During the 1960s and 70s, terrorism was a contemporary subject due to the conflict between the UK government and the IRA. The Troubles (the name given to the violence) originated in the 1920s and eventually resulted in bombings on the streets of Northern Ireland and occasionally in England. The government felt that in order to prevent mayhem, their actions needed to be swift and decisive. Thus, a series of temporary measures were initiated; policemen and soldiers all over Ulster were given the right to stop, question, search and arrest members of the public. In 2000, the Terrorism Act 2000 was passed as a definitive measure following twenty years of temporary measures. Policemen were given wider stop and search powers and enabled to detain suspects for up to 48 hours without charge. The Act was met with strong criticism as it outlawed certain Islamic fundamentalist groups and this was seen as a portrayal of Islam as a religion that fuels terrorism. This, in turn, made it likely that discrimination would occur in the form of the disproportionate stopping and searching of Asians who were thought to look Muslim. Although, prior to the September 2001 attacks on Washington D. C, government legislation in the UK had attempted to prevent the occurrence ofterrorism; the counter-terrorism strategies had focused a lot of attention on the punishment of terrorists and the criminalisation of new offences following their occurrence. However, the Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act 2001 (ATCSA) marked a more firm move towards the management of anticipatory risk (Piazza, Walsh, 2010) which was to characterise the counter-terrorism legislation of the 21 st century.
Question: In the 1960s, policemen and soldiers all over Ulster were given the right to stop, question, search and arrest members of the public.
Options:
A. true, B. false, C. uncertain
Answer: B