Crown forces saturate Cappagh
The rural community of Cappagh, Co Tyrone was placed under siege
for over 96 hours in a joint RUC/British Army operation that
started on Thursday 29 October. Finally, at 7pm on Monday local
people confronted the crown forces, who were forced back into the
fields and waiting helicopters.
The occupation began with the arrest of Dungannon man, James
Hughes, who was taken to Gough Barracks in Armagh. He was
subsequently released without charge. Hughes, recently released
from Portloaise under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, was
questioned about his conviction, in direct contravention of the
terms of the prisoner release scheme.
Following the arrest a large contingent of crown force personnel
from the Royal Regiment of Wales moved into the area setting up a
series of checkpoints. The RUC also blocked private lanes leading
to a number of homes in the area.
Sinn Fein Assembly member Francie Molloy said, ``this sort of
harassment by the British Army and the RUC is breaking both the
word and the spirit of the Good Friday Agreement. The British
Government, in accordance with the Agreement, should be setting
out a plan for demilitarisation not subjecting whole communities
to periods of siege and military occupation.''
British Army divers and sniffer dogs were used to search the
water reservoir, the main water supply for Dungannon, which is
adjacent to the main road where Hughes was arrested and a British
Army helicopter was in the air from 3pm on Sunday until the early
hours of Monday morning, sitting just above the rooftops of local
homes. A number of residents who took photographs of the incident
had film removed from their cameras.
At one point on Monday evening an angry resident shone a lamp up
at a helicopter and was told that he was endangering the whole
population.
Molloy was also stopped, by RUC Sergeant Glover, on Sunday as he
travelled on a private lane.
Molloy said he contacted the office of NIO Minister Adam Ingram
on Friday and registered a complaint. Despite promising to get
back to the Assembly member the NIO failed to do so.
Molloy said the operation had intensified on Monday evening with
RUC divers searching a local fishery. Diggers and lifting
equipment were brought on to a local farm.
In a separate incident a local farmer had his stocks of hay taken
from a barn and dumped into the pouring rain.
``Throughout the whole time the area was saturated with the
British Army and RUC there was a total lack of cooperation, all
the paraphernalia of war was on display. The British Army
repeatedly failed to give identification details and were
aggressive and abusive to both local residents and myself,''
Francie Molloy said.
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