Armed police at polling station after man '˜pulls gun on electoral staff'

Armed police are at a polling station in Northern Ireland after a man pulled what polling staff believed to be a handgun.
Armed officers are now at the polling station (file photo).Armed officers are now at the polling station (file photo).
Armed officers are now at the polling station (file photo).

The incident happened today at Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School in Greencastle, where polling is taking place in a Parliamentary by-election to replace the former Sinn Féin MP Barry McElduff.

Speaking on her way to the scene, Northern Ireland’s chief electoral officer Virginia McVea told the News Letter that she understood that a “handgun was pulled on polling staff” but that it had not been fired.

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She said that her understanding was that the man had “approached polling staff and pulled out a weapon” but had subsequently left the polling station.

She said that she had requested extra police support and was in contact with the area silver commander from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). Armed officers are now in place at the school. Ms McVea said that no one had been injured.

When asked if it was clear whether the weapon was a real or an imitation firearm, Ms McVea said that she was not certain but was on her way to the rural location, which is between Cookstown and Omagh.

Just after lunch time, the PSNI confirmed that they had “received a report of a man acting suspiciously at a polling station on the Crockanboy Road, Greencastle just before 1pm today”.

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A police spokeswoman said: “It was reported that the man may have been carrying a firearm. Efforts are continuing to locate him and enquiries into the matter are ongoing.”

About two and a half hours after the man appeared at the polling station, the PSNI said that they had arrested a 59-year-old man “on suspicion of possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear or alarm”.

A police spokesman said: “He has been taken into custody for questioning. Further searches as part of the investigation are ongoing.”

The Ulster Unionist Party candidate in the by-election, Chris Smyth, said that he had been told by the police that “a man walked into the Greencastle Polling station with what appeared to be a handgun and said to those present that if any unionists were around, he would shoot them”.

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Mr Smyth – who himself received a death threat during what had generally been a low-key campaign – said he was “shocked and appalled that something like this could happen”.

He added: “I am informed there were no police present at the time. I arrived just ten minutes later and there is now a strong, armed police presence at the scene.

“It is sad that we continue to have people in our society who want to terrorise and intimidate you just because of your political opinion. These people need removed from society. I for one will not be intimidated by them.”

Earlier in the day, there had been controversy after it emerged that at least one Sinn Féin polling agent was using an electronic device within a polling station – something which is forbidden under advice issued to party agents who are allowed inside polling stations in order to observe the conduct of the poll.

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The SDLP complained to the Chief Electoral Officer about breaches of the electoral rules whereby “Sinn Féin polling agents were found to be using electronic equipment in Strabane” and urged the public to report if they saw anyone inside a polling station using equipment such as phones, laptops or tablet computers.

Speaking on behalf of Sinn Féin, election agent Barry McColgan confirmed that “one of our election workers was in a polling station early this morning reading a Kindle e-reader”.

Electoral Office guidance issued to candidates says clearly that they”must not…use a mobile phone or other electronic equipment e.g. iPad for speech, text, photographs, video or any other purpose” .

The guidance adds that breaching those rules “is likely to result in your being excluded from the polling station and/or reported to the police for investigation and possible prosecution”.

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However, Sinn Féin said – and the chief electoral officer did not dispute – that one of the polling staff had agreed for the Kindle device to be used before a complaint was made and it was removed.

Mr McColgan said: “He had sought and received permission from the electoral staff on duty to use the e-reader and was openly reading an e-book for two hours. For the SDLP to subsequently claim that this amounts to electoral fraud is as spurious as it is pathetic.”

The News Letter has been sent a photo which purports to be another party election agent using a phone within a polling station in Dromore.

The chief electoral officer confirmed that she was aware of the issue but had asked for it to be reported to her staff at the station to be dealt with.

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In a further controversy, the SDLP candidate, Daniel McCrossan, said this afternoon that several of his election posters had been removed and replaced with Sinn Féin posters.