, journalist David McKittrick warned in that senior police officers are undermining the peace process. McKittrick, a long-standing correspondent with the Independent and co-author of the book "Lost Lives", cannot in any way be called a friend of republicans. Nevertheless, in the article "Police sabotages peace agreement in Northern Ireland", he wrote:

"Both the Government and senior police figures in Northern Ireland are convinced that top policemen are working against the peace process (…). They believe that a number of officers have been planting exaggerated and distorted newspaper stories with the aim of disrupting the process."

But of course the early morning police invasion on Friday was only carried out through a sense of duty and not at all to weaken Sinn Féin a few months before the parliamentary elections or even to provide cover for the withdrawal of the Unionist parties from the power sharing government.

Does anybody trust this police, whose actions come just in time to strike another blow at the peace process that is already in a severe crisis?

Does anybody trust this police, who - out of anti-catholic or anti-Irish bigotry - has failed to arrest even one of the hundreds of pro-British, unionist arsonists that have been terrorizing catholic, Irish quarters for at least the last three years.

But who instead with a lot of noise they arrest Denis Donaldson, chief administrator of Sinn Féin, because he allegedly has espionage material in his rucksack.

The British government is politically responsible for the insufficient and sluggish implementation of the Good Friday Agreement. It is especially responsible for the unsuccessful police reform -- for compliance with those in the British administration who boycott democratic changes in the North of Ireland and who have softened up the proposals on police reform beyond recognition.

Gerry Adams, president of Sinn Féin, has called the accusations against his party a political theatre and stated:

"I am sure that in the course of time, when all the dust settles down, that Denis Donaldson will walk free. I am also very, very certain that when the spin and the political theatre is finished, this process is going to have to be put together again, and we as a party are going to be needed to do that."

Ireland and England ought to be happy that there are politicians like Gerry Adams for whom solving conflicts has priority even in crises like this.

This first statement was signed by: