BY RONAN MCSHERRY

THE chasm within republicanism was evident during a discussion on policing attended by leading Tyrone political activists Francis Mackey of the 32-County Sovereignty Movement and Willie Gallagher of the IRSP.

Around 200 people attended the debate in the Conway Mill, Belfast on Monday night.

Mr Mackey who once held the position of Chairman of Omagh District Council was highly critical of his previous party, Sinn Féin. He claimed that his former colleagues allusions to "securocrats" are merely "scare tactics" to justify their acceptance of British rule in Ireland. He said that his group would not accept a police force "whilst partition exists."

Despite an assertion from Declan Kearney of Sinn Féin that his party had signed up to nothing and are still in the process of negotiation, Mr Mackey questioned the decision to involve the republican movement in any process which was in essence created and controlled by the British government.

He added,"The spectacle of republicans donning the uniform of once legitimate targets blinds some to the reality of what that represents. Part of the normalising policy is the normalising of the British government's illegal claim to rule in Ireland."

His sentiments were echoed by Willie Gallagher from Strabane who said, "For republicans the PSNI can never be accepted as an acceptable police service" He also commented that while republicans have accepted police "in issues of ordinary crime, they cannot solve the corrupt policing system by becoming police within the corrupt system."

The debate which became quite heated at times, took place against a background of pressure being exerted on Sinn Féin by the two governments and other political parties to sign up to policing.

Earlier that day DUP leader Ian Paisley intimated in an RTE interview that his party would be ready to share power with Sinn Féin as soon as they accepted the current policing arrangement. It is a proposition that is causing much unease among grassroots republicans.