A former internee, who won a landmark human rights case against the British government, is now taking a similar action against Sinn Féin.
Paddy Joe McClean has initiated proceedings after Sinn Féin members picketed a meeting of Omagh's District Policing Partnership.
Mr McClean, the former chairman of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Assoc-iation and a member of Omagh DPP, won his case against the British government 32 years ago.
He launched that action after he was hooded, deprived of sleep, subjected to continual noise and starved while he was interned at Crumlin Road prison.
The Court of Human Rights at Strasbourg found his jailers guilty of torture and the British government subsequently paid out thousands of pounds in compensation.
Mr McClean told the Irish News that he never envisaged that he would be initiating a second similar process involving denials of rights. Nor, he said, did he imagine that those who were denied basic rights themselves would now be denying those rights to others.
Omagh DPP's first meeting in May was called off after noisy protesters drowned out speakers.
"Once inside the chamber their chanting, insulting and offensive slogans and barracking of the invited speaker forced the chairman to adjourn the meeting indefinitely," Mr McClean said.
"Thus the members of the board were denied their democratic right to carry through their public duty as required of them under the terms of the legislation – namely to hold the PSNI accountable for the delivery of a policing service against the terms of the previously agreed policing plan."
He said he had sought legal opinion as to the availability of redress under the European Convention on Human Rights.
He said that the quality of policing was undermined by protesters who failed to recognise that DPPs had no means at their disposal to affect any of the matters of which Sinn Féin complained.
He added that by forcing the closure of the DPP, the protesters denied members their democratic right to express themselves in a public place.
"They are thus clearly in breach of Article 10 which states 'Everyone has the right to freedom of expression," he said.
"By their rude, threatening and intimidatory behaviour they also fall foul of Article 11 of the Convention of Human Rights which guarantees "that everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom to associate with others."
That right, he said, was denied to community groups who attended the meeting to question how police were dealing with issues including domestic violence, community safety and attacks on the elderly.
"Having taken legal opinion I have already contacted the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission informing the commissioner of these breaches," Mr McClean said.
