NORTHERN IRELAND: SINN FEIN RALLY

(5 Mar 1995) English/Nat
Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army, Sunday repeated calls for a new police force in Northern Ireland.
At a rally in Pomeroy, Sinn Fein leaders said the Royal Ulster Constabulary should be replaced with an unbiased force.
Sinn Fein members tore down police signs and surveillance video cameras to make their point.
More than two-thousand people attended the Sinn Fein march Sunday, calling for the disbanding of the Royal Ulster Constabulary.
The march took place in Pomeroy, County Tyrone, the first nationalist protest to happen there since the 1950s.
The RUC is the official police force of the province.
Many nationalists consider it to be sympathetic to the unionists' cause, despite the attempts to recruit more women and Catholics into its ranks.
They would like to see the R-U-C replaced by a police force of their own.
Some Sinn Fein members were dressed as soldiers and carried mock rifles.
The march was generally peaceful, with the R-U-C keeping its distance from the protesters.
But there was a small disturbance when some marchers attacked the R-U-C headquarters. No arrests were reported.
At the end of the rally, the marchers were addressed by leading Sinn Fein member Martin McGuiness.
Speaking from a specially-built stage resembling an R-U-C compound, McGuiness was confronted by a mock soldiers made up of Sinn Fein supporters.
He then summarised the feelings of many Sinn Fein members by calling for an end to the R-U-C.
SOUNDBITE:
"The R-U-C, as we all know, those of us who have faced them over the last 25 years, are the military wing of unionism in this state. And they've been unacceptable in the past. They're unacceptable now. And they will be unacceptable in the future. Let there be no mistake about that."
SUPER CAPTION: Martin McGuiness - leading Sinn Fein member
Sinn Fein has already said the position of the R-U-C will form part of the continuing negotiations of the peace process.
But most unionist politicians are strongly opposed to any disbanding or watering down of the R-U-C.
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Marty thought they had sussed him.