South Down communities must unite against criminal gangs

“South Down communities must unite against criminal gangs”

Rory Moore of the South Down 32CSM has urged communities in rural areas to unite against criminal gangs that have been terrorising the area recently. Speaking after a criminal gang attacked residents in Mayobridge and Glenn, Mr Moore appealed to the community not be drawn into accepting the PSNI/RUC but to form their own means of dealing with such gangs “ Vulnerable people in our areas must be protected against these criminal gangs and it is up to the whole community to do so. It is clear that many of these gangs are well known to the police who rather than making any attempt to prevent them have actually used such incidents to call for support. Not only do we have calls from the PSNI/RUC for support but we also have the sickening spectacle of constitutional nationalism fully endorsing these calls even though they too are aware that many of these criminals are acting with impunity. There is no question of republicans supporting the British police in Ireland and we would urge local activists to study our proposals as outlined in our documents ‘No Other Law’ and ‘The Necessity for Policing and The Necessity for Constitutional Change’. The community in the area must find some method of defending those at risk that does not involve support for police and politicians who are using such attacks in such a blatantly opportunistic and political fashion. Until a police force is set up that respects the democratic wishes of the majority of people in Ireland for self determination or an interim policing arrangement is constituted that is not controlled by the British then it is necessary for everyone, republican or otherwise to come together to explore alternative structures. It is not enough to tell people that the police are not doing their job then ask us to support them anyway”