Members of Lasair Dhearg have in recent days (Thurs 13th Feb 2025) erected a number of posters in Kilwilkie, Lurgan, aimed at countering the PSNI’s hearts and minds strategy of ‘normalisation’, as the force continues to roll out its recruitment campaign across the Six Counties.
It follows confirmation of a planned ‘Policing & Community Safety Partnership’ event for the area, which was to take place in Mourneview and North Lurgan Community Centre’s respectively.
Speaking on the issue, Lasair Dhearg spokesperson Pádraic MacCoitir said, “The PSNI have a clear and deliberate propaganda strategy, publicly disseminated, the aims and objectives of which are to sell the force to the ‘Catholic, Nationalist and Republican’ community. That strategy seeks to use local resources including community centres, youth spaces, education facilities and more, to make the PSNI seem ‘normal’, in what is essentially a massive public relations exercise.”
“Alongside the PSNI’s campaign to appear normal, Republicans have been countering the PSNI’s strategy across the Six Counties. This campaign, carried out by Lasair Dhearg activists, as well as many others, has sought to share many of the facts surrounding the heavily armed force.”
Pádraic continued, “That is why in advance of the planned meetings, our Lurgan activists erected posters in the local area, many of which cited the PSNI’s own statistics, including the fact that the PSNI has arrested and charged TWICE as many ‘Catholics’ than ‘Protestants’ in the last five years. Additionally, over the last decade the PSNI has forcibly stopped and searched over 370,000 people – the equivalent of one fifth of the population of the state. These statistics are available on the PSNI’s own website”
“These posters are not designed to intimidate, but to show those in our community who might be swayed by the PSNI’s strategy, that the force, rebranded from the RUC, remains unchanged in the decades since this strategy was implemented. The British state has sought to utilise the force as the front line force of occupation in the Six Counties, that is why RUC Special Branch still exists, now known as C3 Intelligence, and it is also why the PSNI is heavily involved in court cases aimed at protecting those heavily involved in cases of State Collusion with Unionist Death Squads.”
“Recent statistics highlighting the lack of PSNI applicants within the Catholic, Nationalist and Republican community, clearly shows the levels of mistrust that that community has of the force. It has put on display for all to see that the ‘Catholic, Nationalist and Republican community’ reject the PSNI, and that they know that involvement with it means only one thing, ostracisation from family, friends and community. It has also laid bare the abject failure of the PSNI’s hearts and minds strategy.”
ENDS
NOTE: Lasair Dhearg (pronounced Lass-err yarr-ig) is an Irish Socialist Republican organisation with a presence across Ireland. Pádraic MacCoitir, a former political prisoner and Blanketman, is a spokesperson and Vice-Chairperson of the organisation. Further queries to 07756736578 / lasairdhearg@gmail.com
