The Five Demands

Visita a Derry del Chief Constable della PSNI Matt Baggott, ad una settimana dall’attentato alla stazione di poliza di Strand Road

Scricchiola la baracca della PSNI, sotto i colpi dei dissidenti. Questo traspare dalle parole pronunciate da Matt Baggott in occasione della sua visita a Derry ad una settimana dall’esplosione del taxi-bomba nei pressi della stazione della PSNI di Strand Road.
Dichiara di svegliarsi “preoccupato per la sicurezza delle persone che lavorano nel PSNI”.
“I dissidenti sono sempre più spericolati”, ha affermato in conferenza stampa.
“Queste sono le stesse persone o la stessa mentalità che ha infine portato tanti anni fa alla tragedia di Omagh (15 agosto 1998)”.
“La loro incoscienza può essere associata alla stessa con la quale si è giunti all’epilogo di Omagh”, ha aggiunto.
“Abbiamo avuto una settimana difficile, il problema resta grave”.
«Non c’è cosa come un fabbricante di bombe, non c’è cosa come una bomba responsabile. Ci sono solo le bombe che provocano stragi, distruzione e miseria” continua Baggott insistendo “Essi non hanno soluzione per il futuro se non per riportarci al passato “.
Si legge paura nelle parole di Matt Baggott, la presa di coscienza dell’insufficienza delle forze di polizia.
Nulla di tutto questo traspare invece dall’immagine della ‘sfinge’ Adams, “La gente là fuori ad ascoltare i media non deve avere paura. Naturalmente queste persone possono uccidere, ovviamente ci potrebbe essere qualche atrocità. Ma il processo di pace non sta per essere portato fuori rotta”.

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Baggott warns against Omagh mindset (U TV)
The Chief Constable of Northern Ireland says dissident republicans are in danger of causing another Omagh bomb-style massacre.
Matt Baggott says he wakes up every morning “concerned about the safety of the people who work in the PSNI”.
“Dissidents are becoming more and more reckless”, he told reporters on Monday.
“These are the same people or the same mindset that ultimately led to the Omagh tragedy all those years ago.”
“Their recklessness can be associated with the same recklessness that ended in Omagh”, he added.
The Omagh bombing killed 29 people including a woman pregnant with twins in August 1998.
On Saturday, a viable under-car device was found outside the home of a policewoman in Kilkeel, Co Down.
Her seven-year-old child was strapped into a seat in the back of the family car, when the young officer spotted the booby trap device.
Police condemned the attack as “a cowardly and callous act,” which had been foiled “due to the vigilance” of the officer.
Last Wednesday, a serving army major also had a miraculous escape after a booby trap bomb fell off his car onto the driveway of his home in Bangor, Co Down.
A day earlier, a 200lb dissident republican car bomb exploded outside Strand road police station in Londonderry – destroying local businesses in the area.
A taxi driver was hijacked at gunpoint and forced to deliver the device.
No one was injured in the blast.
Speaking during a visit to Derry a week after the attack on Strand Road Police Station, Mr Baggott said the threat from dissident republicans remained severe.
“We’ve had a difficult week, the problem remains severe.”
“There’s no such thing as a responsible bomb-maker, there’s no such thing as a responsible bomb. There are only bombs that cause carnage and destruction and misery,” he told UTV.
Mr Baggott said the recent attacks represented a “surge” in dissident activity.
“We are seeing devices go off that wouldn’t go off in the past. They are dangerous”.
“They have no concern for the fact they are attacking kebab shop owners, young mothers who have joined the PSNI with young children. They are putting elderly people out of their care homes and terrifying them in the early hours of the morning. They have no solution to the future except to bring us back to the past”.
Police Federation of Northern Ireland Chairman Terry Spence said the dissident threat is escalating.
“Our officers are very brave, courageous individuals and they will deal with this threat and they will meet it head on”, Mr Spence said.
“But the state and the chief constable have an obligation to ensure that we have sufficient resources to meet that threat head on.”
Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams has offered to meet dissident groups to try and convince them to end their campaign of violence. One group – Republican Sinn Fein- has already turned him down.
“People out there listening to the media should not be afraid. Of course these people can kill; of course there could be some atrocity. But the peace process is not going to be set off course,” Mr Adams told UTV.
Last week, PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Drew Harris warned it was only a matter of time before dissident republicans claimed another victim.