Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
TOP COP TO BE QUIZZED ON POLICING BUNGLES
DUP and Sinn Fein meeting with Byrne over fallout from nightmare week for PSNI
THE Chief Constable faces a double grilling today as delegations from Sinn Fein and the DUP meet him in the wake of a nightmare week for police.
It comes after a major fallout over the handling of a Troubles massacre memorial and a loyalist show of strength.
Simon Byrne last night called for “calm, wise heads to help us in a route to normality”.
MICHELLE O’neill said she believes there appears to be “a double standard in policing” and said police take a different approach when dealing with ‘nationalist communities’.
The Deputy First Minister said she would lead a Sinn Fein delegation to meet Chief Constable Simon Byrne today amid the controversy which has surrounded the policing of a memorial event on Friday.
In a statement to the media on Saturday, Mr Byrne confirmed one officer had been suspended following the incident and he apologised to families affected by the events on Friday.
Peter Magee, 18, James Kennedy, 15, Christy Doherty, 51, William Mcmanus, 54, and 66-year-old Jack Duffin were killed when a loyalist gunman opened fire at Sean Graham bookies on the Ormeau Road in Belfast on February 5, 1992. Footage from the scene on Friday, where families had gathered at the memorial showed a man being arrested following a row between officers and those who had gathered to pay their respects. He was later released.
Ms O’neill contrasted the scenes on the Ormeau Road with an incident earlier in the week when officers failed to make any arrests when a large crowd of masked men congregated in East Belfast in an apparent paramilitary show of strength.
She told BBC’S Sunday Politics: “I think the direct contrast in policing is laid bare for all to see and I think anybody who considers all those things in the round would understand that there certainly is a crisis of confidence in policing among the nationalist community.
“There appears to be a double standard within the policing service, there appears to be an ethos or culture that turns a blind eye to UDA, UVF thugs on the street, but at the same time a disproportionate attempt to target nationalist communities.” Mr Byrne denied being in anyone’s pocket as he expressed concern police were being used as a shock absorber in intensifying political clashes.
He also rejected claims commanders had scapegoated two inexperienced officers sanctioned after the controversial operation on Friday.
Mr Byrne said: “We have been bashed frankly by recent events and it just seems sometimes that we can’t seem to win.”
The police chief again made clear he had no intention of resigning.
He said: “Actually quitting is the easy thing and whatever next week looks like, frankly, the in-tray is the same and
I’m just determined to
BBC YESTERDAY
carry on with the support of my team to actually deliver what we set out to do.”
TUV leader Jim Allister highlighted Ms O’neill had been interviewed by police amid claims she herself breached Covid regulations when she and other Sinn Fein leaders attended the funeral of republican Bobby Storey in West Belfast last June.
He told the BBC yesterday: “I think of all the people who should have the least to say about policing Covid regulations it is Michelle O’neill.
“I think the Chief Constable lost the confidence of many unionists on the day of the Storey funeral.”