Fear of violence in Northern Ireland as the Royal Ulster Constabulary marks sixty years since the police service was established.
Checkpoints on all main roads leading into Belfast this morning as the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) is on alert for possible attacks.
In the week where their six decades of policing service in Northern Ireland is being commemorated the RUC released a statement last night stating that the Provisional IRA (Irish Republican Army) and the INLA (Irish National Liberation Army) are planning a new wave of attacks to kill policemen and prominent members of the community.
In response Provisional Sinn Féin accused the RUC of being a fascist sectarian force which used live and plastic bullets to maim and kill.
At the annual conference of the Police Federation For Northern Ireland, the representative body of the RUC, chairman Alan Wright defended the use of plastic bullets as a means of riot control. He suggested that greater parental control may be a means to prevent young people engaging in situations which lead to disturbances,
When faced with a masked teenage petrol bomber, are we not entitled to wonder why their parents are not castigated for actively aiding violence?
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 1 June 1982. The reporter is Michael Good.
