Re: Closure of the entry between Roseville Street and Fahan Street

Re: Closure of the entry between Roseville Street and Fahan Street.

A Chara,

About two years ago the residents of the Fahan St and Roseville St areas were surveyed about putting gates on the entry between the two streets.

There has been an ongoing problem with street drinking by young people and the associated anti-social behaviour.

Last Tuesday residents found that the entry had been sealed off by iron security gates. When one resident enquired about who the key-holders might be, he was told that only “responsible” residents could have a key. He was told that he would not be receiving a key.

Since then, a number of residents have approached RNU to express their concern about the security gates, the way they are being controlled and what some suspect is really an RUC/PSNI security-led initiative to increase their tactical control of the area.

If the concerns of those who carried out the survey were genuine, then RNU has no problem in saying that they did the right thing in consulting residents. However, carrying out a survey does not, by itself, give any organisation carte blanche to alter the physical environment in any community. There was no follow-up to this survey, no public meetings, and no publication or other feedback of its results. The next thing residents knew was that the security gates went up and were left locked – although they were initially told they would be open from 8am-8pm.

Suspicions have been raised by the disproportionate nature of this response to what is a typical problem with teenagers throughout the Bogside area. Many community activists would advocate a co-ordinated community response to this type of problem so as to truly tackle its root causes.

However, financial resources are drying up, which begs the question: how much did the gates cost and how else could the money have been used to find a community-centred solution? The effect of these security gates, if they work at all, will be to export the problem to adjacent parts of the Bogside. Will the security gate solution be implemented in these areas too?

Besides, there is already evidence that the gates have been vaulted over by young people, thus giving them a private drinking area and play pen. So what’s next? Bigger gates and razor wire? Is this ‘open prison’ model really they way to tackle community issues? RNU would like to assure residents that we will be on the ground engaging with young people in the coming weeks to ensure that the interests of the whole community are served. We are not restricted by 9-5 office hours and overtime payment claims.

A secondary effect of the security gates has been to create a sense of exclusion among the majority who do not have a key for the gates. Those who don’t have a key feel like second class residents. This area is, after all, a common and public space. The solution is not to punish residents and the public by denying access through a convenient route to and from the city centre. Many tourists and visitors also use this entry for convenience.

Finally, some residents have been asking themselves if they’ve been duped and the community manipulated into supporting a security response to stone-throwing against PSNI patrols. They wonder whether this is about a security issue and the anti-social problem is being used as a smoke screen.

It’s quite clear that closing this entry is an inconvenience to residents but a major control tool for the RUC/PSNI. Arguably, the gates are a greater inconvenience than the problem they purport to fix.

RNU would like to know whether the anti-social problems or these gates were brought up or discussed at local DPP meetings and what response the RUC/PSNI gave. We would also like to know precisely which fund was used to put these gates in place? Was the NIO involved? Why did the two vans that arrived to install the gates have no number plates? Why are known Sinn Fein members spearheading this campaign?

Finally, RNU have under taken a survey of the 105 houses closest to gates in order to measure the level of support for the security gates. The results are as follows:

90 households signed our petition opposing the erection of the security gates, at 12 houses we found no one at home, and three households expressed their support for the gates. Nearly 97% of residents oppose these security gates, just over 3% support them. These figures speak for themselves.

On the basis of this community consultation the Republican Forum for Unity which includes RNU, IRSP, 32CSM and other independent Republicans, acted to remove the security gates which were so sneakily imposed on the Bogside community.

Yours etc. Tony Taylor, local chairperson RNU, Tel:07846498503