Testimony on British Army Occupation

We had an Occupying Army in our city.

I fought against the British Army.

I lived in a city where the people were

treated like second-class citizens in their own country.

The British Army were shooting citizens dead.

And as a result of that,

they were seen as an Occupying Army.

And many people in my city saw

the British Army as terrorists.

I'm proud that I was in the IRA.

I'm proud that I fought against the British Army.

I joined the IRA because the British Army came

onto the streets of my city,

turned their guns on the citizens,

shot citizens dead before the IRA ever engaged in any combat whatsoever.

When I was 21 years of age,

the British government introduced internment in the north of Ireland.

It took innocent people from their homes,

brought them to interrogation centres,

held them without trial,

tortured them.

The British government was later found guilty

at the European Courts of Human Rights

of inhuman and degrading treatment.