Olympic Champions – A Target For Bigots!

Community Activist
Ógra Shinn Féin

The recent degrading treatment of Irish Olympic Boxing Champion Paddy Barnes by a member of the PSNI is a disgrace and is reminiscent of Muhammad Ali’s similar degradation when he returned home from the 1960 Rome Olympics.

A gold medal champion, refused service in a Louisville ‘whites only’ restaurant, because of the colour of his skin, Ali’s response was to angrily throw his gold medal into the Ohio river.


The same supremacy and hatred that was shown towards Muhammad Ali as a young aspiring African American boxer in Louisville, Kentucky in 1960, was demonstrated again in North Belfast last Thursday 11 September when a PSNI officer grabbed Paddy Barnes as he left a local shop.

Paddy a young nationalist who won a bronze medal for Ireland at the Beijing Olympics said that he feared the PSNI member would punch him or use pepper spray, in his own words,

“He said if I raised my hands like that again he would ‘drop’ me. He told me he didn’t care who I was and called me a dickhead. I thought he was going to hit me or pepper-spray me. He seemed really edgy, volatile and definitely was looking for a reaction.”

Paddy who recently lifted the Young Person of the Year award at a ceremony in Dublin was stopped and searched on the ‘supposed’ grounds that he was a suspect in a mobile phone robbery.

That is an absolute disgrace, that a member of the PSNI intentionally harassed and detained this young disciplined boxer who has dedicated his life to sport and is a positive role model to other young people throughout North Belfast and Ireland.

This is a clear attempt to tarnish Paddy’s reputation, and to knock his confidence.

It would appear that the PSNI officer involved in the harassment singled Paddy out, because of his nationalist background, and because his heroic’s in Beijing have inspired and given confidence so many young people in his native North Belfast. He was hitting out at Paddy as a way of hitting out at his community.

Paddy said,

“He must have know who I was because the language he used seemed really directed towards who I was.”

“Many people who know me saw and heard how he was behaving. Some of them explained I was the Olympic boxer. He just sneered at them.”

Paddy will be making a complaint to the PSNI and raising the matter with First Minister Peter Robinson later in the month, showing him exactly how an Olympic champion is treated in his home city.

The disgraceful and disgusting treatment of Paddy Barnes really does hark back to the old supremacy and hatred that Muhammad Ali similarly experienced in America’s Deep South.

The sectarianism and bigotry demonstrated by the PSNI member against Paddy Barnes is totally unacceptable and an example should be made of him to boost confidence in policing and clearly show that the PSNI are moving forward, working for all communities.

There is a need for this disgraceful incident to be positively resolved, and insure that the bigots are dealt with.

Incident’s like this highlight the need for Policing and Justice to be at the fore of our struggle, ensuring that we can achieve the maximum progress, ensuring that bigotry is smashed and harassment like this is resigned to the dustbin of history.

Harassment is aimed at knocking our confidence, making us feel subservient and disempowered, but all it really achieves is maximum resilience and a resolve to progress our struggle, empower our people and smash any remaining vestiges of Unionist bigotry and dominance.

The racists in Louisville, Kentucky could not break the spirit of a young aspiring black boxer, infact it made him more determined to show to the world his athletic prowess. Muhammad Ali became a symbol of hope to the oppressed African American people, and the rights and confidence of his people seemed to rise and be won with his gradual ascent in the boxing world.

The similar bigoted action of a PSNI man in North Belfast last Thursday will not deter Paddy Barnes from his goal of an Olympic Gold medal.

If we stand resolute, with our strategic objectives, determination and with maximum cohesion, we can push further major changes to the PSNI and the North ensuring that when Paddy returns from London 2012 a gold medal champion, the bigotry and harassment he experienced is a thing of the past.