As journalist Kevin Kelley noted, ‘[t]he process of building a broad … front, which was begun at Coalisland in early 1978, finally reached fruition late in 1979’. While 1980 kicked off with yet another large anti-H-Block march, this time it was under the banner of the newly formed National H-Block Committee. The march was to go from Belfast to the gates of Long Kesh and was scheduled for New Year's Day – the same day that John Herman officially assumed command of the RUC. Nevertheless, it did not complete its intended route. According to the Belfast Telegraph, the police feared that the protest would result in ‘a breach of the peace and serious public disorder’ and the march was therefore prevented from going beyond the confines of nationalist West Belfast. This, of course, fell far short of the organizers’ ambitious plans and a brief sit-down protest took place on the Stewartstown Road. An angry H-Block Committee spokesperson claimed that this decision was ‘an illustration of how fearful the British Government … [was] of broad mobilization on the H-Block issue’. However, it was questionable how broad these early mobilizations were, particularly those which originated in Belfast, where the Republican Movement held such sway.