Conghaileach
21st August 2002, 21:26
The following list of sectarian and other hate-driven incidents and attacks is from 1 through 31 July 2002. The criteria we use for inclusion is based on the
Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) criteria; if a person/organisation feels that the motivation for an attack against them was sectarian (or racist or homophobic), then it should be counted as such. We rely on a number of sources for our information, but this is by no means comprehensive. If you find incidents that
have been left off the list please contact us. A full dossier of sectarian and other hate attacks from January 1999 until June 2002 is available on our website
at http://www.serve.com/pfc.
July 1, Monday. At a Newtownabbey council meeting, Cllr. Mark Langhammer (Ind. Labour) blamed the neo-nazi group Combat 18 for the recent attacks on graves in the Carnmoney Cemetery in Newtownabbey, Co. Antrim. Unionist councillors suggested the recent attacks on Catholic graves in the cemetery were due, in part, to a "sectarian policy" within the graveyard (both Catholics and Protestants are interred in the cemetery but in separate sections.) Cllr. Ivan Hunter (UUP) also
suggested that "Mass gatherings" (such as Cemetery Sunday) should no longer be permitted in Carnmoney Cemetery. (For the past two years, Loyalists have picketed Annual Cemetery Sunday gatherings.) (NBN, IN)
The Irish News reported that the Police Ombudsman, Nuala O'Loan, "is probing 'possible police misconduct' by members of the RUC before and after the murder of a Catholic colleague." Sergeant Joseph Campbell was murdered in February of 1977 as he locked up the RUC station in Cushendall, Co. Antrim. It is believed the man
was a victim of collusion between the RUC and the loyalist UVF. A Special branch officer was charged in connection with the murder, but was acquitted. (IN)
Papers were lodged in Belfast's High Court naming - amongst others -Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan in a court action stemming from an incident last month in east Belfast when a Short Strand woman was prevented from taking her child to the doctors because of a loyalist picket. The RUC/PSNI are alleged to have done nothing to help the woman and her son get through to the doctors. According to the Irish News, she "is seeking a court order directing the Ombudsman to investigate her complaint against the [RUC/] PSNI." (IN)
July 3, Wednesday. The Derry News reported that nationalist councillors in Derry called for "immediate action to protect [Catholic] residents in the Long Tower
Court area." The area borders the loyalist Fountain estate on Derry's West Bank.
"I have visited the area on a number of occasions and was shocked to see the scale of attacks which people have to endure on a regular basis," Sinn Féin's Gerry MacLochlainn. Meanwhile, Derry City councillor, Helen Quigley (SDLP), has urged the Housing Executive to erect a security fence between Harding Street and the
Protestant Fountain housing estate. (IN, DN, CW)
While searching a house in Ballymena, Co. Antrim, the RUC/PSNI found two
sawn-off
shotguns, a single barrelled shotgun, three handguns, bomb making materials
and
ammunition. They also found balaclava masks, a UVF oath of allegiance and a
Bible
from a Free Presbyterian Church in Belfast. A 25-year-old man was charged in
connection with the find. (IN, BBC)
Catholics living in the predominantly Protestant Leckagh estate in
Magherafelt,
Co. Derry had their homes attacked by loyalists. Two homes were targeted with
petrol bombs and a car belonging to a Catholic family was also attacked. Two
elderly women were treated in hospital for shock. A number of Catholic
families
have already left the estate. "The remaining families," said Sinn Féin MLA
John
Kelly, "have been told to get out of the estate by July 11 or they will be
burnt
out." The RUC/PSNI chief superintendent the area spoke out about the growing
number of sectarian attacks. "I have taken steps to combat the incidents that
are
being inflicted upon Roman Catholic families and which can only described as
raw,
naked sectarianism," said the chief superintendent. "Many of the families
affected
have lived in the [Leckagh] estate for several years and, sadly, they have
now
become the target for intimidation by loyalist thugs who skulk about in the
shadows." (IN, CW, RUC/PSNI)
A number of women from the Short Strand in east Belfast flew to London to
meet
with a number of Westminster MP's and the local media. The women presented a
full
dossier of attacks on the Short Strand to all interested parties. "The
response
from all of those we came into contact with was very positive," said local
resident Mairead O'Donnell. (AN, SBN)
According to a report in the Irish News, a number of prominent unionist
politicians were warned by the RUC/PSNI that their lives may be under
increased
threat from "dissident" republicans. Secretary of State John Reid later
admitted
(30 July) that the warnings were based on a flawed threat assessment, and
that
there was in fact no evidence of any increased threat. (IN, Herald)
Ryan David Weekes, a loyalist from Larne, Co. Antrim, was jailed for 12 years
in
connection with a pipe bomb attack on the home of a local SDLP councillor. He
also
pleaded guilty to a second pipe bomb attack. (IN)
First Minister and member of the Orange Order David Trimble criticised the
Parade'
s Commission's decision to ban the Portadown Orangemen from marching down the
mainly-nationalist Garvaghy Road in Portadown. (IN)
In south Belfast loyalists hired a 'cherry picker' to erect paramilitary
flags on
lampposts in mixed religion-streets. (CW)
July 4, Thursday. Sinn Féin councillor Lynn Fleming condemned the sectarian
petrol
bombing of a home in the Protestant Irish Street area. Cllr. Fleming said,
"Everyone, regardless of their beliefs, has a right to live without fear of
attack
from any quarter and it is only good fortune that we are now not dealing with
either a serious injury or death." (IN, CW)
A Catholic family living in South Belfast escaped injury following a petrol
bomb
attack on their home. A 61-year-old woman and her 22-year-old son were
watching
television when a concrete block was thrown through a downstairs window. An
attempt was then made to throw the petrol bomb through the window but it
landed in
the garden instead. (IN, CW)
Following a loyalist pipe bomb attack on a home in the nationalist Short
Strand
area of east Belfast, loyalist leaders re-iterated the loyalist paramilitary
'no
first strike' policy. John White, formerly of the UDA-aligned UDP, said
claimed
the UDA was not responsible for the attack. (IN, CW, SBN)
The first anniversary of the murder of 19-year-old Ciaran Cummings, from
Antrim.
Cummings, a Catholic, was shot dead as he waited for a lift to work. Both the
loyalist Orange Volunteers and Red Hand Defenders claimed the killing, but -
according to the Andersonstown News and the Irish News - suspicion has since
fallen on the UVF. (AN, IN, RUC/PSNI)
According to senior security sources, up to 70 members of the paramilitary
Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) had recently defected to Johnny Adair's
UDA/UFF "C"
Company. While neither confirming nor denying this, former UDP member Johnny
White
said, "If members of the LVF have chosen to move over to the UDA, I think it
is a
positive move and will consolidate the peace process. The UDA, and Johnny
Adair,
have stated that they are committed to the peace process and that still
stands."
(IN, RUC/PSNI, BBC)
The Derry News reported that a number of Derry students living in Belfast are
moving away from "high-risk" areas following last month's sectarian attack on
a
student house in south Belfast. (See 24/6) (DN, CW)
July 5, Friday. Loyalists pipe-bombed the home of a Catholic family of five
living
in the Short Strand area of east Belfast. "We were attacked three weeks ago,
"
said one family member, " but I never thought we'd be hit by a pipe bomb."
(IN,
CW)
Robert Samuel Walmsley of the Drumtara estate in Ballymena appeared in
Coleraine
Magistrates Court in connection with a loyalist arms find earlier in the
week. He
was accused of possessing both guns and explosives and of having items "for
use in
a terrorist offence." Walmsley pleaded not guilty to all charges and was
remanded
in custody until later in the month. (IN, RUC/PSNI)
The Parades Commission upheld its ruling banning Portadown Orangemen from
marching
down the Garvaghy Road after its annual Drumcree Church parade. (IN, CW)
Jamal Iweida, president of the Belfast Islamic Centre, and his family left
their
home in Finaghy after their house and car were attacked and damaged, the
culmination of a sustained campaign of racial violence and intimidation
including
threats and a break-in. These incidents followed a sustained campaign of
racial
violence and intimidation. Police figures show that the number of racist
incidents
in Northern Ireland has doubled in the past four years. Community activists
point
out, however, that these statistics are only the tip of the iceberg, as many
victims of racist attacks do not report them to the police. (IN, SBN, CW)
July 6, Saturday. Lagan Valley MLA Patricia Lewsley (SDLP) met with RUC/PSNI
chiefs to discuss a number of issues, including the increase in the flying of
loyalist flags. A number of "mixed" areas in Lisburn, Co. Antrim are now
flying
such flags. (AN)
An 18-year-old Catholic man from Kilkeel in Co. Down was badly beaten in a
late
night sectarian attack. The young man was beaten unconscious by a loyalist
mob as
he left a bar in the town. Six men who shouted, "Kill the Fenian", set upon
him as
soon as they had him on the ground. The victim suffered extensive bruising
and
needed 13 stitches on his face. (IN, BBC)
Catholics living in the Newington area of north Belfast expressed their
concerns
over a RUC/PSNI application to remove security barriers at the bottom of
Newington
Street. The barriers were originally erected over 20 years ago in response to
a
series of loyalist murders and murder attempts in the area. Sectarian
tensions are
high in the area and, according to local Sinn Féin councillor Gerard Brophy,
"people in Newington Street . have been pipe bombed, petrol bombed and
bricked on
a nearly nightly basis by loyalists in Tigers Bay." The Continuity IRA
threatened
to kill anyone who tried to remove the barrier. (NBN, CW, IN)
The Andersonstown News reported that Sinn Féin would challenge Lisburn
Council's
decision to fly the Union flag 19 days of the year. They also said they would
challenge the council's displaying of the Queen's portrait in council
chambers.
"This decision," said Sinn Féin councillor Paul Butler," sends out a clear
message
to Catholics living in Lisburn that the Lagan Valley Island site is unionist
territory and that they are not welcome." (AN)
In north Belfast's Newington Avenue, loyalists pipe bombed the home of a
23-year-old Catholic woman. "The area was completely quiet at the time of the
attack," said Sinn Féin's Gerard Brophy. "It makes a mockery of [the UDA's]
claim
not to carry out first-strike attacks on nationalists." The pipe bomb was
thrown
from the loyalist Tiger's Bay estate. (NBN, CW)
A car struck and fatally wounded William Morgan, a young Protestant man from
north
Belfast, in a hit-and-run incident early in the morning. The RUC/PSNI said
they
were treating the incident as attempted murder. The car was later found burnt
out
in the nationalist New Lodge area of the city. Commenting on the attack,
former
UDP leader John White said that "the UDA are coming under extreme pressure
from
people . to respond. I'm not sure what type of response that might
precipitate but
it doesn't take much imagination to guess what that might be." William Morgan
died
on 11 July from his injuries. (IN, NBN)
Hours after prominent loyalist leader John White predicted there would a UDA
response to the hit-and-run car attack on William Morgan (a Protestant); a
48-year-old Catholic man was struck by a car that had mounted a footpath to
hit
him. The man sustained a broken pelvis and hip as well as multiple leg
fractures.
According to the North Belfast News, it was one of three such incidents over
the
weekend. In one of the incidents a Catholic man was struck by a British Army
landrover. This was the only one of the incidents that the RUC/PSNI did not
announce they were treating as attempted murder. (IN, NBN)
The Irish News reported that there have been a series of sectarian attacks
along
the Gobnascale and Irish Street interface on Derry's Waterside. One such
attack
included a petrol bomb attack on the home of an 80-year old Protestant woman
living on Bann Drive near Irish Street. The attacks were condemned by
representatives from across the political spectrum. (IN, CW)
July 7, Sunday. There were clashes at this year's annual Drumcree Church
parade
between Orangemen and their supporters and the RUC/PSNI. The march had been
banned
from continuing down Garvaghy Road, which passes through the heart of
Portadown's
small Catholic community. Up to 31 RUC/PSNI officers and a number of
demonstrators
were injured in the violence. Plastic bullets were fired. The Orange Order
has
vowed to punish any member involved in the disturbances. (IN, RUC/PSNI)
Orange Halls in south Co. Down - in Dundrum, Newcastle and Ballywillwill -
were
attacked. Windows were broken and some Orange memorabilia was stolen in all
three
halls. A spokesman for the Orange Order said he hoped the RUC/PSNI "would
track
down those responsible for this blatantly sectarian attack." (IN, RUC/PSNI)
Loyalists petrol bombed homes belonging to pensioners in east Belfast's Short
Strand over the weekend. The homes, which have been specially adapted for
pensioners, are along Strand Walk on the edge of the Short Strand. Sinn Féin
councillor Joe O'Donnell claimed that the attackers knew that elderly
residents
occupied the homes. "What they are doing is targeting the weak and the most
vulnerable in society," he said. (SBN, CW, BBC)
On the Springfield Road in west Belfast, loyalists attacked the home of a
young
Catholic couple. (AN, CW)
July 8, Monday. Nearly two dozen community groups in Derry's Bogside and
Brandywell areas issued an appeal to local young people regarding sectarian
attacks on the Cityside's Protestant Fountain estate. The statement, signed
by
groups such as the Pat Finucane Centre, the Bogside and Brandywell Initiative
and
Tar Abhaile, appealed "to citizens, community workers and parents to do
everything
they can to ensure that people in our own community neither provoke tension
nor
respond to provocation around the time of [the upcoming Twelfth]
celebrations."
Young people in particular were asked to stay away from the edge of the
Fountain.
(IN, DJ)
Catholic residents of the Rathenraw Estate in Antrim were attacked by
approximately 100 loyalists, according to local sources. (AN, CW)
The Irish News reported that a "flags row" in Ballymena's nationalist
Fisherwick
estate had been resolved. All Irish tricolours save one have been taken down.
Last
year the flying of tricolours in the area prompted loyalist pickets. The
PUP's
Billy McCaughey, a former RUC officer who had been convicted in 1980 for the
1977
murder of Catholic William Strathearn and the kidnapping of a Catholic
priest,
agreed that nationalists in the area had a right to express their culture,
but
maintained that there was no place for a "foreign flag" in Ballymena. (IN,
CW)
Loyalist gunmen opened fire on the home of a Catholic family in Coleraine,
Co.
Derry; a petrol bomb was also thrown at the home. The family, who were the
target
of a sectarian pipe bomb attack last year, escaped unharmed but were badly
shaken
by the attack. (IN)
July 9, Tuesday. The family of Roseanne Mallon, a 76-year-old woman murdered
by
the UVF in May of 1994, met with N.I. security minister Jane Kennedy. Soon
after
she was killed, it emerged that six undercover British soldiers were hidden
outside her Killymoyle (Co. Tyrone) home at the time of the attack. It also
emerged that the home had been under video surveillance. The family is
seeking the
answers to a number of questions related to the murder and the State's
apparent
complicity in it. (IN)
July 10, Wednesday. A 12-year old boy from east Belfast's Short Strand area
was
hit by a firework thrown over the 'peace line' from the loyalist Cluan Place.
"We
were told there is no-one living in Cluan Place and that the army are there
all
the time so how can this be happening," said his mother. The boy was treated
in
hospital for shock. (IN, CW, SBN)
A week after Larne loyalist Ryan David Weekes was sentenced to 12 years for
pipe
bombing the home of local SDLP councillor Martin Wilson, a UFF flag was
erected
outside the councillor's home. "It is a direct threat and designed to
intimidate
me," said Cllr. Wilson. "They are trying to drive out of my house but I won't
be
moving." (IN, BBC)
July 11, Thursday. William Morgan, a 27-year-old Protestant who had been hit
by a
car in a sectarian hit and run incident in north Belfast on July 6, died from
head
injuries. His family has called for no retaliation. He left a pregnant wife
and
three-year-old son (see July 6) (IN)
The Irish News reported that a Catholic family was leaving their home in the
Stiles estate in Antrim town. Six other families have also applied to the
Housing
Executive for emergency housing. The on-going sectarian violence in the
mainly
Protestant estate has forced 38 Catholic families from their homes since the
end
of May. Community sources said that a petrol bomb attack on a Protestant home
may
have been the work of nationalist youths (IN, CW)
A 16-year-old Catholic man from north Belfast was stabbed in the neck by a
gang of
loyalists. He was listed as "critically ill" in Belfast's Royal Victoria
Hospital
where he was being treated for stab wounds to the neck and lower back. The
RUC/PSNI have "not ruled out" a sectarian motive for the attack. (IN,
RUC/PSNI,
CW, AN)
Two Catholic churches in Co. Antrim were attacked overnight. The Aughnahoy
Church
in Portglenone was damaged in a sectarian arson attack. And in a separate
incident
Our Lady's Church in Harryville, Ballymena was paint bombed. The Catholic
church
in Harryville was the subject of a loyalist picket from late 1996 through
early
1998 - it then briefly resumed in 1999. (IN, CW)
A British army bomb disposal unit was called in to deal with a suspect device
found outside a furniture shop in Ahoghill, Co. Antrim. The shop belongs to a
Catholic family and it had burnt down the previous year after a sectarian
attack.
Part of the village was sealed off during the bomb scare, forcing a young
cyclist
to make a detour. The cyclist - 15-year old Aaron Jason Green - was then hit
by a
car and died as he made his way around the outskirts of the village. (IN)
In west Belfast, loyalists had tried to kidnap a 28-year-old Catholic man.
Michael
Rafferty, was beaten as he was on his way home late at night. His attackers
tried
to drag him into their car. Mr. Rafferty said he heard one of his attackers
say,
"Let's just shoot him here." The attackers then fled when they saw the
RUC/PSNI
and a number of nationalists approaching. (IN, AN)
Masked UDA/UFF gunmen put on a show of strength at two Eleventh Night bonfire
celebrations in south and west Belfast. A statement was read out on the
Shankill
Road: "We cannot stand back as Protestant families living in interface areas
are
being murdered. If these attacks continue, then we will have no other course
of
action, but to initiate a measured response." (IN)
July 12, Friday. Sinn Féin councillor Martin Meehan accused loyalists in
Antrim
town of attacking a number of Catholics in the early hours of the morning.
Cllr.
Meehan referred to the loyalists as "drunken louts" who were returning from
an
11th night bonfire in nearby Randalstown. (IN)
Police and nationalist protesters clashed on west Belfast's Springfield Road
after
an Orange march was allowed through the Catholic area. The Parades Commission
had
allowed the contentious parade to pass through the area and local residents
planned a protest. "Before the trouble started," said west Belfast Cllr.
Margaret
Walsh (SDLP) "we had asked police to adopt a low-key, less aggressive
approach.
But, as soon as the stones were thrown, they just charged." A parade through
Ardoyne passed off relatively peacefully despite assertions by Assistant
Chief
Constable Alan McQuillan that republicans were planning a major
confrontation. To
support this assertion the RUC/PSNI put on display a number of 'spiked
objects'
that they claimed had been manufactured for use in the planned riot. It later
became clear that the 'spiked objects' were simply security devices from the
roofs
of local businesses. McQuillan provoked similar controversy in Derry in 1999
when
he claimed that republicans planned a major riot in response to an Apprentice
Boys
parade. In that instance also local sources rejected his claims, and no
serious
rioting occurred. Following the parade in Ardoyne, the Parades' Commission
condemned the actions of some of those who had taken part.(IN, NBN)
In a bid to ease tensions, Derry Sinn Féin councillor Gerry MacLochlainn
called on
both communities on the Abercorn Road interface to take down flags - be they
tricolours or Union Jacks. A spokesperson for the mainly Catholic Riverside
Residents Association said, "We have been on the ground over the last few
days to
try and ensure that there is no trouble around the Fountain and other areas."
(DJ,
IN)
British Army bomb disposal experts made safe a bomb that had been abandoned
near
the route of an Orange parade in Belfast. The city's former lord mayor said
the
bomb was meant to kill Orangemen, bandsmen and spectators. "Dissident"
republicans
have been blamed for the thwarted attack. (IN, BBC)
July 13, Saturday. The Andersonstown News reported that a new University of
Ulster
study highlighted the "increasing hardening of attitudes by both Protestants
and
Catholics towards living, working and learning together." Dr. Joanne Hughes
and
Dr. Caitlin Donnelly of the University's School of Policy Studies carried out
the
study. (AN)
The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) promised that the security barrier on the
lower
end of north Belfast's Newington Street would remain in place. Residents of
the
small Catholic enclave had been concerned about a RUC/PSNI application to
remove
security barriers. At the same time Protestants in the neighbouring Tiger's
Bay
estate held a protest demanding stronger security measures. The protests
were, in
part, a response to the hit-and-run incident the week before (see July 6).
Speaking at the protest, UUP MLA Fred Cobain said, "This [hit-and-run
incident] is
just the latest incident of this kind to hit Tiger's Bay and the community is
demanding that it be offered better security protection." (NBN, IN, CW)
New graffiti in the loyalist Sandy Row in Belfast read "Falls Road Fenians"
followed by two telephone numbers. The Andersonstown News warned nationalists
to
be vigilant and has since contacted those whose numbers were painted beside a
UDA
mural. The RUC/PSNI said they were not aware of the graffiti and had not
warned
the families. The families have since changed their numbers. (AN)
An Orange Hall in Newry, Co. Down was vandalised, and flags, banners and
other
Orange memorabilia damaged. The RUC/PSNI said the attack bore "all the
hallmarks
of a sectarian incident." (IN, RUC/PSNI)
The DUP's Ian Crozier put a proposal before the Belfast City Council calling
for
the restoration of the home of RIC District Inspector John Nixon. Crozier
claims
Nixon "did a good service for people in North Belfast." Nationalists,
however,
regard the man as a hated figure responsible for directing and taking part in
a
large number of sectarian murders in the years following partition. North
Belfast
historian Joe Baker compared honouring Nixon with paying tribute to Lenny
Murphy -
the leader of the Shankill Butchers. (NBN, IN)
Construction workers building homes in the Cliftonville area of north Belfast
walked off their building site after coming under sectarian attack. Loyalists
from
Manor Street had pelted the workers with missiles, including stones and
pellets
from a pellet gun. (NBN, CW)
July 15, Monday. The Irish News reported a story from a Sunday newspaper that
Milltown Cemetery killer, Michael Stone, would run as an independent
anti-Agreement candidate in the next assembly election. Stone was released
from
Long Kesh under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. Until recently, he
had
claimed to support the peace process. (IN)
July 16, Tuesday. Three petrol bombs were thrown over a security fence at
Catholic
homes on north Belfast's Alliance Avenue. The attack resulted in minor scorch
damage to two homes. Residents in the area have been arguing for the security
fence to be raised. "Nationalist homes on Alliance Avenue have been subjected
to a
constant barrage of attacks including bombing and near constant stoning,"
said
Sinn Féin's Margaret McClenaghan. The attacks came amid reports that the
RUC/PSNI
had discouraged the NIO from raising the security fence. (NBN, CW)
The Derry Journal reported that prominent members of Sinn Féin and their
office
staff working in Stormont had received death threats from loyalists. The
actual
source of the threats was "undefined." (DJ)
A spokesperson for the Unionist Association in Derry's Waterside area claimed
that
"those who oppose the expression of a culture which even when not shared
deserves
parity of esteem is to [sic] stir irrational acts of sectarianism and violent
communal attacks such as those seen on the residents of the Fountain Street
and
Irish Street areas." The spokesperson was commenting on nationalist
opposition to
Orange parades. (DJ)
July 17, Wednesday. Loyalists attacked the home of a Catholic family on
Alliance
Avenue in north Belfast. A woman who lives in the house said they had been
under
daily attack from loyalists in the Glenbryn estate since April. (IN, CW)
July 18, Thursday. Crispin Blunt, a member of the Conservative Party's
Northern
Ireland shadow team, met with representatives of the loyalist Ulster
Political
Research Group. Mr. Blunt toured some of Belfast's interface areas along with
some
of the group's members. The Ulster Political Research Group is the political
formation linked to the UDA/UFF, the paramilitary organisation that is blamed
for
much of the interface violence. (IN, CW)
Loyalists sent a parcel bomb to a Sinn Féin councillor in Dunloy, Co Antrim.
Cllr.
Phillip McGuigan, who sits on Ballymoney Council, was sent the device that
had
been disguised as a video cassette. His three-year-old son first picked it
up.
British Army technical experts later carried out a controlled explosion on
the
device. (IN, CW, BBC)
An 18-year-old nationalist from Derry, was sentenced to two months in prison
for a
sectarian attack on a Protestant on Glendermott Road. Doherty and an
accomplice
jeered at the victim from a bus, singing "The Soldier's Song" and calling him
"Jaffa bastard" before leaving the bus and assaulting him. (DJ, DN)
In north Belfast, loyalists stabbed and seriously injured a Catholic man as
he and
a friend were assaulted on their way home from a local pub at around 2am. The
attack occurred on Rosapenna Street in the Oldpark area of north Belfast. The
attackers told the pair "You're dead you Fenian bastards." The victim later
required emergency surgery at Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital. (IN, CW)
A Catholic couple sustained minor head and facial injuries when a number of
homes
in the nationalist Alliance Avenue area of north Belfast came under attack.
The
windows of a number of homes were smashed and damage was also done to a car
when
loyalists from the neighbouring Glenbryn estate threw missiles over the
area's
"peace line." "They [i.e. loyalists] have been using the roofs of empty
houses in
Glenbryn to attack Catholic homes," said Sinn Féin's Margaret McClenaghan.
"We
have called for the houses to be blocked up and secured." (IN)
A 37-year-old Catholic man from north Belfast was savagely beaten by a group
of
loyalists. Four men attacked the man, who was on his way home from a pub near
an
interface on the Oldpark Road. He was struck about the head with a baseball
bat,
kicked and punched. The man made it to Belfast's Mater hospital after the
attack
where he received 35 staples to his head and was treated for severe bruising.
"They knew rightly I was a Catholic," said the victim. "I thought they were
going
to kill me." (IN)
According to the Irish News, "loyalists [in Belfast] went on a violent
rampage,
targeting Catholic homes . in what police described as 'unprovoked sectarian
attacks.'" The violence erupted in the Ligoniel, Deerpark, Alliance Avenue
and
Glenbryn areas of north Belfast. Trouble initially started when loyalist
youths
attacked Catholic homes. The UDA/UFF have since been blamed for orchestrating
the
attacks. A Catholic mother and her three children were trapped in their
burning
car. Loyalists had attacked the car with a petrol bomb and had managed to
break
the windscreen. The attack occurred on the Upper Crumlin Road in north
Belfast.
Luckily, the young family escaped unharmed. The home of a Catholic family
living
on the mixed Deerpark Road in north Belfast was attacked for the 17th time.
(This
time windows were broken.) The family has been trying to sell the home but
have
been unable to because of its location. "Now we are forced to live in a house
which is constantly being attacked and no one wants to know," said the
homeowner.
"It is a living hell." (IN, CW, NBN))
A loyalist mob attacked a home occupied by two Catholic brothers in the
Ligoniel
area of north Belfast. A brick was thrown through a window and one brother
noticed
"a crowd of men running down the path and someone trying to kick in the front
door." As the brother's escaped out the back, the mob set the flat on fire
with
petrol bombs. "This was an unprovoked sectarian attack," said RUC/PSNI
inspector
Victor Stitt. (IN, RUC/PSNI)
July 19, Friday. The parochial house of St. Mary's Church in Newcastle, Co.
Down
was petrol bombed. Two priests were in the house at the time of the attack.
Ulster
Unionist MLA Dermot Nesbitt condemned the attack as "an attack upon all the
people
of Newcastle and south Down." St. Mary's Church itself has been subject to
sectarian attacks three times this year. (IN, RUC/PSNI, BBC)
Loyalist attacks continued on Catholic homes in the Ligoniel area. One house
was
destroyed in a petrol bomb attack and windows were broken in nine more. The
mob
gained access to the area by storming over the interface peace line. Two
paramedics who responded to the incursions were injured when they came under
attack by stone-throwing youths. Two Protestant-owned homes had their windows
broken on the Upper Crumlin Road. (IN, NBN, CW)
July 20, Saturday. Loyalists attacked and stabbed a 49-year-old Catholic man
from
north Belfast on the Whitewell Road at 7:15 a.m. Loyalists from the Mount
Vernon
area also attacked Catholic homes in Skegoniel, north Belfast. The attackers
destroyed cars and forced four families to flee their homes. In Westland
Gardens,
loyalists threw bottles at the home and car of a Catholic mother of two. A
Catholic family escaped injury in a loyalist petrol bomb attack on their
home. The
home was first attacked at 2am when the family's car was torched. Three hours
later, they awoke when their front room was set on fire. Loyalists attacked
Catholic homes in Rosapenna Park with billiard balls and other missiles.
(NBN, CW,
IN)
A petrol bomb was thrown at the home of Samuel Swindell, an elderly
Protestant
living on Cliftonpark Avenue, north Belfast. Mr Swindell was alerted by his
son,
who was in the house, and escaped without injury. Police refused to classify
the
attack as sectarian, but residents believe the attackers came from a
nationalist
area nearby. (IN)
Petrol bombs, paint bombs, bottles and bricks were thrown at a series of
homes on
the mainly-Catholic Alliance Avenue from the loyalist Glenbryn Estate. One
resident, Gerard Russell, reported that Security Minister Jane Kennedy told
him
that heightening the security fence between the two neighbourhoods was
unnecessary
because, she told him, there was no threat from loyalists." (IN, CW, NBN)
Joe O'Donnell, a Sinn Féin councillor from Belfast's Short Strand, accused
the
British army's Royal Irish Regiment (RIR) of contributing to the on-going
sectarian attacks on the small Catholic enclave. Members of the RIR (formerly
known as the UDR, a regiment infamous for its sectarian ethos) have been
placed at
the Cluan Place/Clandeboye interface in the Short Strand. They are alleged to
have
taken part in throwing stones into the Short Strand and making
threatening/sectarian comments towards Catholics/nationalists. "This claim is
blatantly untrue," said an army spokesperson. "It is scurrilous to suggest
that
the Royal Irish Regiment is a sectarian force." (SBN, CW)
The North Belfast News reported a bid to rename a local Newtownabbey park
after
sectarian murder victim Danny McColgan. McColgan, a young Catholic postman,
was
gunned down by the UDA/UFF in January of this year. Newtownabbey mayor Paul
Girvan
(DUP) argued that to rename the park in McColgan's memory would set an
"unwise
precedent." (see January attacks)(NBN, PFC)
July 21, Sunday. Loyalists tried to abduct a Catholic man at the Broadway
roundabout in north Belfast. At 7.30pm 19-year-old Glenbryn Protestant Mark
Blaney
was shot and wounded in the groin by a gunman firing from Alliance Avenue.
His
attackers are thought to have been members of the INLA. Later that night,
loyalists on a motorcycle attempted to kill a Catholic man on the Oldpark
Road. At
about 10pm, two men standing outside a house in Salisbury Avenue were fired
on by
two UDA men in a white Nissan car. They were not hit. At 10:45 p.m. UDA
members
held a gun to the head of a Catholic teenager outside Henry Joys bar on the
Oldpark Road. The gun jammed. At 11.20pm a 29-year-old Catholic man was shot
in
Rosapenna Court where he was walking with a friend. A gunman fired at least
twelve
shots from a car that drew alongside the pair. The man was shot in both legs
and
the groin. Throughout the evening, loyalists from Glenbryn attacked Catholic
houses in Alliance Avenue with paint and petrol bombs. (AN, NBN, IN)
To coincide with the 30th anniversary of the nine people killed on "Bloody
Friday", the IRA issued a statement apologising for the killing and maiming
of all
"non-combatants."
The DUP mayor of Ballymena, Hubert Nicholl, had his invitation to a Queen's
Jubilee event organised by a local residents association withdrawn after he
praised the PSNI for finding a loyalist arms cache. A wide variety of
weapons, a
UVF oath of allegiance and a Free Presbyterian Church bible were among the
items
discovered by police. (IN)
At around midnight, up to 100 loyalist youths, described by the Ballymena
Guardian
as wearing swastika emblems and Ku Klux Klan type paraphernalia, erected a
burning
barricade across the mixed North Road and Clonavon Road. The area is a mixed
religion area into which a number of Portuguese families had recently moved.
Local
sources say that these families have been subjected to intimidation such as
having
their windows broken. A loyalist mural was recently painted in the area
against
locals wishes. Locals also said that the same group of loyalists had started
to
paint a Ku Klux Klan mural, complete with swastikas, on another wall.
The June/July edition of Warrior, the UDA/UFF's publication, boasted that an
earlier report of a cross burning in Bushmills, Co. Antrim, which had been
downplayed by a DUP politician in the local press, had in fact taken place
and was
the work of "local members of the Klu Klux Klan" [sic]. It also published a
photograph of a hooded figure standing in front of a burning cross, which it
claimed was evidence that it was the Klan. Ties between Ulster Loyalism and
white
supremacism are well documented. (PFC, CW, BG, Ba Ti)
A Catholic family confronted a man who had just left an explosive device in
the
front yard of their home of Beechland Road, Magherafelt home. The device, an
adapted firework packed with nails, was made safe by army technical experts.
(IN)
July 22, Monday. Shortly after midnight Gerard Lawlor, a 19-year-old
Catholic, was
shot five times in the vicinity of his Whitewell Road home as he walked alone
from
the Bellevue Arms public house on the Antrim Road. He died from his wounds
just
yards from his home. The murder, claimed by the "Red Hand Defenders" as a
"measured response" to the attack on Mark Blaney earlier in the evening was
later
claimed by the UFF/UDA. It was the fifth such loyalist attack that evening.
Gerard
Lawlor, a forklift driver, had been about to move into a new home with his
partner
and baby. He was friends with two of the UDA's more recent north Belfast
victims,
Glen Branagh and Daniel McColgan. The Glengormley teenager was the fifth
member of
the St. Enda's GAA club to be murdered in the troubles, the second by the
UFF/UDA.
(IN, AN, NBN)
Police claimed they received a telephone call warning of a bomb in the Falls
Road
IRSP offices. The building was evacuated but nothing was found. (AN)
In East Belfast, a pipe bomb was thrown into the nationalist Clandeboye area
from
the loyalist Cluan Place. Several children in the vicinity escaped injury
when the
bomb failed to detonate. (IN, CW)
July 23, Tuesday. A six-year-old Catholic girl from the nationalist
Clandeboye
area, Short Strand, east Belfast, sustained head injuries when hit by a brick
thrown from the loyalist Cluan Place. The girl, who was playing in a garden,
was
struck as bricks and stones were hurled over the peace-line wall. (IN, CW,
SBN)
At the North Queen Street flashpoint in north Belfast, a Catholic couple were
chased by a loyalist mob as they left a doctor's surgery at the interface.
Two
loyalist teens entered the medical office and aimed pellet guns at the
couple.
When the pair left the facility, they were confronted by a group of loyalists
carrying baseball bats and iron bars. Protestant community worker Eddie
McClean
reported that the disturbance was the result of an argument between people
from
both sides of the interface. (IN, NBN, IN)
5,000 people attended a vigil in Floral Street, north Belfast, for sectarian
murder victim Gerard Lawlor. (IN)
The chairman of the Loyalist Commission responded to the UDA/UFF murder of
north
Belfast Catholic Gerard Lawlor. The Rev. Mervyn Gibson - a Presbyterian
minister -
is quoted in the Irish News as saying that the Lawlor attack and other
attacks
"would appear to be, and it's not justifying the situation, but it would
appear to
be that many of the attacks are in retaliation." Gibson went on to blame
republicans for initiating sectarian violence in north and east Belfast. "The
Loyalist Commission tried to de-escalate this situation and tried to affect re
al
peace and stability within these areas, but it appears for some reason
republicans
don't want to step back at this point in time." His claim that the loyalist
violence was only a response to republican violence is an echo of the
loyalist
paramilitary mantra regurgitated ad nauseum since the beginning of the
troubles
that loyalist violence was always simply a reaction to republican attacks,
and was
made despite clear evidence that loyalists have been responsible for the vast
majority of sectarian attacks in recent years. (IN)
In Portadown, Loyalists fired shots into the house of a Catholic family in
Charles
Street, the bullets narrowly missed an 18 year old girl who was asleep in her
bedroom at the time. (IN, CW, RUC/PSNI)
July 25, Thursday. Denis Bradley, vice-chairman of the Northern Ireland
Policing
Board, told the Derry Journal that he was "concerned about. the police
response
to UDA attacks." Mr. Bradley added that there "has not been enough done by
the
police and by the security situation to actually protect, take on and deal -
in
whatever appropriate manner - with people like the UDA who are not
necessarily
doing any of this for political reasons." His comments were later criticised
by
the RUC/PSNI, fellow Policing Board members and Unionist political leaders.
(DJ)
A 16-year-old youth was arrested following an RUC/PSNI discovery of a large
quantity of ammunition in the loyalist Garneville area of east Belfast.
(RUC/PSNI)
July 26, Friday. At a special council meeting, Belfast City Council agreed to
organise a City Hall rally for the following Friday to protest against the
recent
upsurge in sectarian violence. The meeting was called in response to the
weekend
murder of Gerard Lawlor and a series of sectarian shootings in north Belfast
over
the previous week. (IN)
Minutes after midnight, four masked UDA/UFF men forced their way into a home
on
Derry's Waterside and shot a 23-year-old man twice in the leg. The man is a
Catholic who shares a flat with a Protestant girlfriend at Heron Way. The man
then
needed surgery to have bullets removed. The attack, which was universally
condemned by local politicians, was not a punishment attack - it was, in
fact, a
sectarian attack. Echoing the "Red Hand Defenders" statement claiming the
murder
of Gerard Lawlor, the UDA/UFF claimed the attack as "a measured military
response
to ongoing attacks on Protestant homes in Limavady and the Fountain." The
statement also warned that Catholics would "not be tolerated" in Protestant
areas
of Derry. (LS, DJ, IN, CW)
July 28, Sunday. Loyalists living along Cluan Place in east Belfast erected a
security camera and a floodlight to allegedly protect property. Cluan Place
borders east Belfast's only Catholic enclave, the Short Strand. Those living
in
the Short Strand fear that the camera - which is aimed at the nationalist
Clandeboye Drive - will be used to target Catholics. Local Sinn Féin
Councillor
Joe O'Donnell said that efforts are being made to get the camera removed. The
RUC/PSNI said that it was their "desire that only official police cameras [.
be]
used to monitor the area." (IN, SBN, CW)
Up to 100 Loyalists rioted in Sandy Row in south Belfast, causing extensive
damage
to property and attacking security forces with blast bombs, petrol bombs and
other
missiles. UDA-linked sources locally blamed west Belfast republicans for the
violence, who they claimed had attacked a protestant home. Media reports that
Belfast UDA-UFF Johnny Adair had been spotted in the vicinity the day
previously,
fuelled speculation that the west Belfast "C-Company" of the UDA/UFF, headed
by
Adair, is extending its influence throughout Belfast. Some local sources
claimed
that the rioting erupted after members of the RUC/PSNI had assaulted local
youths.
(IN, SBN, BBC, CW, RUC/PSNI)
Sources:
BT: Belfast Telegraph
BBC: BBC radio and television news, BBC online, Radio Foyle
CW: Local community workers
DJ: Derry Journal
DN Derry News
IN: Irish News
IT: Irish Times
ITN: Independent Television News
LS: Londonderry Sentinel
NBN: North Belfast News
NL: Newsletter
OB: Observer
PFC: Pat Finucane Centre
RM: RM Distribution
RUC/PSNI: Police Service of Northern Ireland (RUC) press office.
SBP: Sunday Business Post
SBN: South Belfast News
SI: Sunday Independent
ST: Sunday Tribune
UTV: Ulster Television
Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) criteria; if a person/organisation feels that the motivation for an attack against them was sectarian (or racist or homophobic), then it should be counted as such. We rely on a number of sources for our information, but this is by no means comprehensive. If you find incidents that
have been left off the list please contact us. A full dossier of sectarian and other hate attacks from January 1999 until June 2002 is available on our website
at http://www.serve.com/pfc.
July 1, Monday. At a Newtownabbey council meeting, Cllr. Mark Langhammer (Ind. Labour) blamed the neo-nazi group Combat 18 for the recent attacks on graves in the Carnmoney Cemetery in Newtownabbey, Co. Antrim. Unionist councillors suggested the recent attacks on Catholic graves in the cemetery were due, in part, to a "sectarian policy" within the graveyard (both Catholics and Protestants are interred in the cemetery but in separate sections.) Cllr. Ivan Hunter (UUP) also
suggested that "Mass gatherings" (such as Cemetery Sunday) should no longer be permitted in Carnmoney Cemetery. (For the past two years, Loyalists have picketed Annual Cemetery Sunday gatherings.) (NBN, IN)
The Irish News reported that the Police Ombudsman, Nuala O'Loan, "is probing 'possible police misconduct' by members of the RUC before and after the murder of a Catholic colleague." Sergeant Joseph Campbell was murdered in February of 1977 as he locked up the RUC station in Cushendall, Co. Antrim. It is believed the man
was a victim of collusion between the RUC and the loyalist UVF. A Special branch officer was charged in connection with the murder, but was acquitted. (IN)
Papers were lodged in Belfast's High Court naming - amongst others -Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan in a court action stemming from an incident last month in east Belfast when a Short Strand woman was prevented from taking her child to the doctors because of a loyalist picket. The RUC/PSNI are alleged to have done nothing to help the woman and her son get through to the doctors. According to the Irish News, she "is seeking a court order directing the Ombudsman to investigate her complaint against the [RUC/] PSNI." (IN)
July 3, Wednesday. The Derry News reported that nationalist councillors in Derry called for "immediate action to protect [Catholic] residents in the Long Tower
Court area." The area borders the loyalist Fountain estate on Derry's West Bank.
"I have visited the area on a number of occasions and was shocked to see the scale of attacks which people have to endure on a regular basis," Sinn Féin's Gerry MacLochlainn. Meanwhile, Derry City councillor, Helen Quigley (SDLP), has urged the Housing Executive to erect a security fence between Harding Street and the
Protestant Fountain housing estate. (IN, DN, CW)
While searching a house in Ballymena, Co. Antrim, the RUC/PSNI found two
sawn-off
shotguns, a single barrelled shotgun, three handguns, bomb making materials
and
ammunition. They also found balaclava masks, a UVF oath of allegiance and a
Bible
from a Free Presbyterian Church in Belfast. A 25-year-old man was charged in
connection with the find. (IN, BBC)
Catholics living in the predominantly Protestant Leckagh estate in
Magherafelt,
Co. Derry had their homes attacked by loyalists. Two homes were targeted with
petrol bombs and a car belonging to a Catholic family was also attacked. Two
elderly women were treated in hospital for shock. A number of Catholic
families
have already left the estate. "The remaining families," said Sinn Féin MLA
John
Kelly, "have been told to get out of the estate by July 11 or they will be
burnt
out." The RUC/PSNI chief superintendent the area spoke out about the growing
number of sectarian attacks. "I have taken steps to combat the incidents that
are
being inflicted upon Roman Catholic families and which can only described as
raw,
naked sectarianism," said the chief superintendent. "Many of the families
affected
have lived in the [Leckagh] estate for several years and, sadly, they have
now
become the target for intimidation by loyalist thugs who skulk about in the
shadows." (IN, CW, RUC/PSNI)
A number of women from the Short Strand in east Belfast flew to London to
meet
with a number of Westminster MP's and the local media. The women presented a
full
dossier of attacks on the Short Strand to all interested parties. "The
response
from all of those we came into contact with was very positive," said local
resident Mairead O'Donnell. (AN, SBN)
According to a report in the Irish News, a number of prominent unionist
politicians were warned by the RUC/PSNI that their lives may be under
increased
threat from "dissident" republicans. Secretary of State John Reid later
admitted
(30 July) that the warnings were based on a flawed threat assessment, and
that
there was in fact no evidence of any increased threat. (IN, Herald)
Ryan David Weekes, a loyalist from Larne, Co. Antrim, was jailed for 12 years
in
connection with a pipe bomb attack on the home of a local SDLP councillor. He
also
pleaded guilty to a second pipe bomb attack. (IN)
First Minister and member of the Orange Order David Trimble criticised the
Parade'
s Commission's decision to ban the Portadown Orangemen from marching down the
mainly-nationalist Garvaghy Road in Portadown. (IN)
In south Belfast loyalists hired a 'cherry picker' to erect paramilitary
flags on
lampposts in mixed religion-streets. (CW)
July 4, Thursday. Sinn Féin councillor Lynn Fleming condemned the sectarian
petrol
bombing of a home in the Protestant Irish Street area. Cllr. Fleming said,
"Everyone, regardless of their beliefs, has a right to live without fear of
attack
from any quarter and it is only good fortune that we are now not dealing with
either a serious injury or death." (IN, CW)
A Catholic family living in South Belfast escaped injury following a petrol
bomb
attack on their home. A 61-year-old woman and her 22-year-old son were
watching
television when a concrete block was thrown through a downstairs window. An
attempt was then made to throw the petrol bomb through the window but it
landed in
the garden instead. (IN, CW)
Following a loyalist pipe bomb attack on a home in the nationalist Short
Strand
area of east Belfast, loyalist leaders re-iterated the loyalist paramilitary
'no
first strike' policy. John White, formerly of the UDA-aligned UDP, said
claimed
the UDA was not responsible for the attack. (IN, CW, SBN)
The first anniversary of the murder of 19-year-old Ciaran Cummings, from
Antrim.
Cummings, a Catholic, was shot dead as he waited for a lift to work. Both the
loyalist Orange Volunteers and Red Hand Defenders claimed the killing, but -
according to the Andersonstown News and the Irish News - suspicion has since
fallen on the UVF. (AN, IN, RUC/PSNI)
According to senior security sources, up to 70 members of the paramilitary
Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) had recently defected to Johnny Adair's
UDA/UFF "C"
Company. While neither confirming nor denying this, former UDP member Johnny
White
said, "If members of the LVF have chosen to move over to the UDA, I think it
is a
positive move and will consolidate the peace process. The UDA, and Johnny
Adair,
have stated that they are committed to the peace process and that still
stands."
(IN, RUC/PSNI, BBC)
The Derry News reported that a number of Derry students living in Belfast are
moving away from "high-risk" areas following last month's sectarian attack on
a
student house in south Belfast. (See 24/6) (DN, CW)
July 5, Friday. Loyalists pipe-bombed the home of a Catholic family of five
living
in the Short Strand area of east Belfast. "We were attacked three weeks ago,
"
said one family member, " but I never thought we'd be hit by a pipe bomb."
(IN,
CW)
Robert Samuel Walmsley of the Drumtara estate in Ballymena appeared in
Coleraine
Magistrates Court in connection with a loyalist arms find earlier in the
week. He
was accused of possessing both guns and explosives and of having items "for
use in
a terrorist offence." Walmsley pleaded not guilty to all charges and was
remanded
in custody until later in the month. (IN, RUC/PSNI)
The Parades Commission upheld its ruling banning Portadown Orangemen from
marching
down the Garvaghy Road after its annual Drumcree Church parade. (IN, CW)
Jamal Iweida, president of the Belfast Islamic Centre, and his family left
their
home in Finaghy after their house and car were attacked and damaged, the
culmination of a sustained campaign of racial violence and intimidation
including
threats and a break-in. These incidents followed a sustained campaign of
racial
violence and intimidation. Police figures show that the number of racist
incidents
in Northern Ireland has doubled in the past four years. Community activists
point
out, however, that these statistics are only the tip of the iceberg, as many
victims of racist attacks do not report them to the police. (IN, SBN, CW)
July 6, Saturday. Lagan Valley MLA Patricia Lewsley (SDLP) met with RUC/PSNI
chiefs to discuss a number of issues, including the increase in the flying of
loyalist flags. A number of "mixed" areas in Lisburn, Co. Antrim are now
flying
such flags. (AN)
An 18-year-old Catholic man from Kilkeel in Co. Down was badly beaten in a
late
night sectarian attack. The young man was beaten unconscious by a loyalist
mob as
he left a bar in the town. Six men who shouted, "Kill the Fenian", set upon
him as
soon as they had him on the ground. The victim suffered extensive bruising
and
needed 13 stitches on his face. (IN, BBC)
Catholics living in the Newington area of north Belfast expressed their
concerns
over a RUC/PSNI application to remove security barriers at the bottom of
Newington
Street. The barriers were originally erected over 20 years ago in response to
a
series of loyalist murders and murder attempts in the area. Sectarian
tensions are
high in the area and, according to local Sinn Féin councillor Gerard Brophy,
"people in Newington Street . have been pipe bombed, petrol bombed and
bricked on
a nearly nightly basis by loyalists in Tigers Bay." The Continuity IRA
threatened
to kill anyone who tried to remove the barrier. (NBN, CW, IN)
The Andersonstown News reported that Sinn Féin would challenge Lisburn
Council's
decision to fly the Union flag 19 days of the year. They also said they would
challenge the council's displaying of the Queen's portrait in council
chambers.
"This decision," said Sinn Féin councillor Paul Butler," sends out a clear
message
to Catholics living in Lisburn that the Lagan Valley Island site is unionist
territory and that they are not welcome." (AN)
In north Belfast's Newington Avenue, loyalists pipe bombed the home of a
23-year-old Catholic woman. "The area was completely quiet at the time of the
attack," said Sinn Féin's Gerard Brophy. "It makes a mockery of [the UDA's]
claim
not to carry out first-strike attacks on nationalists." The pipe bomb was
thrown
from the loyalist Tiger's Bay estate. (NBN, CW)
A car struck and fatally wounded William Morgan, a young Protestant man from
north
Belfast, in a hit-and-run incident early in the morning. The RUC/PSNI said
they
were treating the incident as attempted murder. The car was later found burnt
out
in the nationalist New Lodge area of the city. Commenting on the attack,
former
UDP leader John White said that "the UDA are coming under extreme pressure
from
people . to respond. I'm not sure what type of response that might
precipitate but
it doesn't take much imagination to guess what that might be." William Morgan
died
on 11 July from his injuries. (IN, NBN)
Hours after prominent loyalist leader John White predicted there would a UDA
response to the hit-and-run car attack on William Morgan (a Protestant); a
48-year-old Catholic man was struck by a car that had mounted a footpath to
hit
him. The man sustained a broken pelvis and hip as well as multiple leg
fractures.
According to the North Belfast News, it was one of three such incidents over
the
weekend. In one of the incidents a Catholic man was struck by a British Army
landrover. This was the only one of the incidents that the RUC/PSNI did not
announce they were treating as attempted murder. (IN, NBN)
The Irish News reported that there have been a series of sectarian attacks
along
the Gobnascale and Irish Street interface on Derry's Waterside. One such
attack
included a petrol bomb attack on the home of an 80-year old Protestant woman
living on Bann Drive near Irish Street. The attacks were condemned by
representatives from across the political spectrum. (IN, CW)
July 7, Sunday. There were clashes at this year's annual Drumcree Church
parade
between Orangemen and their supporters and the RUC/PSNI. The march had been
banned
from continuing down Garvaghy Road, which passes through the heart of
Portadown's
small Catholic community. Up to 31 RUC/PSNI officers and a number of
demonstrators
were injured in the violence. Plastic bullets were fired. The Orange Order
has
vowed to punish any member involved in the disturbances. (IN, RUC/PSNI)
Orange Halls in south Co. Down - in Dundrum, Newcastle and Ballywillwill -
were
attacked. Windows were broken and some Orange memorabilia was stolen in all
three
halls. A spokesman for the Orange Order said he hoped the RUC/PSNI "would
track
down those responsible for this blatantly sectarian attack." (IN, RUC/PSNI)
Loyalists petrol bombed homes belonging to pensioners in east Belfast's Short
Strand over the weekend. The homes, which have been specially adapted for
pensioners, are along Strand Walk on the edge of the Short Strand. Sinn Féin
councillor Joe O'Donnell claimed that the attackers knew that elderly
residents
occupied the homes. "What they are doing is targeting the weak and the most
vulnerable in society," he said. (SBN, CW, BBC)
On the Springfield Road in west Belfast, loyalists attacked the home of a
young
Catholic couple. (AN, CW)
July 8, Monday. Nearly two dozen community groups in Derry's Bogside and
Brandywell areas issued an appeal to local young people regarding sectarian
attacks on the Cityside's Protestant Fountain estate. The statement, signed
by
groups such as the Pat Finucane Centre, the Bogside and Brandywell Initiative
and
Tar Abhaile, appealed "to citizens, community workers and parents to do
everything
they can to ensure that people in our own community neither provoke tension
nor
respond to provocation around the time of [the upcoming Twelfth]
celebrations."
Young people in particular were asked to stay away from the edge of the
Fountain.
(IN, DJ)
Catholic residents of the Rathenraw Estate in Antrim were attacked by
approximately 100 loyalists, according to local sources. (AN, CW)
The Irish News reported that a "flags row" in Ballymena's nationalist
Fisherwick
estate had been resolved. All Irish tricolours save one have been taken down.
Last
year the flying of tricolours in the area prompted loyalist pickets. The
PUP's
Billy McCaughey, a former RUC officer who had been convicted in 1980 for the
1977
murder of Catholic William Strathearn and the kidnapping of a Catholic
priest,
agreed that nationalists in the area had a right to express their culture,
but
maintained that there was no place for a "foreign flag" in Ballymena. (IN,
CW)
Loyalist gunmen opened fire on the home of a Catholic family in Coleraine,
Co.
Derry; a petrol bomb was also thrown at the home. The family, who were the
target
of a sectarian pipe bomb attack last year, escaped unharmed but were badly
shaken
by the attack. (IN)
July 9, Tuesday. The family of Roseanne Mallon, a 76-year-old woman murdered
by
the UVF in May of 1994, met with N.I. security minister Jane Kennedy. Soon
after
she was killed, it emerged that six undercover British soldiers were hidden
outside her Killymoyle (Co. Tyrone) home at the time of the attack. It also
emerged that the home had been under video surveillance. The family is
seeking the
answers to a number of questions related to the murder and the State's
apparent
complicity in it. (IN)
July 10, Wednesday. A 12-year old boy from east Belfast's Short Strand area
was
hit by a firework thrown over the 'peace line' from the loyalist Cluan Place.
"We
were told there is no-one living in Cluan Place and that the army are there
all
the time so how can this be happening," said his mother. The boy was treated
in
hospital for shock. (IN, CW, SBN)
A week after Larne loyalist Ryan David Weekes was sentenced to 12 years for
pipe
bombing the home of local SDLP councillor Martin Wilson, a UFF flag was
erected
outside the councillor's home. "It is a direct threat and designed to
intimidate
me," said Cllr. Wilson. "They are trying to drive out of my house but I won't
be
moving." (IN, BBC)
July 11, Thursday. William Morgan, a 27-year-old Protestant who had been hit
by a
car in a sectarian hit and run incident in north Belfast on July 6, died from
head
injuries. His family has called for no retaliation. He left a pregnant wife
and
three-year-old son (see July 6) (IN)
The Irish News reported that a Catholic family was leaving their home in the
Stiles estate in Antrim town. Six other families have also applied to the
Housing
Executive for emergency housing. The on-going sectarian violence in the
mainly
Protestant estate has forced 38 Catholic families from their homes since the
end
of May. Community sources said that a petrol bomb attack on a Protestant home
may
have been the work of nationalist youths (IN, CW)
A 16-year-old Catholic man from north Belfast was stabbed in the neck by a
gang of
loyalists. He was listed as "critically ill" in Belfast's Royal Victoria
Hospital
where he was being treated for stab wounds to the neck and lower back. The
RUC/PSNI have "not ruled out" a sectarian motive for the attack. (IN,
RUC/PSNI,
CW, AN)
Two Catholic churches in Co. Antrim were attacked overnight. The Aughnahoy
Church
in Portglenone was damaged in a sectarian arson attack. And in a separate
incident
Our Lady's Church in Harryville, Ballymena was paint bombed. The Catholic
church
in Harryville was the subject of a loyalist picket from late 1996 through
early
1998 - it then briefly resumed in 1999. (IN, CW)
A British army bomb disposal unit was called in to deal with a suspect device
found outside a furniture shop in Ahoghill, Co. Antrim. The shop belongs to a
Catholic family and it had burnt down the previous year after a sectarian
attack.
Part of the village was sealed off during the bomb scare, forcing a young
cyclist
to make a detour. The cyclist - 15-year old Aaron Jason Green - was then hit
by a
car and died as he made his way around the outskirts of the village. (IN)
In west Belfast, loyalists had tried to kidnap a 28-year-old Catholic man.
Michael
Rafferty, was beaten as he was on his way home late at night. His attackers
tried
to drag him into their car. Mr. Rafferty said he heard one of his attackers
say,
"Let's just shoot him here." The attackers then fled when they saw the
RUC/PSNI
and a number of nationalists approaching. (IN, AN)
Masked UDA/UFF gunmen put on a show of strength at two Eleventh Night bonfire
celebrations in south and west Belfast. A statement was read out on the
Shankill
Road: "We cannot stand back as Protestant families living in interface areas
are
being murdered. If these attacks continue, then we will have no other course
of
action, but to initiate a measured response." (IN)
July 12, Friday. Sinn Féin councillor Martin Meehan accused loyalists in
Antrim
town of attacking a number of Catholics in the early hours of the morning.
Cllr.
Meehan referred to the loyalists as "drunken louts" who were returning from
an
11th night bonfire in nearby Randalstown. (IN)
Police and nationalist protesters clashed on west Belfast's Springfield Road
after
an Orange march was allowed through the Catholic area. The Parades Commission
had
allowed the contentious parade to pass through the area and local residents
planned a protest. "Before the trouble started," said west Belfast Cllr.
Margaret
Walsh (SDLP) "we had asked police to adopt a low-key, less aggressive
approach.
But, as soon as the stones were thrown, they just charged." A parade through
Ardoyne passed off relatively peacefully despite assertions by Assistant
Chief
Constable Alan McQuillan that republicans were planning a major
confrontation. To
support this assertion the RUC/PSNI put on display a number of 'spiked
objects'
that they claimed had been manufactured for use in the planned riot. It later
became clear that the 'spiked objects' were simply security devices from the
roofs
of local businesses. McQuillan provoked similar controversy in Derry in 1999
when
he claimed that republicans planned a major riot in response to an Apprentice
Boys
parade. In that instance also local sources rejected his claims, and no
serious
rioting occurred. Following the parade in Ardoyne, the Parades' Commission
condemned the actions of some of those who had taken part.(IN, NBN)
In a bid to ease tensions, Derry Sinn Féin councillor Gerry MacLochlainn
called on
both communities on the Abercorn Road interface to take down flags - be they
tricolours or Union Jacks. A spokesperson for the mainly Catholic Riverside
Residents Association said, "We have been on the ground over the last few
days to
try and ensure that there is no trouble around the Fountain and other areas."
(DJ,
IN)
British Army bomb disposal experts made safe a bomb that had been abandoned
near
the route of an Orange parade in Belfast. The city's former lord mayor said
the
bomb was meant to kill Orangemen, bandsmen and spectators. "Dissident"
republicans
have been blamed for the thwarted attack. (IN, BBC)
July 13, Saturday. The Andersonstown News reported that a new University of
Ulster
study highlighted the "increasing hardening of attitudes by both Protestants
and
Catholics towards living, working and learning together." Dr. Joanne Hughes
and
Dr. Caitlin Donnelly of the University's School of Policy Studies carried out
the
study. (AN)
The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) promised that the security barrier on the
lower
end of north Belfast's Newington Street would remain in place. Residents of
the
small Catholic enclave had been concerned about a RUC/PSNI application to
remove
security barriers. At the same time Protestants in the neighbouring Tiger's
Bay
estate held a protest demanding stronger security measures. The protests
were, in
part, a response to the hit-and-run incident the week before (see July 6).
Speaking at the protest, UUP MLA Fred Cobain said, "This [hit-and-run
incident] is
just the latest incident of this kind to hit Tiger's Bay and the community is
demanding that it be offered better security protection." (NBN, IN, CW)
New graffiti in the loyalist Sandy Row in Belfast read "Falls Road Fenians"
followed by two telephone numbers. The Andersonstown News warned nationalists
to
be vigilant and has since contacted those whose numbers were painted beside a
UDA
mural. The RUC/PSNI said they were not aware of the graffiti and had not
warned
the families. The families have since changed their numbers. (AN)
An Orange Hall in Newry, Co. Down was vandalised, and flags, banners and
other
Orange memorabilia damaged. The RUC/PSNI said the attack bore "all the
hallmarks
of a sectarian incident." (IN, RUC/PSNI)
The DUP's Ian Crozier put a proposal before the Belfast City Council calling
for
the restoration of the home of RIC District Inspector John Nixon. Crozier
claims
Nixon "did a good service for people in North Belfast." Nationalists,
however,
regard the man as a hated figure responsible for directing and taking part in
a
large number of sectarian murders in the years following partition. North
Belfast
historian Joe Baker compared honouring Nixon with paying tribute to Lenny
Murphy -
the leader of the Shankill Butchers. (NBN, IN)
Construction workers building homes in the Cliftonville area of north Belfast
walked off their building site after coming under sectarian attack. Loyalists
from
Manor Street had pelted the workers with missiles, including stones and
pellets
from a pellet gun. (NBN, CW)
July 15, Monday. The Irish News reported a story from a Sunday newspaper that
Milltown Cemetery killer, Michael Stone, would run as an independent
anti-Agreement candidate in the next assembly election. Stone was released
from
Long Kesh under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. Until recently, he
had
claimed to support the peace process. (IN)
July 16, Tuesday. Three petrol bombs were thrown over a security fence at
Catholic
homes on north Belfast's Alliance Avenue. The attack resulted in minor scorch
damage to two homes. Residents in the area have been arguing for the security
fence to be raised. "Nationalist homes on Alliance Avenue have been subjected
to a
constant barrage of attacks including bombing and near constant stoning,"
said
Sinn Féin's Margaret McClenaghan. The attacks came amid reports that the
RUC/PSNI
had discouraged the NIO from raising the security fence. (NBN, CW)
The Derry Journal reported that prominent members of Sinn Féin and their
office
staff working in Stormont had received death threats from loyalists. The
actual
source of the threats was "undefined." (DJ)
A spokesperson for the Unionist Association in Derry's Waterside area claimed
that
"those who oppose the expression of a culture which even when not shared
deserves
parity of esteem is to [sic] stir irrational acts of sectarianism and violent
communal attacks such as those seen on the residents of the Fountain Street
and
Irish Street areas." The spokesperson was commenting on nationalist
opposition to
Orange parades. (DJ)
July 17, Wednesday. Loyalists attacked the home of a Catholic family on
Alliance
Avenue in north Belfast. A woman who lives in the house said they had been
under
daily attack from loyalists in the Glenbryn estate since April. (IN, CW)
July 18, Thursday. Crispin Blunt, a member of the Conservative Party's
Northern
Ireland shadow team, met with representatives of the loyalist Ulster
Political
Research Group. Mr. Blunt toured some of Belfast's interface areas along with
some
of the group's members. The Ulster Political Research Group is the political
formation linked to the UDA/UFF, the paramilitary organisation that is blamed
for
much of the interface violence. (IN, CW)
Loyalists sent a parcel bomb to a Sinn Féin councillor in Dunloy, Co Antrim.
Cllr.
Phillip McGuigan, who sits on Ballymoney Council, was sent the device that
had
been disguised as a video cassette. His three-year-old son first picked it
up.
British Army technical experts later carried out a controlled explosion on
the
device. (IN, CW, BBC)
An 18-year-old nationalist from Derry, was sentenced to two months in prison
for a
sectarian attack on a Protestant on Glendermott Road. Doherty and an
accomplice
jeered at the victim from a bus, singing "The Soldier's Song" and calling him
"Jaffa bastard" before leaving the bus and assaulting him. (DJ, DN)
In north Belfast, loyalists stabbed and seriously injured a Catholic man as
he and
a friend were assaulted on their way home from a local pub at around 2am. The
attack occurred on Rosapenna Street in the Oldpark area of north Belfast. The
attackers told the pair "You're dead you Fenian bastards." The victim later
required emergency surgery at Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital. (IN, CW)
A Catholic couple sustained minor head and facial injuries when a number of
homes
in the nationalist Alliance Avenue area of north Belfast came under attack.
The
windows of a number of homes were smashed and damage was also done to a car
when
loyalists from the neighbouring Glenbryn estate threw missiles over the
area's
"peace line." "They [i.e. loyalists] have been using the roofs of empty
houses in
Glenbryn to attack Catholic homes," said Sinn Féin's Margaret McClenaghan.
"We
have called for the houses to be blocked up and secured." (IN)
A 37-year-old Catholic man from north Belfast was savagely beaten by a group
of
loyalists. Four men attacked the man, who was on his way home from a pub near
an
interface on the Oldpark Road. He was struck about the head with a baseball
bat,
kicked and punched. The man made it to Belfast's Mater hospital after the
attack
where he received 35 staples to his head and was treated for severe bruising.
"They knew rightly I was a Catholic," said the victim. "I thought they were
going
to kill me." (IN)
According to the Irish News, "loyalists [in Belfast] went on a violent
rampage,
targeting Catholic homes . in what police described as 'unprovoked sectarian
attacks.'" The violence erupted in the Ligoniel, Deerpark, Alliance Avenue
and
Glenbryn areas of north Belfast. Trouble initially started when loyalist
youths
attacked Catholic homes. The UDA/UFF have since been blamed for orchestrating
the
attacks. A Catholic mother and her three children were trapped in their
burning
car. Loyalists had attacked the car with a petrol bomb and had managed to
break
the windscreen. The attack occurred on the Upper Crumlin Road in north
Belfast.
Luckily, the young family escaped unharmed. The home of a Catholic family
living
on the mixed Deerpark Road in north Belfast was attacked for the 17th time.
(This
time windows were broken.) The family has been trying to sell the home but
have
been unable to because of its location. "Now we are forced to live in a house
which is constantly being attacked and no one wants to know," said the
homeowner.
"It is a living hell." (IN, CW, NBN))
A loyalist mob attacked a home occupied by two Catholic brothers in the
Ligoniel
area of north Belfast. A brick was thrown through a window and one brother
noticed
"a crowd of men running down the path and someone trying to kick in the front
door." As the brother's escaped out the back, the mob set the flat on fire
with
petrol bombs. "This was an unprovoked sectarian attack," said RUC/PSNI
inspector
Victor Stitt. (IN, RUC/PSNI)
July 19, Friday. The parochial house of St. Mary's Church in Newcastle, Co.
Down
was petrol bombed. Two priests were in the house at the time of the attack.
Ulster
Unionist MLA Dermot Nesbitt condemned the attack as "an attack upon all the
people
of Newcastle and south Down." St. Mary's Church itself has been subject to
sectarian attacks three times this year. (IN, RUC/PSNI, BBC)
Loyalist attacks continued on Catholic homes in the Ligoniel area. One house
was
destroyed in a petrol bomb attack and windows were broken in nine more. The
mob
gained access to the area by storming over the interface peace line. Two
paramedics who responded to the incursions were injured when they came under
attack by stone-throwing youths. Two Protestant-owned homes had their windows
broken on the Upper Crumlin Road. (IN, NBN, CW)
July 20, Saturday. Loyalists attacked and stabbed a 49-year-old Catholic man
from
north Belfast on the Whitewell Road at 7:15 a.m. Loyalists from the Mount
Vernon
area also attacked Catholic homes in Skegoniel, north Belfast. The attackers
destroyed cars and forced four families to flee their homes. In Westland
Gardens,
loyalists threw bottles at the home and car of a Catholic mother of two. A
Catholic family escaped injury in a loyalist petrol bomb attack on their
home. The
home was first attacked at 2am when the family's car was torched. Three hours
later, they awoke when their front room was set on fire. Loyalists attacked
Catholic homes in Rosapenna Park with billiard balls and other missiles.
(NBN, CW,
IN)
A petrol bomb was thrown at the home of Samuel Swindell, an elderly
Protestant
living on Cliftonpark Avenue, north Belfast. Mr Swindell was alerted by his
son,
who was in the house, and escaped without injury. Police refused to classify
the
attack as sectarian, but residents believe the attackers came from a
nationalist
area nearby. (IN)
Petrol bombs, paint bombs, bottles and bricks were thrown at a series of
homes on
the mainly-Catholic Alliance Avenue from the loyalist Glenbryn Estate. One
resident, Gerard Russell, reported that Security Minister Jane Kennedy told
him
that heightening the security fence between the two neighbourhoods was
unnecessary
because, she told him, there was no threat from loyalists." (IN, CW, NBN)
Joe O'Donnell, a Sinn Féin councillor from Belfast's Short Strand, accused
the
British army's Royal Irish Regiment (RIR) of contributing to the on-going
sectarian attacks on the small Catholic enclave. Members of the RIR (formerly
known as the UDR, a regiment infamous for its sectarian ethos) have been
placed at
the Cluan Place/Clandeboye interface in the Short Strand. They are alleged to
have
taken part in throwing stones into the Short Strand and making
threatening/sectarian comments towards Catholics/nationalists. "This claim is
blatantly untrue," said an army spokesperson. "It is scurrilous to suggest
that
the Royal Irish Regiment is a sectarian force." (SBN, CW)
The North Belfast News reported a bid to rename a local Newtownabbey park
after
sectarian murder victim Danny McColgan. McColgan, a young Catholic postman,
was
gunned down by the UDA/UFF in January of this year. Newtownabbey mayor Paul
Girvan
(DUP) argued that to rename the park in McColgan's memory would set an
"unwise
precedent." (see January attacks)(NBN, PFC)
July 21, Sunday. Loyalists tried to abduct a Catholic man at the Broadway
roundabout in north Belfast. At 7.30pm 19-year-old Glenbryn Protestant Mark
Blaney
was shot and wounded in the groin by a gunman firing from Alliance Avenue.
His
attackers are thought to have been members of the INLA. Later that night,
loyalists on a motorcycle attempted to kill a Catholic man on the Oldpark
Road. At
about 10pm, two men standing outside a house in Salisbury Avenue were fired
on by
two UDA men in a white Nissan car. They were not hit. At 10:45 p.m. UDA
members
held a gun to the head of a Catholic teenager outside Henry Joys bar on the
Oldpark Road. The gun jammed. At 11.20pm a 29-year-old Catholic man was shot
in
Rosapenna Court where he was walking with a friend. A gunman fired at least
twelve
shots from a car that drew alongside the pair. The man was shot in both legs
and
the groin. Throughout the evening, loyalists from Glenbryn attacked Catholic
houses in Alliance Avenue with paint and petrol bombs. (AN, NBN, IN)
To coincide with the 30th anniversary of the nine people killed on "Bloody
Friday", the IRA issued a statement apologising for the killing and maiming
of all
"non-combatants."
The DUP mayor of Ballymena, Hubert Nicholl, had his invitation to a Queen's
Jubilee event organised by a local residents association withdrawn after he
praised the PSNI for finding a loyalist arms cache. A wide variety of
weapons, a
UVF oath of allegiance and a Free Presbyterian Church bible were among the
items
discovered by police. (IN)
At around midnight, up to 100 loyalist youths, described by the Ballymena
Guardian
as wearing swastika emblems and Ku Klux Klan type paraphernalia, erected a
burning
barricade across the mixed North Road and Clonavon Road. The area is a mixed
religion area into which a number of Portuguese families had recently moved.
Local
sources say that these families have been subjected to intimidation such as
having
their windows broken. A loyalist mural was recently painted in the area
against
locals wishes. Locals also said that the same group of loyalists had started
to
paint a Ku Klux Klan mural, complete with swastikas, on another wall.
The June/July edition of Warrior, the UDA/UFF's publication, boasted that an
earlier report of a cross burning in Bushmills, Co. Antrim, which had been
downplayed by a DUP politician in the local press, had in fact taken place
and was
the work of "local members of the Klu Klux Klan" [sic]. It also published a
photograph of a hooded figure standing in front of a burning cross, which it
claimed was evidence that it was the Klan. Ties between Ulster Loyalism and
white
supremacism are well documented. (PFC, CW, BG, Ba Ti)
A Catholic family confronted a man who had just left an explosive device in
the
front yard of their home of Beechland Road, Magherafelt home. The device, an
adapted firework packed with nails, was made safe by army technical experts.
(IN)
July 22, Monday. Shortly after midnight Gerard Lawlor, a 19-year-old
Catholic, was
shot five times in the vicinity of his Whitewell Road home as he walked alone
from
the Bellevue Arms public house on the Antrim Road. He died from his wounds
just
yards from his home. The murder, claimed by the "Red Hand Defenders" as a
"measured response" to the attack on Mark Blaney earlier in the evening was
later
claimed by the UFF/UDA. It was the fifth such loyalist attack that evening.
Gerard
Lawlor, a forklift driver, had been about to move into a new home with his
partner
and baby. He was friends with two of the UDA's more recent north Belfast
victims,
Glen Branagh and Daniel McColgan. The Glengormley teenager was the fifth
member of
the St. Enda's GAA club to be murdered in the troubles, the second by the
UFF/UDA.
(IN, AN, NBN)
Police claimed they received a telephone call warning of a bomb in the Falls
Road
IRSP offices. The building was evacuated but nothing was found. (AN)
In East Belfast, a pipe bomb was thrown into the nationalist Clandeboye area
from
the loyalist Cluan Place. Several children in the vicinity escaped injury
when the
bomb failed to detonate. (IN, CW)
July 23, Tuesday. A six-year-old Catholic girl from the nationalist
Clandeboye
area, Short Strand, east Belfast, sustained head injuries when hit by a brick
thrown from the loyalist Cluan Place. The girl, who was playing in a garden,
was
struck as bricks and stones were hurled over the peace-line wall. (IN, CW,
SBN)
At the North Queen Street flashpoint in north Belfast, a Catholic couple were
chased by a loyalist mob as they left a doctor's surgery at the interface.
Two
loyalist teens entered the medical office and aimed pellet guns at the
couple.
When the pair left the facility, they were confronted by a group of loyalists
carrying baseball bats and iron bars. Protestant community worker Eddie
McClean
reported that the disturbance was the result of an argument between people
from
both sides of the interface. (IN, NBN, IN)
5,000 people attended a vigil in Floral Street, north Belfast, for sectarian
murder victim Gerard Lawlor. (IN)
The chairman of the Loyalist Commission responded to the UDA/UFF murder of
north
Belfast Catholic Gerard Lawlor. The Rev. Mervyn Gibson - a Presbyterian
minister -
is quoted in the Irish News as saying that the Lawlor attack and other
attacks
"would appear to be, and it's not justifying the situation, but it would
appear to
be that many of the attacks are in retaliation." Gibson went on to blame
republicans for initiating sectarian violence in north and east Belfast. "The
Loyalist Commission tried to de-escalate this situation and tried to affect re
al
peace and stability within these areas, but it appears for some reason
republicans
don't want to step back at this point in time." His claim that the loyalist
violence was only a response to republican violence is an echo of the
loyalist
paramilitary mantra regurgitated ad nauseum since the beginning of the
troubles
that loyalist violence was always simply a reaction to republican attacks,
and was
made despite clear evidence that loyalists have been responsible for the vast
majority of sectarian attacks in recent years. (IN)
In Portadown, Loyalists fired shots into the house of a Catholic family in
Charles
Street, the bullets narrowly missed an 18 year old girl who was asleep in her
bedroom at the time. (IN, CW, RUC/PSNI)
July 25, Thursday. Denis Bradley, vice-chairman of the Northern Ireland
Policing
Board, told the Derry Journal that he was "concerned about. the police
response
to UDA attacks." Mr. Bradley added that there "has not been enough done by
the
police and by the security situation to actually protect, take on and deal -
in
whatever appropriate manner - with people like the UDA who are not
necessarily
doing any of this for political reasons." His comments were later criticised
by
the RUC/PSNI, fellow Policing Board members and Unionist political leaders.
(DJ)
A 16-year-old youth was arrested following an RUC/PSNI discovery of a large
quantity of ammunition in the loyalist Garneville area of east Belfast.
(RUC/PSNI)
July 26, Friday. At a special council meeting, Belfast City Council agreed to
organise a City Hall rally for the following Friday to protest against the
recent
upsurge in sectarian violence. The meeting was called in response to the
weekend
murder of Gerard Lawlor and a series of sectarian shootings in north Belfast
over
the previous week. (IN)
Minutes after midnight, four masked UDA/UFF men forced their way into a home
on
Derry's Waterside and shot a 23-year-old man twice in the leg. The man is a
Catholic who shares a flat with a Protestant girlfriend at Heron Way. The man
then
needed surgery to have bullets removed. The attack, which was universally
condemned by local politicians, was not a punishment attack - it was, in
fact, a
sectarian attack. Echoing the "Red Hand Defenders" statement claiming the
murder
of Gerard Lawlor, the UDA/UFF claimed the attack as "a measured military
response
to ongoing attacks on Protestant homes in Limavady and the Fountain." The
statement also warned that Catholics would "not be tolerated" in Protestant
areas
of Derry. (LS, DJ, IN, CW)
July 28, Sunday. Loyalists living along Cluan Place in east Belfast erected a
security camera and a floodlight to allegedly protect property. Cluan Place
borders east Belfast's only Catholic enclave, the Short Strand. Those living
in
the Short Strand fear that the camera - which is aimed at the nationalist
Clandeboye Drive - will be used to target Catholics. Local Sinn Féin
Councillor
Joe O'Donnell said that efforts are being made to get the camera removed. The
RUC/PSNI said that it was their "desire that only official police cameras [.
be]
used to monitor the area." (IN, SBN, CW)
Up to 100 Loyalists rioted in Sandy Row in south Belfast, causing extensive
damage
to property and attacking security forces with blast bombs, petrol bombs and
other
missiles. UDA-linked sources locally blamed west Belfast republicans for the
violence, who they claimed had attacked a protestant home. Media reports that
Belfast UDA-UFF Johnny Adair had been spotted in the vicinity the day
previously,
fuelled speculation that the west Belfast "C-Company" of the UDA/UFF, headed
by
Adair, is extending its influence throughout Belfast. Some local sources
claimed
that the rioting erupted after members of the RUC/PSNI had assaulted local
youths.
(IN, SBN, BBC, CW, RUC/PSNI)
Sources:
BT: Belfast Telegraph
BBC: BBC radio and television news, BBC online, Radio Foyle
CW: Local community workers
DJ: Derry Journal
DN Derry News
IN: Irish News
IT: Irish Times
ITN: Independent Television News
LS: Londonderry Sentinel
NBN: North Belfast News
NL: Newsletter
OB: Observer
PFC: Pat Finucane Centre
RM: RM Distribution
RUC/PSNI: Police Service of Northern Ireland (RUC) press office.
SBP: Sunday Business Post
SBN: South Belfast News
SI: Sunday Independent
ST: Sunday Tribune
UTV: Ulster Television