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Northern Ireland police warn of potential dissident attacks on Easter Monday Northern Ireland police warn of potential dissident attacks on Easter Monday
(32 minutes later)
Warning comes ahead of US president Joe Biden’s much-anticipated visit to Belfast on TuesdayWarning comes ahead of US president Joe Biden’s much-anticipated visit to Belfast on Tuesday
Police in Northern Ireland have warned of the potential of dissidents launching attacks on their officers in Londonderry on Easter Monday. Police in Northern Ireland are warning of potential dissident republican attacks over Easter weekend, as the Democratic Unionist party leader, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, said the lack of a government in Stormont was not to blame for the increasing threat of violence.
Assistant Chief Constable Bobby Singleton said the force had received “strong” intelligence that dissidents are planning to launch terror attacks against officers on the bank holiday. Tensions have increased as the Bank Holiday weekend marks the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday agreement. The date falls on Easter Monday though many will mark it on Friday, given its association with the day.
PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne said officers would be moved to frontline duties to counter any potential threats, in a policing strategy that he said had not been used in years. Police said they had received “strong” intelligence that dissidents plan to launch terror attacks against officers on the bank holiday. They also warned there could be street violence in Derry.
He said this reflected the “exceptional circumstances” before this Easter weekend. PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne said the “exceptional circumstances” of the Easter weekend meant officers would be moved to frontline duties to counter any potential threats, a policing strategy he said had not been used in years.
Speaking in Belfast, the Irish deputy premier, Micheal Martin, condemned the threat of a terrorist attack as “criminality in its worst form” and said it was “very evil people who are contemplating this”. Politics is in stalemate in Stormont, where there has been no functioning government for more than a year. The DUP withdrew support for power sharing as part of its protest against post-Brexit trading agreements.
The warning comes ahead of the US president Joe Biden’s much-anticipated visit to Belfast on Tuesday. MI5 recently upgraded the terror threat in Northern Ireland to severe, meaning an attack is “highly likely”. But Donaldson said the idea that a lack of government at Stormont had fuelled violence “doesn’t stack up”.
Biden’s trip, which will also include events in Dublin, County Louth and County Mayo, will have a strong focus on the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday agreement, which falls on Easter Monday. “While Stormont was sitting for many years these dissident republicans engaged in violence, they murdered police officers,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Friday.
MI5 had recently raised the terrorism threat level in Northern Ireland to severe, meaning an attack is highly likely. This followed the gun attack on senior detective John Caldwell in Co Tyrone, who has been left with life-changing injuries. Donaldson said the situation could not be blamed on Stormont. “Of course we want to see Stormont fully functioning, but the idea that when we get Stormont back up and running, that dissident republicans will put their guns away, I didn’t hear the chief constable suggest that,” he said.
Police have blamed the New IRA for the attack. “The idea that evil men and women who go out to commit murder react to political circumstances simply doesn’t stack up.”
“It’s going to be a really significant weekend for the PSNI,” Singleton told a press conference in Belfast. He added: “Some of the chief constable’s police officers have been murdered by these dissident republicans while Stormont has been sitting and indeed they have murdered other people and they have continued with their terrorist activity during all of the period that Stormont was sitting.
“There is also very strong community intelligence specifically coming forward in respect of Monday’s events in Derry/Londonderry and a real concern that there may be attempts to draw police in to serious public disorder and to use that then as a platform to launch terrorist attacks on police as well. “All of the party leaders have stood together in solidarity with the chief constable when these attacks have taken place.”
The recent change in terror threat followed a gun attack in County Tyrone on senior detective John Caldwell , who was left with life-changing injuries. Police blamed the New IRA for the attack.
Assistant Chief Constable Bobby Singleton told a press conference in Belfast it was going to be “a really significant weekend for the PSNI”.
He added: “There is also very strong community intelligence specifically coming forward in respect of Monday’s events in Derry/Londonderry and a real concern that there may be attempts to draw police in to serious public disorder and to use that then as a platform to launch terrorist attacks on police as well.
“So going into our operation that’s something that is very clearly right at the forefront of my mind, the minds of the commanders that will be delivering that and of course our officers as well.”“So going into our operation that’s something that is very clearly right at the forefront of my mind, the minds of the commanders that will be delivering that and of course our officers as well.”
Easter Monday is the day dissident republicans traditionally mark the anniversary of the Easter Rising rebellion against British rule in 1916, with a parade set to take place in Londonderry. Easter Monday is when dissident republicans traditionally mark the anniversary of the Easter Rising rebellion against British rule in 1916, with a parade planned in Derry.
Singleton said while dissident republican intent to kill police officers remained the same, he said officers were concerned they may use public disorder in Londonderry as a platform to launch attacks.
“The intent remains the same. I think as I see it, it’s the risk, it’s the platform potentially, in particular, that public disorder may present,” he said. “We don’t have to go too far back, sadly, to see precisely that kind of scenario playing out in Derry/Londonderry in the past.
“So that is absolutely something that’s in the mind of myself and the police commanders as we approach that event, and it will be something that we’ll have to keep under constant review depending on how things develop on the day.”
PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Chris Todd said there was no specific intelligence that the anniversary of the Good Friday agreement was acting as an additional motivation for dissident republicans to launch attacks.
“We plan for the worst and we hope for the best to be quite frank, we will respond to the intelligence as it develops, we have no such intelligence that would support that at the moment,” he said.