Violence in the North is escalating because "extremist" paramilitaries are trying to destroy the peace process and impose the rule of the gun, Northern Ireland Secretary Dr John Reid claimed today.
He described yesterday’s murder of a civilian worker at a Territorial Army Camp in Derry as a "brutal and cowardly act". Two more people were arrested this morning in relation to the killing. Police are continuing to question two men and a woman held after searches in Derry and Strabane yesterday.
|
|
Dr John Reid
|
"There is a myth going around that this violence is only the result of the peace process, as if it never happened before," Dr Reid said.
"The reality is that there is a lot less violence than there was 10 years ago but it is escalating at present because those extremes on both sides desperately want to kill the peace process and put themselves back centre stage in dominating the politics by the gun."
Dr Reid said the British government was doing all it could to fight dissident groups. "All I can say is that if you look, for instance, at the dissident republicans, there are significant numbers of their leaders in jail, there are others facing more charges and there are continuing arrests. We are doing what we can," he said.
"And I can't promise the people of Northern Ireland that these people, in their brutal and cowardly fanaticism, will not attempt to or ever get through again. That would be dishonest of me to do. I can promise them I will do everything possible and so will the police service and the security services.
"But the people who really have to show the resolution and the endurance, and to recognise that by giving up the peace process they meet the aims and objectives of the gunmen, are the ordinary people of Northern Ireland themselves who will be taking to the streets today in the rally that is being held," he added.