The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) was slated by Sinn Féin for conducting what it called “black propaganda” against Republicans via the claim it had discovered a cache of heavy spiked metal weapons hidden on rooftops ahead of the July 12 parades in Northern Ireland.
Secret files released as part of the State Papers by the National Archives revealed the 2002 clash as a review of the Good Friday Agreement was under way.
The PSNI claimed it had uncovered a large quantity of weapons hidden on rooftops near parade routes.
The cache included heavy spiked weapons, some made from metal.
Irish civil servant Tom Lynch briefed Dublin on the row on July 16, 2002.
Mr Lynch said the then-assistant chief constable Alan McQuillan had claimed the PSNI “had information that Republican paramilitaries were planning a large-scale attack on the parade as it passed the Ardoyne shops at the Crumlin Road/Ardoyne Road intersection”.
The police claimed to have “discovered an array of weapons”, including 20ft-long iron pipes and 80 “spiked metal missiles” on shop roofs.
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PSNI officers said it also found several crates of bottles, “which it believed were to be used as petrol bombs”.
Then-chief inspector Colin Taylor said the missiles seized in the area would probably have been used by Republicans in an attack on the police.
“It appears that these items had been stashed there for an attack on the police, army and possibly the general public,” he advised.
“There are things there that have been specifically made for nothing other than to injure members of the security forces. The discovery of the spiked metal implements is especially sinister.”
However, the Irish official noted that Sinn Féin flatly rejected the PSNI version of events – and accused the force of engaging in propaganda.
Sinn Féin MLA Gerry Kelly said the PSNI claims amounted to nothing more than “black propaganda”.
Mr Lynch noted Mr Kelly gave him photographs purportedly showing members of the British army at 5am on July 12 dismantling anti-theft security barriers on the shop roofs.
Mr Kelly said there were no “spiked metal weapons” and that the items cited were in fact anti-theft barriers.
“At the time, in the absence of any details of the weapons which the PSNI were claiming to have ‘discovered’, I was of the view that the photographs of themselves were not conclusive,” Mr Lynch wrote.
“However, photographs appeared in yesterday’s Irish News which show Inspector Colin Taylor displaying the ‘weapons discovered’ by the PSNI on the roofs of the Ardoyne shops.”
Mr Lynch said the “weapons” in the photos were “clearly” the same iron pipes the British Army was seen dismantling from the roofs of the shops.
He commented that the photos appeared to support Mr Kelly’s stance and that no such weapons had been “stashed there for an attack”.