Britain’s ‘Carrot And Stick’ – Business As Usual For Pro-British Death Squads
The last fortnight has proven that Britain’s paramilitary in Ireland remain armed, dangerous, and willing to carry out their traditional role as Britain’s ‘murder gangs’. The most serious incident was that of a UVF intelligence gathering operation facilitated by members of the RUC/PSNI and the British Army.
It emerged during the weekend of 14th and 15th of April that a UVF spy-ring had gathered information on over 100 members of the nationalist community. It has been alleged in court that this information was passed on to the group by an RUC/PSNI clerk and a member of the Royal Irish Regiment (RIR). The spying operation was exposed when details were allegedly found on five documents in the possession of Darren Leslie Richardson.
Members of the UVF sectarian murder gang
It is Richardson, who has been charged with UVF membership, that has claimed that a serving member of the RIR was the source of the information. In addition, RUC/PSNI clerk Aaron Hill has been accused of supplying Richardson with the information by accessing names and addresses from police computers. If proven to be correct, this spying operation would be further evidence of the British states’ unchanged role in Ireland. Britain has always supported, financed and armed that section of the Irish population willing to work for her throughout the centuries. The county militia movements of the 18th and 19th century evolved into the UVF of the 20th century, with a pro-British/pro-union ideology and a British funded armoury. Over the course of the last 40 years, the British government has armed, trained and directed, the latest incarnation of these pro-British militias, in the form of the ‘illegal’ UVF, UDA, LVF and the ‘legal’ RUC/PSNI and the UDR/RIR.
This UVF activity comes hot on the heels of fresh allegations of collusion between the RUC/PSNI and another of Britain’s proxies, the UDA. Senior UDA figure Stephen McFarren was outed as a special branch agent, responsible for countless sectarian murders, during his recent trial for manslaughter.
Commenting on both of these recent revelations, Éirígí spokesperson Daithí Mac An Mháistír stated ‘These most recent incidents of collusion between the crown forces and their proxy death squads shows yet again that Britain’s role and modus operandi in Ireland remains largely unchanged. Britain has throughout history adopted a ‘carrot and stick’ approach in its attempts to prop-up its occupation of Ireland. While using the ‘carrot’ of devolved power in Stormont to appease some republicans and nationalists Britain retains the ‘stick’ of her armed forces; both official and unofficial. The parallels between today and the early part of the last century are striking. At that time the British government held out the ‘carrot’ of Home Rule while simultaneously waving the ‘stick’ of the heavily armed UVF.’