Letter: ​Republican movement was either in a war or not, and it needs to accept the consequences of that

I disagree with this ruling. The IRA members hadn't given any prior warning to the occupants of Coalisland RUC station before firing on it, so I fail to see why the SAS should have been expected to give prior warning before they shot.

There’s a certain double standard at play here, especially when you look at the current situation where British protesters advocating for peace between Palestine and Israel are being arrested and await judgement, with some even labelled as ‘terrorists’.

The IRA spent years fighting for recognition as prisoners of war, meaning they wanted to be seen as combatants in a war. But in war, it’s not common practice to give warning about military actions against the enemy.

The British state was as much a participant in the ‘dirty war’ as any of the other groups involved.

While much of the Irish republican movement eventually saw the hypocrisy of using both armed resistance and the ballot box, they should also recognise the inconsistency of perceiving their past detainees as prisoners of war, while demanding that former active members be treated as common criminals.

The reality is they were either in a war, or they weren’t, and they need to accept the consequences of that. However, the British government seems to be intent on allowing members of the former-PIRA and their erstwhile sympathisers to have their cake and eat it!

Louis Shawcross, Co Down