THE first PSNI officer to forcibly remove a resident or protester from the Garvaghy Road will spell the end for any prospect of establishing the elusive relationship with the nationalist community required to meet the aspiration of creating a non-partisan and representative policing service.

The moment will also trigger an unprecedented crisis that could lead to the collapse of the political institutions.

The PSNI chief constable must know that. So must the British secretary of state.

If they do not, then the political leadership of nationalism and the Irish government will have abjectly failed to perform their primary function at this moment in conveying the gravity of the situation.

No going back to the division of the past - The Irish News view

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