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DUBLIN - Britain has removed the last of its armoured watch towers in Northern Ireland in a significant symbolic step towards erasing the visible reminders of the province's 30-year conflict.
Improved security conditions since the 1997 ceasefire by Irish Republican Army guerrillas have seen Britain drastically reduce its military presence in Northern Ireland.
It began dismantling the watch posts that dotted the countryside and towered over small towns and villages in 2000 and has pledged to end all military support for the Northern Ireland police force on July 31 this year.
The iron-clad, cube-shaped observation post, or sangar, removed by crane yesterday had stood 6.5m above the Army-backed Crossmaglen police station in County Armagh.
British troops will leave the Crossmaglen police station by the end of July.
In many areas of Northern Ireland, police who once patrolled in armoured vehicles are now seen on foot or on bikes, but in some Catholic strongholds, where opposition to British rule and a Protestant-dominated police force remains strongest, police still operate with a military escort.
- REUTERS
