Republican Sinn FΘin has urged nationalists not to join the new Northern Ireland Police Service which it says must be treated the same way as the RUC. The call was made at the party's ardfheis in Dublin at the weekend. Around 180 delegates attended the event.
Speakers predicted Sinn FΘin would eventually support and join the new force which they said would uphold partition and British rule in the same way as the RUC had done. A motion condemning the Northern Ireland Police Service said "a change in the colour or the cut of the uniform of any British police force does not make it any less a British police force".
The ardfheis pledged "the struggle for Irish freedom will continue while the British administration and war machine remain in Ireland".
Republican Sinn FΘin would "continue the struggle to end British rule in Ireland regardless of the obstacles being placed in the path of Irish republicanism", one successful motion stated.
Another motion called for the boycotting of shops and industries which "collaborate with the occupying forces in Ireland".
Delegates demanded political status for Continuity IRA prisoners. One motion paid tribute to "Kevin Barry and his nine comrades" but said their struggle "was not for a partitioned Ireland."