IRA/SF Meehan calls Protestatnts "Orange Bastards"

Original post   (by Irish Republican Watch, added Friday, 10 May 2002 17:41:22 UTC+1)

'Orange bastards' gaffe puts Sinn Fein on the defensive

Northern Ireland - Observer special

Henry McDonald
Sunday February 17, 2002
The Observer

A Sinn Fein parliamentary candidate described Protestant residents in
north Belfast as 'Orange bastards' in an internal republican video.
Martin Meehan, a former IRA commander in Ardoyne, made the remarks on
the republican propaganda film, which was sent anonymously to The
Observer .

His comments undermine claims by Sinn Fein that the party is trying to
reach an understanding with Protestants and unionists.

At the beginning of the tape Meehan is seen arguing with a line of
riot police during protests against an Orange Order parade passing by
Ardoyne last summer.

As residents remonstrate with police officers, Meehan intervenes and
shouts to one local man: 'John, John, they [Protestants] get all they
fucking want. They [the police] can corral us into our area, they
couldn't corral them Orange bastards from stopping four-year-old
children from going to school.'

His reference to four-year- old children is related to last year's
loyalist protests outside Holy Cross Primary school, in particular the
Protestant residents of Glenbryn, a small unionist enclave that
surrounds the school.

In the video Meehan, who was once arrested in the Irish Republic after
a gun battle with police and troops, appears to warn police officers
about a potential riot.

When the police refuse to let one elderly resident through their lines
close to where the Orange parade is about to pass, Meehan says: 'Do
all youse want - you will suffer the consequences big time.'

The veteran republican stood for Sinn Fein in the South Antrim
constituency in the last general election and increased the party's
vote. He has been in the van guard of nationalist protests against
Orange marches in the constituency and has campaigned against drug
dealers in Antrim town.

The film begins with the Union flag coming down from a flagpole and
being replaced with an Irish Tricolour. The opening credits then
state: 'A Schanache Video Film'. It dissolves and is replaced with the
words: 'A Rushlight The Belfast Magazine Video Production'.

It is understood that the video was not for public consumption, but
for internal party education, as well as being shown to Irish-American
supporters.

The bulk of the video concerns the protest and subsequent riot in
Ardoyne following the Orange march on 12 July last year. The cameraman
focuses on leading republicans from the north Belfast area, including
a man named in Parliament as the IRA commander behind the 1993
Shankill fish shop bomb, which killed nine people.

The video also shows police officers under attack from Ardoyne,
including several sustaining injuries during the disturbances.
Intermittently, the film cuts to another march by republicans in west
Belfast. During the parade the cameraman picks out Sinn Fein leader
Gerry Adams walking through his native Ballymurphy behind three rows
of men marching in military fashion, wearing white shirts and black
ties.

While the Orange bastards remark may have been said in the heat of the
moment during the marching season, the comment contradicts Sinn Fein's
official policy of being an anti-sectarian party.

More crucially, the remark flies in the face of recent Sinn Fein moves
to assuage unionist fears about a united Ire land. At the World
Economic Forum in New York, 10 days ago, Adams, accepted that
republicans would need to win unionist consent in order to establish a
united Ireland.

Adams repeated the need for republicans to become persuaders for Irish
unity last Friday. This represents an ideological role reversal for
Sinn Fein leaders who sold the ceasefire to the IRA rank and file in
the early Nineties by claiming the British government would publicly
persuade the unionists to support a united Ireland in return for a
cessation of violence.