Black Lives Matter Events - Apologies Ring Hollow

The Industrial Workers of the World Ireland Branch rejects the official apology from the Police Service of Northern Ireland's (PSNI) chief constable Simon Byrne, issued after a report from the Police Ombudsman found that the policing of the two Black Lives Matter rallies in Derry and Belfast had been 'unfair and discriminatory'.

On Saturday 6th June 2020, following the brutal murder of George Floyd by the hands of police, Black Lives Matter held events in both Derry and Belfast at which the PSNI selectively targeted and harassed activists.

The report into the PSNI operation found that confidence among Black Asian Minority Ethnic communities had been "severely damaged".

A spokesperson for the Industrial Workers of the World Ireland Branch said: "For the IWW the announcement by the PSNI today, apologising for their blatant acts of racial harassment and discrimination rings hollow.

"Today seems to have been a good day for the cops to bury bad news, amongst a number of major news stories from Covid lockdown to Brexit.

"They have been caught out and have been rightly publicly challenged by civil rights lawyers and activist.

"For our part, as a union, the IWW demands that all fines issued on June 6 2010 are immediately scrapped and funds reimbursed. All pending charges against participants in the Black Lives Matter solidarity actions must also be formally scrapped.

"As a grassroots union, created by and for working class people, we have no faith in the PSNI protecting working class people's rights or lives, nor the laws of their judicial system to which they adhere to.

"Only working class self-organisation and solidarity, within our communities, our workplaces and on our streets can protect our own interests in the face of continual sectarian and racial division."