Inquiry into Belfast 'walk of shame'

The PSNI has appealed for public assistance in establishing the full circumstances behind an incident in which two young men were forced to make the so-called "walk of shame" along the loyalist Shankill Road in Belfast.

The men were compelled to carry large placards declaring "I'm a thief and a burglar" along the Shankill early on Friday afternoon. They were forced to pace along the road for almost an hour admitting their alleged criminality.

One of the men appeared to have been assaulted before being forced to carry the placard. Local sources said UVF members were behind what in recent years has become an outmoded form of paramilitary justice.

However, since the stabilising of the peace and the political developments of recent years greater pressure has fallen on loyalist and republican paramilitaries to desist from so-called forms of community justice such as "punishment" shootings and beatings. This in turn appears to have persuaded some paramilitaries to revert to older forms of community punishment.

Last August the UDA was blamed for a tarring and feathering incident in the loyalist Taughmonagh estate in south Belfast - a form of punishment that was last common during the 1970s. On that occasion the man carried a placard bearing the words, "I'm a drug dealing scumbag".

Police arrived on the scene on Friday afternoon after being alerted by a member of the public. A spokeswoman said that the men when questioned refused to co-operate. They would make no complaints or give any information about who forced them to wear the placards. Neither would they say whether they were assaulted and when police persisted with their questions the men ran away, she added.

"The fact of the matter is that it is not a crime to walk up and down a street wearing a placard; they were doing nothing illegal," said the spokeswoman.

"However, we are seriously investigating this incident. We want public assistance to establish what happened and whether either or both men were assaulted. If we have evidence then we can take a case, even if the men refuse to make a complaint."

The PSNI said it could not confirm local reports that the UVF was responsible for the incident. That was also being investigated. If it emerges that the UVF was responsible then it will raise questions about its ceasefire and pose some embarrassing questions for its political representatives in the Progressive Unionist Party.

Last May the UVF declared an end to its campaign of violence and said that it has put its arsenal "beyond reach" but not "beyond use". The UVF and its associated paramilitary group, the Red Hand Commando, said that they were assuming a "non-military, civilianised role".

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times