BY PAUL DAVIES AND BERNADETTE CAMPBELL
MANCHESTER, England - "Scrap the PTA! Free the prisoners
now!" chanted protesters outside Altrincham police station
here, after special branch cops seized three men who were
returning to Belfast, Northern Ireland, February 23. Pat
Coyle, Tony Miller, and Sean McMonagle, all Irish
nationalists and former political prisoners, were detained
without charges under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA)
as they were boarding a flight to Belfast at Manchester
airport.
"Swoop on IRA terror suspects at airport" was the screaming headline in the Manchester Evening News the next day. The paper asserted that the three were arrested because they were "refusing to answer questions, tore up paperwork and would only speak in Gaelic," their native language. They were not accused of any crime.
The PTA has been used by the British government for three decades to harass and intimidate Irish people and others. It allows the police to arrest and detain people without charge for up to 48 hours, and for a further seven days with the authority of the Home Secretary. For the first 48 hours there is no automatic right to see a lawyer or make a phone call. Some 98 percent of all those detained under the PTA have not been convicted of any crime.
Eight protesters took part in a picket outside the police station the evening after the arrests here, and were interviewed by the local newspaper. The following evening the protest grew to 13, including one man who came along because he read about the previous action in the newspaper.
The Manchester Evening News quoted Sinn Fein chairperson Mitchel McLaughlin, who said, "These three men were in Manchester as part of an ex-prisoners employment initiative. They are part of an enterprise group who are involved in creating employment opportunities for ex-prisoners.... It is just not acceptable that these men should be the subject of vindictive Special Branch anti-Irish intimidation while traveling on legitimate business and they should be released without further delay."
The three were finally released February 26, three days after their arrest, still without charge, and made their way to Belfast.
Bernadette Campbell is a member of the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Workers Union in Manchester, Paul Davies is a member of the Transport and General Workers Union.