The events at Belfast City Hall on Saturday 19th July 2014. The Irish Congress of Trade Unions staged a demonstration against half of the conflict in the Middle East. Well truthfully it was against about a fifth of the conflicts in the Middle East but when dealing with left wing lunatics one must expect a certain amount of correcting. During this event a number of people moved across the road and blocked traffic. They also attacked a small number of Unionist protesters and stole at least one flag and attempted to steal another. I will state clearly I defend anyone’s right to peaceful protest. Wether or not I agree with their cause in immaterial, if you want to protest about the build up of ear wax, knock yourself out. However the right to protest comes with responsibilities. The main responsibility of anyone staging a protest it to provide adequate stewards to contain the protest. The Irish Congress of Trade Unions failed to do this. They, therefore are directly responsible for the attacks on the Unionists and any suffering or loss of personal property that occurred. As a Trade Union Organasation they will have staff well versed in Health and Safety. They will know that they can be held accountable for their actions and omissions. They will have staff that fully understand risk assessments. They will know that as part of a assessment they should have considered who may or may not have been present in the surrounding area. As a Union Organasation they have a long history of protests and strikes. The are fully aware the subject of their protest is not universally supported. They should have informed the police and worked with the police to ensure the safety of both their protest and any person taking part in any counter protest or indeed any person that may have entered the area without prior knowledge of the protest that disagreed with them. Should you wish to discuss there omissions and the effects of those omissions on yourself, your family members or the community you live in there contact information is : Northern Ireland Committee Irish Congress of Trade Unions 4-6 Donegall Street Place Tel : 02890 247940 E Mail [email protected] The police also have responsibilities during protests. It is their duty to keep the peace. Those of you that have attended a protest will be aware how this is done. Typically for a protest at City Hall there is two land rovers, one with cctv. There are around twenty police officers in “soft uniform”. These officers are supported by members of the TSG (riot police with batons, shields and protective clothing). The number of police officers is sufficient to form a shield wall across the front of Belfast City Hall and prevent protesters from encroaching onto the road and disturbing traffic. Strangely on Saturday there was no CCTV and no TSG. This omission by the Police Service of Northern Ireland facilitated the ability of the Irish Congress of Trade Union protesters to attack the Unionist protesters. There is a very uncomfortable truth here for the PSNI. It is a fact that they work on “standing orders”. This is a system whereby they decide a course of action for a regular event, say a Football/rugby match and police it in the same manor on each occasion. This removed the need to have the same conversation on a weekly or monthly basis. We can conclude from this that the absence of the necessary quantity of police was not a mistake but a policy desiccation. Someone at a senior level in the force must have looked at the possible outcomes of events on Saturday and decide to withdraw the TSG Support and the CCTV. The police have a duty to their officers on the ground. They have a duty to protect their Health Safety and Welfare. In order to do this they must assess the risk. They must assess the risk if there is any major change to there workplace, in this case the area adjacent to Belfast City Hall. Those involved in risk management talk about “predictable preventable”. If a unwanted outcome is predictable, it is therefore preventable. It is my case that there being two opposing groups present at Belfast City Hall was entirely predictable. I will go farther to state that some form of negative interaction between these two groups is also entirely predictable. The person in charge of the policing operation did not need a crystal ball to predict this outcome. It was therefore that persons duty to put suitable and sufficient control measures in place to protect both sets of protesters and the Police officers they employed. Faced with these facts we can draw certain conclusions. If it was predictable that there would be conflict the logical decision of the officer in Charge would be to increase the Police presence. By default the logical effect of their decision to do the exact opposite and reduce the Police presence is some level of altercation between the two groups. I put it to you that this was in fact collusion between the Police Service of Northern Ireland, The Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Sinn Fein and Violent Republicans to abuse Protestants under the guise of supporting Palestine. They will claim that the events were not foreseen. They will claim that the Police on the day made a miscalculation. The ICTU will claim their protest was highjacked. The media will claim they were not there in order to compile reports. However I put it to all these groups you are responsible for your actions and omissions. Discrimination by omission is discrimination. We, the Protestant Unionist Loyalist people demand the same level of service, including protection for our person and freedom of expression that is currently enjoyed by every other section of society. We will not settle for third or forth class, and you will be held accountable for both you actions and omissions. (ft)
Posted on: Sun, 20 Jul 2014 22:34:18 +0000
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