Drumcree a setback for rule of law in short term, says Annesley

THE rule of law suffered a "set back" at Drumcree, the RUC Chief Constable, Sir Hugh Annesley, has stated. But he was not prepared to risk one life at Drumcree and Garvaghy, even if the alternative was the "potential overrun of law in the short term", he added yesterday in a BBC radio interview.

Sir Hugh again denied that there was any British government pressure on him to allow the Orange parade through Garvaghy Road on Thursday.

"The allegation that there was political interference is unadulterated rubbish," he stated.

He said the RUC was within a "whisker" of an accommodation at Drumcree and Garvaghy. He did not elaborate on what that accommodation might have been.

A sufficient number of people can overrun the police in the short term, and this has been evidenced previously in race riots in London, in the burning of the British embassy in Dublin and in farmer protests in France, he said.

"If there is a rule of law it must be accepted by the Orangemen as well as everybody else, otherwise there is no long term future for law and order in this province," he added.

"In any assessment of what may have been open to the Portadown Orange Lodge to express their protest about the (Drumcree) decision, nothing but nothing could justify bringing this province to a standstill, with the burning, the violence, the attacks on ordinary members of the public," the chief constable told BBC Radio Ulster.

"And their stance should have been condemned roundly by constitutional politicians, and the public, they should have obeyed the rule of law."

The Orange Order should have obeyed the public notice to march back from Drumcree by a non contentious route. "They talk frequently about being part of the United Kingdom, of fighting for the United Kingdom. If they want to do that they will have to take on board the cohesion and the support for law that exists everywhere else in the United Kingdom."

Sir Hugh said that there was "significant paramilitary involvement in the Ormeau Road and Garvaghy Road. The public order situation has been specifically manipulated by the Provisional IRA/Sinn Fein, and by loyalist paramilitaries.

"At the same time, I do not and would never suggest that the Garvaghy Road consists of people who are republicans and who are against the police and law and order. That is not so. There are very large numbers of decent people there who object to these marches.

"And I have to remind you of the scenes in the aftermath of an agreed solution last year. Let me stress again there was an agreed accommodation between the Orange Lodge and the Garvaghy Road residents. Each side stuck to it honestly and in accordance with that agreement.

"When that march finally got into Portadown there were scenes of Messrs Paisley and Trimble in circumstances which the Garvaghy Road and subsequently the Ormeau Road described as triumphalist.

"And that had a significant and deep bearing on the failure of the Garvaghy Road residents to move an inch throughout this entire year."

Sir Hugh said that the 3 000 RUC officers and British troops at Drumcree could not have contained the threat from the Orangemen and their supporters. "There was no issue of using live rounds. You simply do not contemplate using live rounds on a public order crowd in the United Kingdom.

"I would not have traded one life at the Garvaghy Road. If the rule of law had to be turned back in the short term, then so be it. That patch of road is not worth one human life."

A mechanism must now be put in place to avoid a Drumcree Mark III, he added. "I, and my officers, are sick to death of it. We cannot win. We are always blamed, and many of the people who could and should have done something to broker an agreement are sitting on the sidelines sniping at me. Well I reject it (the blame)."

Asked about nationalist perceptions that it was always easier for the police to confront "the Taigs, rather than the Prods", Sir Hugh said he could understand that the nationalist people felt unhappy with what had ensued.

"I feel unhappy about it. My force feels unhappy about it. What happened here was an outrageous attempt by one side to impose their will on the other by the sheer weight of force. And in the short term, the RUC failed to be able to deliver the alternative," he admitted.

"In seven years, I have never made a decision that was not based on impartiality. We have lost ground with the nationalist community. I bitterly regret that. I hope the people in the nationalist community will realise just how hard we tried to fairly deliver a situation."

He did not accept that greater police force had been directed against nationalist protesters than against Orangemen and loyalists. The RUC had confronted Orangemen and loyalists "and determinedly and robustly faced them in accordance with the rule of law".

His officers were directed to ensure the march went down Garvaghy Road as "effectively and peacefully as possible". People must consider that as the march began to go down there many petrol bombs were already in place, ready to be fired at the RUC.

"We do not want confrontation. There are no winners in violence."

He would not consider bringing forward his resignation. "I do not regret the earlier decision, and I do not regret the second decision which I regard as one of the most difficult I have made. But I am glad it was made with courage, if I may say so myself, and with the support of those around me, and with the moral judgment that Garvaghy Road was not worth a life.