Chief Constable rejects claims of 'scapegoating' officers
The PSNI Chief Constable has rejected claims of "scapegoating" two inexperienced officers, following a controversial operation at a memorial event for victims of a Troubles atrocity.
Simon Byrne apologised for the scenes that unfolded in south Belfast on Friday at a commemoration for the 1992 Sean Graham bookmakers massacre.
Officers intervened amid suspicions that the public gathering breached coronavirus regulations.
Mr Byrne announced on Saturday that one officer has been suspended and another repositioned following the incident on the Ormeau Road. The actions have been taken pending the outcome of a Police Ombudsman (PONI) investigation into the events.
The Chief Constable also revealed that the two officers involved were relatively inexperienced, having only joined the PSNI in July last year.
PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne speaks to UTV:
The Police Federation of Northern Ireland said at the weekend the officers "should not be made scapegoats".
Chair Mark Lindsay said: “Nobody would have wanted the incident to have played out the way it has, whenever there is a memorial going on to people who had been murdered. “However due process should have been followed, PONI should have been able to initially serve their papers and lead on the investigation, the jump to suspend and apologise was too soon."
Over the weekend, Sinn Féin claimed there was a nationalist crisis of confidence in policing as a result.
Angry scenes unfolded when police challenged participants amid suspicions the size of the public gathering breached coronavirus regulations.
Mark Sykes, who was shot several times in the 1992 outrage, was handcuffed and arrested in chaotic exchanges captured on social media. He was released a short time later.
Last week, police officers failed to arrest anyone when they encountered a large gathering of masked loyalists staging an apparent show of strength in east Belfast.
Sinn Féin says the two incidents are evidence of two-tier policing.
The PSNI has also been facing claims of discriminatory policing from loyalists and unionists, who are angry that officers have not intervened when large crowds have gathered for the funerals of former IRA men.
The most high-profile of these occurred last June when senior Sinn Féin figures joined hundred of mourners at the funeral of well-known republican Bobby Storey.
Simon Byrne met delegations from the DUP and Sinn Féin on Monday.
Speaking after Sinn Féin's meeting, vice president Michelle O'Neill said the events of recent days marked a watershed moment for public confidence in policing.
"We had a forthright and frank meeting with the PSNI Chief Constable to discuss the turbulent events of recent days which have caused unprecedented anger in recent times as well as discussing wider concerns around policing.
"I made it clear that the events of last week, both the arrest of a victim laying flowers on the anniversary of the Ormeau Road massacre and the PSNI's failure to intervene as dozens of masked UVF members roamed the streets have created a crisis in public confidence in policing.
"The stark contrast between the policing operations in east Belfast and on the Ormeau Road has caused considerable anger and I reflected this to Simon Byrne.
"I told the Chief Constable that what happened is not the new beginning to policing that society and the community had been promised.
"I raised the arrest of Mark Sykes, a victim of the Ormeau Road Massacre, who was led away in handcuffs, and about what will happen next in that case.
"We need to see a change in the culture and ethos of policing with the community and that needs to start immediately.
"I also raised the frustration of the families of those killed in the Ormeau Road massacre and the need for the Police Ombudsman's report into the killings to be published as soon as possible.
"There is a pressing need to address the legacy of the past and that needs to be done by implementing the legacy mechanisms of the Stormont House Agreement in a human rights compliant manner.”
After the DUP's meeting, leader Arlene Foster called for "fair and impartial policing, free from political influence".
She said: "Due process should be the trademark of the police. The swift response by the Chief Constable has all the hallmarks of trial by social media and of two young officers being scapegoated. This will inevitably cause alarm among those starting their career in the police. "We have met the Chief Constable and articulated our serious concerns as to the damage of these decisions and told him we want to be furnished with the facts. The matter has been referred to the Police Ombudsman. Decisions about the matter should have been made at the completion of that investigation. "Given the antics of Sinn Féin at the Storey funeral and their disregard for Covid-19 rules, their criticism of the police rings utterly hollow.
"The anniversaries of atrocities at Kingsmills and Teebane were marked respectfully and lawfully. There is a duty on all organisers to act in compliance with the law. While we understand the need for a proportionate and sensitive policing response, operational decisions must be fair and balanced. There should be no apology for enforcing the rule of law.”