Newry Armagh Sinn Féin Sinn Féin -- Building an Ireland of Equals

Masked gunmen in South Armagh condemned

Published: 23 August, 2009

Slieve Gullion Sinn Féin councillor Packie McDonald has condemned the recent actions of a group of masked and armed men in Meigh, South Armagh.

Cllr McDonald said, "The recent incident in Meigh village, when armed and masked men stopped traffic would be laughable if it was not so potentially dangerous. This is one of a number of small groups who have neither a political or military strategy and no support from the community. "Their sole aim seems to be to undermine the peace process. These anonymous people say in their leaflets that they are going to deal with drug dealers and anti-social behaviour when in fact they have no input or presence in the community and have no understanding or knowledge of the issues in the area. "They might as well claim they are going to deal with unemployment and the economic crisis as well. Incidentally the main anti-social behaviour in Meigh at the moment is repeated vandalism on the community centre, this most often involves slogans supporting these micro-groups. "Their other message was for people to give no information to the psni, guards or Sinn Féin. I presume it's ok to give information to all the other statutory, political and community groups. "But of course the real message here is a veiled threat to Sinn Féin. I can assure them that we will not be deterred from moving forward with our politics which has the support of 80% of voters in this area. "Part of our strategy is to transform policing, to give ownership of policing to the people they are serving and to hold the psni to account for their actions. This also involves giving information to solve and prevent crime. It is now common practice to report suspicious activity to the psni. "The stunt on Friday evening was as stupid as it was pointless and should this group continue their activities, it will lead to tragedy which was almost the case in this incident.