Ormeau arrest: PSNI officers 'had no political bias'

There was no political bias on the part of officers involved in an arrest at a memorial event on Friday, the Police Federation has said.

A man was arrested at an event marking the 29th anniversary of the loyalist murders of five people at Sean Graham's bookmakers on Belfast's Ormeau Road.

Federation chairman Mark Lindsay said one of the two police officers involved was Catholic, the other Protestant.

He said both feel "hurt and very let down".

One officer was suspended and another "re-positioned" following the incident.

Chief Constable Simon Byrne also apologised over what happened and the incident is being investigated by the Police Ombudsman.

The Police Federation confirmed that the officers were from different faith communities, and different parts of the island of Ireland.

The Police Federation's Mr Lindsay said: "There was no, as has been inferred, political bias in this.

"These were two young people, the sort of people that we aspire to join the police, from different backgrounds, representative of the communities from across Northern Ireland who found themselves inadvertently thrown into a situation which had got out of control."

He added: "They feel hurt, they feel very let down."

Speaking on BBC Radio Ulster's Stephen Nolan Show, Mr Lindsay said the two officers had been responding to another call when they saw a number of people gathered on the road.

He said they were not neighbourhood officers and had been unaware a commemoration was taking place.

"I spoke to both of them separately and their recollection of events is almost identical," he said.

"They drove up the road and said, 'if we don't stop here we'll be criticised for not stopping if it is a gathering which is in breach of Covid'.

Mr Lindsay said they were advised by a more senior officer to engage with organisers after the event was over.

"They didn't go storming into the middle of a crowd, they sought advice, they sought direction and they feel certainly let down in the situation they now find themselves in."

In his apology for what happened, the chief constable said "the events that have taken place to not reflect the values of the Police Service of Northern Ireland".

NI's deputy first minister, Michelle O'Neill of Sinn Féin, said there was a "crisis in confidence" in policing among nationalists over the handling of the commemoration event.

Ms O'Neill described the actions of officers as "crass" and "vulgar".

Mr Lindsay said he understood there was hurt in the community, but asked political parties to show more responsibility and wait for the ombudsman's investigation.

"I would actually say that those two officers, from my conversations with them, are exactly what we want to see in the PSNI.

"Their attitude to police work, their attitude to serving all sections of the community, are exactly what we want to see."

He said officers will be "very reticent about getting involved in anything to do with large groups now and Covid and that is the advice actually that I have given out to them".

In a statement, the PSNI said officers from the South Belfast Local Policing Team came across approximately 30 people gathered at the Sean Graham bookmakers while on a routine patrol.

"They were a passing police patrol who on seeing the gathering, sought advice from their sergeant and were advised to engage with persons present and establish what was happening," said the statement.

"We have reviewed body-worn video footage of the event and are confident that the officers assessment of numbers in attendance was accurate."

"The footage will also be reviewed in respect of the health protection regulations."

The statement said it is "now for the Office of the Police Ombudsman to determine the exact circumstances of the incident", adding that "it would not be appropriate" to comment further.