Dubiln: Facebook has closed a social
networking page that encouraged Irish republicans to post
pictures and personal details of Northern Ireland police
officers.
Facebook took the action today after Northern Ireland
police and politicians complained that the page, called Crown
Forces Watch, was an intelligence-gathering tool for Irish
Republican Army dissidents.
IRA splinter groups regularly plot attacks on police
officers, who are most vulnerable when off duty. In April, a
policeman was killed when a bomb exploded outside his home
under his car.
For decades, Northern Ireland police shielded their names
and home addresses from public disclosure because of the
threat of IRA attack. Such security has eased since the IRA's
2005 decisions to disarm and renounce violence.
PTI
First Published: Friday, August 05, 2011, 23:59