June 4344Bailiffs move in on Onglian ratepayer strikersIn a move to crush the
Onglian ratepayer strike, councils across the country have contracted in teams of bailiffs to force the strikers to pay their council rates. It is being reported that most of these contracted bailiffs are brutal and unsavoury characters, and more than a few are in fact trained members of the technically illegally but generally tolerated Inglian Volunteer Force (IVF).
Reports are coming in of bailiffs entering homes, trashing them, beating up the occupants and behaving in a generally intimidating way. Claims are also being filed alleging the bailiffs have taken far more money, or far more in property value, than they are entitled to.
The worst brutality has been seen in Valley County in Central Province, where the ratepayer strike had been strongest.
Overall, 11 Onglians are believed to have been killed, with injury numbers being much, much higher.
The Onglian Liberation Army (OLA) has begun targeting the bailiffs, branding them as "agents of the New Englian state" and "the IVF in bailiff costume". Yesterday, two of the bailiffs were killed in a car bomb planted by the OLA.
Onglian police officer hung for collusion with OLA/YFF ambushCasey Ó Deargáin, an Onglian officer of the New Englian Constabulary (NEC) has been executed by hanging after being found guilty of colluding with the recent deadly ambush of a police patrol by the Onglian Liberation Army (OLA) and Yeudish Freedom Fighters in New Indrala.
Only a small minority of NEC officers are Onglians, and those who hold such positions tend to find themselves as isolated outcasts, despised both by the Onglian community they come from and by most of the Inglian officers they serve alongside.
The Onglian Police Officers Association, an organisation which was banned several years ago but still maintains a website hosted abroad, issued a statement claiming Ó Deargáin had been subjected to "a witch-hunt" and that "the proper procedures of justice were not followed". This was echoed by the Onglian Civil Rights Association, who claimed Ó Deargáin had "been convicted without a shred of real evidence by an all-Inglian jury which thinks all Onglians are guilty".
A second Onglian police officer, Mícheál Ó Maonaigh, was found guilty of colluding with the YFF in a recent raid on a small police armoury, also in New Indrala. He was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. His conviction is also being questioned by civil rights campaigners.
Internal Affairs Minister Timothy Chetwoode faced calls in Parliament to end the recruitment of Onglians into the NEC on the grounds they are a potential security risk. He gave no commitments for the moment, but promised "all options are being considered".
Lord Protector thanks Trigunian observers for Agata Uí Banáin murder investigationLord Protector Rafe Shevington has praised Trigunian observers for their
investigation into the
murder of Onglian civil rights lawyer Agata Uí Banáin, which confirmed Internal Affairs Minister Timothy Chetwoode's theory that she was killed in a family row, rather than as a result of Inglian Volunteer Force (IVF) activity. "The death of Agata Uí Banáin is very sad," he said, "but the whole of Terra can now see that New Englia is an open society where the rule of law is fairly and impartially upheld - the claim that we deliberately let terrorists get away with murdering our own citizens is as absurd as it is offensive, and I am grateful to the Trigunian observers for confirming this".
However, members of Agata Uí Banáin's family and the Onglian Civil Rights Association, with whom they are co-operating, have accused the police of failing to take the inquiry seriously and refusing to answer many of their questions. They also claim they requested a meeting with the Trigunian observers, but were repeatedly fobbed off.