A SIX-year-old boy was left stranded after police assaulted and arrested his uncle according to claims by socialist republican party, éirígí.
According to the party, Damien Duffy, Lurgan éirígí activist and brother of well-known republican Colin, was walking through the Kilwilke estate with his nephew at 4.30pm on Wednesday when he encountered a "heavily-armed, 10-strong PSNI foot patrol w
ho were in the process of harassing a small group of local teenagers".
A spokesperson for the socialist republican party said: "When Damien calmly challenged the PSNI personnel to leave the young people alone and remove themselves from the area, he was immediately set upon by five officers who pulled his hand away from the child and pinned him to the ground.
"Damien was then thrown into the back of a Land Rover that had arrived at the scene, leaving his nephew crying hysterically in the street.
"When Damien requested that he be allowed to phone the child's mother, the response of a female PSNI officer was "F**k the child.
"Mr Duffy was then taken to Lurgan barracks, where he had his fingerprints and a DNA sample taken and was charged with disorderly behaviour, resisting arrest and two counts of assault.
"Meanwhile, Mr Duffy's nephew was left unaccompanied and traumatised at the scene of the arrest. When the child began to run up the main road in the direction of his home, a local resident had to chase after him and bring him to a relative who lived near-by.
"While being detained in Lurgan barracks, Damien Duffy was questioned about éirígí, the content on its website, the demonstration against the British military parade in Belfast on November 2 and his brother Colin."
The party said Damien was the second éirígí activist to be arrested in Lurgan in the last week.
On Sunday, another man was detained while on his way to Belfast for the socialist republican party's demonstration.
éirígí spokesperson Sean MacBradaigh said the arrests were part of a pattern of PSNI repression against the party: "The treatment Damien Duffy and his nephew received at the hands of the PSNI was totally outrageous."
"To leave a six-year-old child unaccompanied in the street and to assault and level false charges against an innocent person is hardly the behaviour you would expect from a normal police service," he said.
A PSNI spokesperson said they were unable to discuss individual cases, especially when charges were to be brought before court.
The full article contains 424 words and appears in Lurgan Mail newspaper.
