Police event at the Guildhall cancelled over protest threat from dissident republicans
The Long Tower Youth and Community Centre had planned to hold a conference for young people in the Guildhall.
But the dissident republican political party, Saoradh, said it would protest at the presence of the PSNI.
The club said it had tried to discuss it with Saoradh, but was unsuccessful and had “no option but to cancel”.
PSNI Supt Alan Hutton said: “This event was a fantastic opportunity for young people to express their views on issues that matter to them to a range of partners and it is unfortunate that the whole day had to be cancelled.
“Our young people’s voices need to be heard.
“It would have been a welcome opportunity for young people to meet their local police officers, ask us questions, share their concerns and frustrations and to get to know us and the job we do.”
Long Tower Youth Club said in a statement on its Facebook page:
“Youth work is about providing the platform for young people to engage directly with those who they have issues with. This has always been the basis of youth work, at no point do our youth workers allow their personal vaules to influence the work they do or how they go about their jobs.
“Youth work is about adopting an undue positive regard approach so that we take young people at face value and not judge them.
“When they present with an issue such as policing then our youth workers advocate on their behalf and encourage them to develop their communication skills personally, socially and politically, so that they can engage directly, on their terms with those who they perceive to be the issue.
“The whole conference was focused on providing young people with direct dialogue so that their voices can be heard and their views expressed on stop and search, house raids and policing in the community.
“This was never about going into a room and the police talking down to young people, it was about having the hard conversations and meaningful dialogue so that our members can take the journey of developing a community where they can develop a deeper understanding of each other and the roles they play within the community.
“The Mangement of Long Tower have tried to engage in dialogue with the particular organisation who have a issue with this event as they have vowed to stage a protest.
“This request for engagement has been refused.
“Therefore we have no option but to cancel this event.”
Saoradh spokesman Paddy Gallagher said: “Youth clubs “should be a neutral environment for children to flourish, develop and associate with their peers.
“Not to be used as a political mechanism to adopt a broader acceptance of so called policing and normalisation within the Six Counties.”
The party said they had been willing to engage with the youth club “on the basis they cancelled the event first, otherwise our protest would go ahead as planned.”
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