Path: mit!news
From: [email protected]
Newsgroups: mit.apsintl
Subject: ecn/uk:protests all along the British state imposed border
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Date: 27 Jan 93 16:33:00 MET
Sender: [email protected]
Organization: INFO - BOX - BERLIN, West Germany

On January 1st 1993 there were protests all along the British state
imposed border between the north-eastern 6 counties of Ireland and the
remaining 26 counties. Thousands of people took part in actions which
included reopening roads and bridges, demonstrating at British barracks
and posts and marching through military checkpoints. Despite the
rhetoric about 1993 heralding free movement within Europe, along this
heavily militarised border it is business as usual.

Since the early 1970s, British forces have been closing roads (with
craters and barriers) and destroying bridges all along the border. As a
consequence, the daily life of border communities has been massively
disrupted, with people having to make a detour of several miles to visit
their neighbours just across the border.

The road closure programme has gone hand in hand with increased
militarisation, with army bases and checkpoints being built alongside
the main roads that remain open. This means that in order to cross the
border people often have to pass through army checkpoints, where they
may be searched, photographed, have their car registration number fed
into a computer, and subjected to verbal and physical abuse. All this
also leads to lengthy delays which make normal social life impossible.
For instance Lifford in County Donegal is only half a mile away from
Strabane in County Tyrone, but travelling from one to the other by car
can sometimes take up to two hours due to delays at the Camel's Hump
military checkpoint.

In the last few years border communities have been taking direct action
to secure unrestricted access back and forth across the border,
reopening roads and rebuilding bridges in the face of often severe
harassment from the crown forces. The Border Roads Campaign has now been
established with the support of the Combined Community Associations, and
they organised the day of action on January 1st.

Lackey Bridge near Clones (on the Monaghan/Tyrone border) has become the
symbol of the border resistance campaign. It has been re-opened by local
people, and closed by the army, on numerous occasions since the start of
the present campaign. On January 1st, 400 people turned out to re-open
the Lackey Bridge crossing. With supporters from America, Wales, Germany
and Brittany, local people maintained a 72 hour vigil to keep the
crossing open.

At Aughnacloy, 200 people marched through the British army checkpoint,
carrying placards reading "Ireland's Berlin Wall". They paused in memory
of Aidan McAnespie, a young man shot dead by a British soldier at the
checkpoint in 1988 while walking to a Gaelic Athletic Association match.

In Crossmaglen up to 700 people attended a rally in the main square in
support of the road opening campaign. They were also protesting against
the health risks posed by the British army's hi-tech surveillance
equipment. The community's intensive exposure to non-ionising radiation
emissions from the equipment has been linked to the high incidence of
cancer and cancer-related illnesses in the area. A cross-border
environmental group, the Campaign Against Radiation Emission (CARE) has
been formed.

There were other actions at various points along the border, including
protests in Newry and at the Lifford/Strabane crossing.