Merlyn Rees, Labour Secretary of State for Ireland, as he dispatched a further 600 troops to the Six Countjes. What broke the "normal' situation was the upsurge of the nationalist population after the burning of Long Kesh.
On the Wednesday evening after the burning, a series of other revolts by the Republicans took place at Magilligan prison, County Derry, and in the Crumlin Road jail in Belfast.
The women in Armagh jail, not to be outdone, kidnapped the governor and two of his assistants. Through this well coordinated series of actions, the Republicans sparked off the biggest upsurge amongst the nationalist population tor over two years.
As soon as people heard of the burning of the Long Kesh concentration camp in Derry, steps were taken to bring tae city to a standstill By Wednesday lunchtime, there was a total shutdown. The ottices, shops, banks and schools were all closed. There were no buses and roads controlling entry to the city were manned by barricades of lujacked vehicles or pickets.
In Belfast things were less peaceful Several thousand people reacted by Immediately taking to the streets. In most parts of the city, the demonstrations and bin-lad bangings were led by women, but this in no way inhibited the troops from using the most vicious attacks to disperse them.
In the Lower Falls, women demonstrators fore down part of an army barricade set up to protect a militury post. The ariny responded with rubber bullets, A more serious incident took place in the afternoon. A demonstration of 5.000 responded to a call from an independent Republican coalition, called the United Workers Group.
Tha group had been building up support in the building sites and small Tactories The demonstration marched along the Falls Road towards Anded by the army: A massive fight broke soldiers pursued the demonstrators into the streets of West Belfast, beating up whoever they could catch and erThe arrested people were taken to the army post where they were interrogated. The next night the British army laid into the Falls Road area again, this time arresting over 100 people.
ed the actions as terrorist tactics" by the British army, marking then off as a 'completely new phase' Four days later on Sunday, an anti-internment protest organised Led by the army from marching to ersonstown. It was immediately attack- the Maze Prison camp. The march was supported by sections of the out with the army using CS gas and rub- Republican movement and socialist ber bullets to smash up the demo. The organisatinns (including the Rev.
olutionary Marxist Group, Irish section of the Fourth Internatentually lifting" more than 300 people. and a number of demonstrators ional). Troops fired rubber bullets were injured before the march was turned back to Helfast LONG KESH tish army was only a re-run of what had already happened in the Long Three Redemptionist priests describ-Kesh concentration cump itself. The army stayed outside until the burning was over. Then-as the Sunday Times put it- when the army moved in it did so with determination' by People's Democracy was preventCS gas, This massive repression by the Brilaid into them The Republicans had already got ready to fight the soldiers. An eyewitness described the scene: "They had legs of beds for clubs, shields made from the windows wire mesh, with cloth straps made of sheets and bed springs to bounce the rubber bullets off. Some had gasmasks made out of boods with handkerchiefs around the front of them". At 8.00 o clock in the morning the soldiers came in, preceded by helicopters with *It looked like 3,000 soldiers, men from four regiments, there were two or three to each prisoner. They were in full riot gear, tas masks and shields, with rubber bullet guns and CS gas guns. They fired the gas first to drive the men back, then they The battle lasted for four hours. The next hour was taken up in deal ing with them- some were spreadeagled on the wire for the whole time. Over 180 people were taken to-hospital after the battle. One man was in danger of losing an eye after being shot in the face at point blank range by a rubber bullet.
The day after the battle, Rees trie to claim that only nine prisoners had been hurt and about three times as many soldiers. This was so blatant a lie that every single current in the Six Counties, including even the Loy alists, has called for his resignation. He even had the impudence at his prese conference where he put forwa these bare-faced lies, to try and draw a tear by saying that four of the vicJous Alsation dogs let loose on the prisoners had been roasted alive.
There is little doubr that Republi cans have struck a big blow against the whole policy of internment, whils regaining the tactical initiative for the nationalists in the North against the Loyaliars Rees had been hoping to curry favour with the Loyalists by Boon substituting interment with out trial by a 'court system where the formalities of charping and conVicting are gone through, but where the evidence procedurc is non-exis tant and the securing of a conviction would be a matter of course, This was to have been the main recommendation of the Commis sion which is mecting under the chairmanship of Lord Gardiner to look into the 1973 Emergency Provisions Act.
Hopefully, the present mobilisations will stop this bare-faced manoeuvre trom having any success, If they ein, things will in fact be back to normal in the North after the heady interlude based on the power sharing illusion.
Red Weekly: 24 October 1974 Page 6