BY PAUL DAVIES
BELFAST - A spirited and angry protest of 100 people picketed in downtown Belfast to oppose the exclusion of Saoirse from the Lord Mayor's parade May 6. Saoirse was formed last year to campaign for the release of all Irish political prisoners. The Belfast City Council turned down the group's request for a float in the annual parade.

"This is supposed to be a people's parade, that belongs to everyone. They let the Royal Ulster Constabulary [RUC] and the British army have floats, but not us," explained Joe Savage, one of the protesters. Armed officers of the RUC searched Savage's house the previous night at 3 a.m. This was the first time that his house had been searched since the cease-fire declared by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) last August and subsequently by the loyalist paramilitary groups. Prior to the cease-fires, Savage said, the British army would search through all the cupboards and look under floorboards several times a year.

Protesters chanted, "Go home!" as floats of British army regiments passed by. They held up placards demanding the release of the prisoners in sight of thousands who had turned out to watch the parade.

Release of the prisoners "is a central point in the resolution of the conflict. If the Brits cannot see that and act accordingly, they will eventually be forced to," said Tom Holland, the following day during the annual Bobby Sands memorial march. Holland was imprisoned in the H-blocks from 1974 to 1991. Thousands have been imprisoned in the past two decades in the course of the resistance to the British military occupation of Northern Ireland and the struggle to end the division of Ireland imposed by London since 1921.

Protests to free the prisoners have been a major focus for action as supporters of Irish self-determination across the island make use of the increased space today to press their struggle forward.

One sign that London's position is weakening was the May 10 talks between British government minister Michael Ancram and a Sinn Fein delegation led by Martin McGuinness. This was the first ministerial-level meeting with leaders of the republican organization in more than two decades. Previously, the British government banned such contacts with Sinn Fein, insisting it would not sit down at the table until the IRA "decommissioned," or completely disarmed.

Following the meeting in Belfast, McGuinness said, "Another obstacle on the road to a lasting peace has been removed." The Sinn Fein delegation entered the bilateral dialogue to "secure equality of treatment for our party and electorate, and work out the logistics of all-party talks," he said, "which are an essential means to a political settlement." Sinn Fein also requested a meeting with Northern Ireland Secretary Patrick Mayhew.

Ancram repeated London's precondition of "decommissioning" in order for Sinn Fein to participate in all-party talks. The republican party has repeatedly explained that the real question is demilitarization of Northern Ireland, beginning with withdrawing British troops and disbanding the RUC.

An article in the London Financial Times on the talks noted, "The fact that no one in Belfast had bothered to demonstrate, despite the protestations of betrayal from anti- republican politicians, testified to the startling changes that have taken place in the nine months since the IRA cease- fire." Further bilateral talks are projected.

The day before the meeting with Ancram, 2,000 people demonstrated in Derry demanding equality of treatment for Sinn Fein in the negotiations. Addressing the Derry rally Sinn Fein member Dodie McGuinness called on republicans to continue exercising the right to protest and march peacefully. Prior to the rally Social Democratic and Labour Party leader John Hume had demanded that the action be called off.

'Equality pickets'
On the same day in Swatragh, county Derry, 80 protesters blocked the Coleraine to Cookstown Road, also demanding equality for Sinn Fein, and for inclusive negotiations with all parties to begin as soon as possible. RUC cops watched and videotaped the protest, but did not try to stop it. Such "Equality Pickets" are now a frequent event in Northern Ireland.

The weekend before the talks, residents of some of the housing estates in the Catholic areas of Belfast hung black flags commemorating Sands and the other hunger strikers who died in 1981 fighting to regain political status for republican prisoners. Many housing estates have murals recording the names of prisoners from that area who are currently in jail. A large banner demanding, "Free all POWs" (prisoners of war) is hung from a block of flats in the New Lodge area and can be seen from parts of the city center.

"Around 450 political prisoners are held in the six counties in the north of Ireland and a further 150 are held in jails in Britain, Germany, and the USA," said Michael Brown from the Sinn Fein prisoner of war department in an interview with the Militant. Since the cease-fire the government in the south of Ireland has released 21 of the 50 political prisoners held in its jails. "People who don't have a history of political activity have embraced this campaign," Brown commented.

Some of the recent attempts by prison authorities to break the spirit and solidarity of prisoners and their supporters have been set back. At Maghaberry prison authorities had to reverse a ban on relatives of republican prisoners from wearing Saoirse's green ribbons. Saoirse campaigners are distributing symbolic green ribbons until all the prisoners are released.

Participants in the May 6 Saoirse action reported that teachers at a school in west Belfast had instructed pupils not to wear the ribbons on their school uniforms. A 16-year- old student at a school in the Andersontown district told Militant reporters the situation of political prisoners was the biggest discussion at her school and that most students wore green ribbons.

Political prisoners in jails in the United Kingdom serve a far greater percentage of their sentence than those convicted of other crimes. Inside the special security units in jails in Britain, authorities subject prisoners to 24- hour camera surveillance. In these jails Irish political prisoners never won the gains that were won in the H blocks and Armagh in Northern Ireland following the 1981 hunger strikes, explained Holland. "Within a year of the hunger strikes I was able to stop wearing prison uniforms and wear my own clothes. I was also able to refuse prison work. As a result of the hunger strikes the authorities were forced to recognize the republican command structure in the jails," he said.

Since the cease-fire, the strip searching of prisoners continues, but "it is less frequent and less a fact of daily life than it use to be," Holland noted. Body searches are one of several weapons that the authorities have used in their attempts to dehumanize political prisoners.

Outside the jails the government tries to wipe out the legacy of the hunger strike and the solidarity movement that it inspired. The RUC recently painted over the face of Bobby Sands's portrait on a mural in Twinbrook, where the young activist was raised. On May 8, a Saoirse supporter was picked up by the RUC at the end of the Belfast marathon after he and another activist ran across the finish line of the race with a banner, just in front of the winner.

Addressing the Sands memorial rally on behalf of Saoirse, Maura Fryers said "our determination will be decisive in winning the prisoners release. The British must come to terms with the fact that all the legacies of the war must be removed."

Paul Davies is a member of the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union in London.  
 
 
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