ARDOYNE RIOTS: Add dye to water cannon, urges MP
THE PSNI should add dye to the water used in cannons in a bid to help identify key participants in riot situations, MP Jeffrey Donaldson has said.
Police deployed water cannons in their bid to quell this week’s rioting in the Ardoyne area of Belfast.
In the 1970s, the RUC used a purple dye so that people in the front rows of disturbances could be identified from their stained clothing.
In May, it was reported that police in South Africa had threatened to quell trouble at next year’s World Cup by spraying culprits with semi-permanent colouring, red for the worst offenders and green for those spotted close to flashpoints.
The practice has also been used during public disturbances in India, Israel and Indonesia.
DUP MP Mr Donaldson said “anything that helps the police identify the people who both are orchestrating and engaging in riots should be deployed”.
“If that means having some way of deploying water which can be treated with a special dye then I think that is a valid means of helping deal with the situation,” he said.
“The problem is so many people involved disguise themselves with scarves or balaclavas.
“This could help police in their follow-up investigations.”
The PSNI said there are no plans to add dye to the water used in their cannons.
A spokesman said: “Police Service of Northern Ireland water cannon is deployed and used in compliance with ACPO (Association of Chief Police Officers) guidelines.
“We are not aware of police considering such an approach.”
Meanwhile, Sinn Fein north Belfast MLA Gerry Kelly was informed yesterday that a fresh death threat had been made against him by dissident republicans.
The move came after Mr Kelly blamed three consecutive nights of rioting in the Ardoyne area on the Real IRA.
Mr Kelly said he had been told he needed to “watch his back” and said while he took the threat seriously it will make “no difference to me or other representatives who have been intimidated”.
The threat was telephoned through to the Samaritans charity helpline in the early hours of yesterday.
“We will not be deterred from acting for the community, we are elected for the community,” said Mr Kelly.
He said it was a miracle that no one had been killed in the violence.
“The people in this area do not want this and it will not be tolerated.”
However, Mr Kelly also lashed out at the Orange Order and said they should not parade through areas where “they clearly are not wanted”.
“An anti-Catholic organisation, the Orange Order still persists in the year 2009 in marching on through areas where they clearly are not wanted and then the dissident groups come here deliberately to cause the violence that we have now seen and went off to their beds and went on about their lives and the people in this road now have to deal with the aftermath of this,” he said.
Alliance MLA Sean Neeson described the death threat as “a despicable attempt to undermine democracy”.
“Mr Kelly has a democratic mandate to represent the people in his constituency and those who issue a threat like this cannot be allowed to cause instability in the political institutions,” he said.
