SAOIRSE32

Irelandclick

By Alana Fearon
a.fearon@belfastmediagroup.com

A north Belfast man who claims he was verbally abused by police officers and his wife sprayed with CS Spray says he “won’t waste his time” lodging a complaint with the ombudsman.

No faith

Gerard Lagan said he has no faith in the Ombudsman and despite Sinn Féin councillor, Margaret McClenaghan’s calls for residents to make complaints following police “heavy-handedness” at the weekend, the north Belfast man said he “wasn’t going to bother”.

In force

Nationalist residents from Butler Walk came out in force in the early hours of Saturday morning after a gang of approximately seven loyalists came into the area.
It is believed the loyalist gang had been sent into the street to lure nationalists down the Crumlin Road where it is reported a gang of up to 20 men were gathered.
Gerard claims that after 15 minutes of hand-to-hand fighting between nationalists and loyalists, police used “heavy-handed tactics” to disperse the nationalist crowd.

Verbally abused

He claims he was verbally abused by a police officer and that his wife was one of a number of residents sprayed by CS Spray.
“No one knows why the loyalists came in here,” Gerard said.
“There are a lot of unconfirmed rumours going around but it looks like they tried to get us down the Crumlin Road where a bigger crowd were waiting.

CS Spray

“As usual the police moved in here and CS spray was used and they even grabbed a wee lad and started beating him.”
Margaret McClenaghan lambasted police for what she described as “yet another example of police brutality”.
The Ardoyne woman said the police reaction to Saturday night’s events “left a lot to be desired” and would do nothing to encourage nationalists to support police.
“Time and time again we see police moving into nationalist areas with a complete disregard for residents,” she said.
“There is simply no excuse for this behaviour.
“Nationalists were forced to leave their homes to protect them from loyalists who had entered the area yet police came to us, not the loyalists who had initiated the trouble.”

Confirmed

A police spokeswoman confirmed that CS Spray had been used in the Butler Walk area to affect the arrest of a man during a disturbance.
She said it was also used on several people who had attacked police in an effort to obstruct the arrest.
Anyone who is unhappy with police action should contact the Ombudsman.