The Chief Constable (CC) of the Isle of Man police has refuted claims that there is any crackdown on Nationalists on the Isle of Man.
Mike Langdon was responding to concerns articulated by the Celtic League who said that rumours were circulating widely about young people being stopped and questioned about Nationalist or Manx language sympathies and also suggestions that CCTV footage had been seized.
Langdon stopped short of detailed clarity of what questions individual officers might put to those stopped, however he did say that no CCTV footage had been recovered by police.
Whilst generally measured in his response to the Celtic League concerns the Chief Constable did commit something of a faux pas in asserting that the Celtic League’s Director of Information (DOI) had not condemned the daubing of slogans around the Island.
Unfortunately the Chief Constable is not very well informed because had he been at the pre-eminent event of the Nationalist political calendar (the Illiam Dhone commemoration – 2nd January) he would have heard DOI Bernard Moffatt not only condemn daubing but also urge those concerned to effect National political change to channel their efforts via the mainstream Nationalist party.
We can only hope that the Chief Constable is better informed about the activities of his officers than he is about statements from the Celtic League.
Supplementary links below include clips from Manx Radio also a link to the Manx Radio `Listen Again’ archive which contains the full interview with the League and response from CC Langdon on `Thursday Shows – Mandate AM’ (Please note the Listen Again link is only active for one week after broadcast):
https://www.manxradio.com/newsread.aspx?id=42771
https://www.manxradio.com/newsread.aspx?id=42773
Listen again: