If you need urgent support, call 999 or go to your nearest A&E. To contact our Crisis Messenger (open 24/7) text THEMIX to 85258.
Read the community guidelines before posting ✨
Options
Another LONG post from the NI Front~!
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
IRISH NEWS ROUND-UP
http://irlnet.com/rmlist/
Tuesday-Thursday, 4-6 September, 2001
1. LOYALISTS BOMB CHILDREN AT SCHOOL BLOCKADE
* Death threats issued against parents
2. Home destroyed in sectarian attack
3. Nationalist woman escapes abduction
4. Soldier 'finished off' victims inside armoured vehicle
5. Assembly to debate right to education
6. McBride family still seeking justice
7. Skibbereen honours the hunger strikers
8. History: IRA wipe out 'G' Division.
9. Feature: Ardoyne -- Running the gauntlet
10. Analysis: Democracy and loyalism are irreconcilable
>>>>>> LOYALISTS BOMB CHILDREN AT SCHOOL BLOCKADE
The ugly nature of loyalism was further exposed on the Ardoyne
Road in North Belfast this week, when Catholic schoolchildren,
some as young as four, were targeted by a loyalist bomb as they
returned to school for the first week of the new term.
Loyalists want to prevent pupils from the Holy Cross school to
walk along the Ardoyne Road, past the loyalist Glenbryn Estate,
and enter their school by its front gate. Their 'protest' has
been nothing other than an organised sectarian assault on the
children and their parents.
The 400-yard walk along Ardoyne Road through a tunnel of
hate-filled sectarian and even sexual verbal abuse revealed to
the world the nature of loyalism - a racist ideology portraying
nationalists as subhuman.
On Monday, shocked television audiences witnessed a middle-aged
man, just one of many furious loyalists, screaming "Scum! Scum!
Scum!" repeatedly at clearly terrified mothers and children. With
tension in the area at its highest level in weeks, loyalist mobs
in Glenbryn bombarded them with bricks and bottles.
On Wednesday, as the children were running the gauntlet of hate
along Ardoyne Road for the third day, a pipe bomb was hurled at
them. It exploded, injuring four RUC members.
Known UDA figures were among the crowd screaming abuse at the
children, while DUP councillor Nelson McCausland, who was in the
area, had no words of condemnation.
The area's MP, the DUP's Nigel Dodds could only call for a
"cooling off" period and refused to condemn the verbal violence
against innocent children.
DEATH THREATS
On Thursday, the paramilitary Red Hand Defenders issued death
threats against the parents of several children attending the
school. But under the glare of the media spotlight, loyalists
appear to be changing the nature of their blockade, sounding
whistles and foghorns and crashing bin lids as the children go to
school.
Meanwhile, Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams said the blockade of
the school and the loyalist protest should end now. "There can be
no excuse or justification for the sectarian abuse and violence
directed at the children and their parents as they try to make
their way to school," he said. "Children have a right to
education and a right to travel to and from their school free
from threat and intimidation. The picket is being fuelled by
elements of the DUP and the violence is from the UDA and is based
on pure sectarian hatred. Sections of the media have sought to
present this issue as one of 'each side as bad as the other'.
This is not true."
Sinn Fein MP Martin McGuinness has accused unionist politicians
of creating the conditions and encouraging the campaign of
terror against the nationalist and republican community.
"These attacks and threats are designed to provoke the IRA into
retaliation," he said. "It is no coincidence that the upsurge in
loyalist attacks and threats directed at republicans and
nationalists has coincided with David Trimble's agenda to
collapse the political institutions as spelt out in his letter to
the Ulster Unionist Council last October. Both are designed to
put the republican peace strategy under pressure. They will not
succeed.
"We thought that loyalists had stooped as low as they could
during the blockade of Harryville Church but the political vacuum
created by David Trimble in undermining of the institutions and
the British governments' failure to check his actions has
encouraged them to sink to even lower depths.
"Their cowardly sectarian campaign has now spread to targeting
young children, firstly in preventing pupils from going
unhindered to school at Holy Cross in Ardoyne and now underage
GAA members in South Derry wishing to participate in sporting
activities.
He said the UDA -- using another of its flags of convenience --
had forced one business in South Derry engaged in transporting
children to Gaelic sports activities to close. Other businesses
had similarly been threatened "without a whimper of censure from
Unionist politicians," he added.
"While I would encourage everyone to be vigilant and to take
precautions against such threats and attacks it is imperative
that communities do not allow themselves to become paralysed by
paranoia. I would ask the many decent protestant and unionist
people who live in these areas to show solidarity and support for
their nationalist and republican neighbours by letting it be
known that there is no support for this activity."
>>>>>> Home destroyed in sectarian attack
"I can't offer you a cup of tea because there is no electricity,"
says Christine Kelly, "but I've plenty of toast in the kitchen."
The Catholic mother of two is putting a brave face on it. Her
hands are shaking with the trauma of her family's ordeal but she
can still crack a joke or two.
Inside the kitchen, everything is black and charred, incinerated
in a fire which swept through the back of the Kelly family's
North Belfast home after a petrol bomb was deliberately thrown
into an outside heating oil tank. "They must have prized off the
cap because I had the tank padlocked," says Christine.
Not only is the back kitchen completely destroyed, so are a
downstairs living room, upstairs bathroom, a back bedroom and
third storey attic room. Christine shows me around each of the
rooms, the family's possessions lie blackened and ruined. "At
least no one was killed," says Christine.
Just before the attack, Christine had called her elder son,
16-year-old Joseph out of the back living room where he had been
playing computer games. "I keep the children away from the back
of the house when ever I think there might be any trouble," says
Christine.
Christine was standing outside her front door talking to a
neighbour when the loyalists attack her home shortly after 9pm.
Her younger son ran from the house and alerted Christine to the
attack. "A few hours later when we would have been asleep," says
Christine, "and none of us would have survived."
The fire from the ignited oil tank was so intense two of
Christine's neighbours' homes were also badly damaged.
Michael Crangle and his wife were at home when the blaze ripped
through the roof and down through the ceiling of their bathroom
leaving the room gutted and the rest of the house smoke damaged.
Margaret Goodall, whose home was also damaged in the fire, says
the ordeal has intensified the trauma of her 22-year-old
daughter, who is recovering from a loyalist gun attack at her
place of work earlier this summer.
"We live in a constant state of fear here," says Christine. "We
have fire extinguishers in every room and at night we're too
afraid to draw attention to the house by putting on a light. We
creep about here in semi darkness."
Christine's Newington home is owner occupied, so she has little
hope of ever moving away. "I've sent my children to live with
relatives for the time being," she says, "but in the end we've
nowhere else to go."
>>>>>> Nationalist woman escapes abduction
The loyalist protest directed at school children attending Holy
Cross primary school and the media attention given to it has
ensured that the continuing campaign of violence against
nationalists has gone largely unnoticed.
Over the weekend, a 33-year-old Ardoyne woman returning home from
a friend's house was the target of an abduction attempt at the
junction of Jamaica Street and Alliance Avenue.
Mother of three Ann Kelly said that she became worried when she
noticed a car carrying four men coming towards her from the
direction of the Loyalist Glenbryn area.
The incident happened in the early hours of Saturday morning, 1
September, and the streets were empty.
Kelly says the car drove past her, then turned and drove back
towards the top of Alliance Avenue and returned along the street
towards her.
At this point the woman was in a state of panic and tried to walk
faster, but the loyalists pulled in behind her and she was
grabbed from behind and two of the loyalists tried to drag her
towards the car, thought to be a red Ford Sierra.
As she tried to fight the men off and scream for help she heard
one of the men in the car saying, 'shut the Fenian bitch up, keep
her quiet'. During the struggle one of the attackers punched
Kelly in the face and around the head.
"I just kept struggling and put my feet against the car to stop
them getting me in. I then sunk my teeth into one of the men's
hands, drawing blood, and he let go of me," said Ann Kelly. "I
somehow managed to get free from the other man and run towards my
house"
The loyalists didn't pursue the woman but jumped into the car and
sped off.
Kelly says that she is now going to move as her assailants saw
her going into her house and now know where she lives.
Not far from the Ardoyne attack, at Westland Gardens, a group of
up to six loyalists attacked two teenagers using iron bars.
Trouble flared in the area at about 1.30am when the teenagers
were set upon as the got out of a taxi. The loyalists pulled up
behind them in a car and jumped out brandishing iron bars,
hammers and sticks.
As well as severelt injuring the youths, the the loyalist gang
broke windows in two houses and smashed the windscreen of a car.
The mother of one of the injured youths said he received injuries
to his head, back and shoulder with a hammer and could have been
killed.
As neighbours came out to defend and protect their homes, a gang
of up to 70 loyalists appeared from the direction of Oldpark
Road.
Fierce hand to hand fighting then erupted as the loyalists
attempted to attack the area until the RUC arrived. Residents
criticised the fact that when they came on the scene, the RUC
pointed their Land Rovers at the residents as if they were
responsible for the trouble. No action was taken against the
loyalists.
As with other vulnerable nationalist areas throughout the North,
Westland Gardens has been under constant attack from the UDA
based in the nearby Westland Estate.
Pipe bombers and paint bombers have targeted homes in a series of
organised attacks over the past year with a number of people
being forced to leave their homes.
Sinn Fein's Eoin O'Broin said that while the area had been
attacked on numerous occasions previously the fact that the
loyalists had attacked in such large numbers from the top end
was, "a serious development and a serious escalation".
>>>>>> Soldier 'finished off' victims inside armoured vehicle
A first aid volunteer has told the Bloody Sunday inquiry that she
saw a British paratrooper fire shots into an armoured vehicle
which contained three victims, at least one of whom may have
shown signs of life moments earlier.
The inquiry is attempting to establish what happened on January
30th, 1972, when 13 civil rights demonstrators were shot dead by
British soldiers. A 14th victim died later of his injuries.
Ms Alice Doherty, who was an 18-year-old Knights of Malta officer
with the rank of superintendent said that during the shooting she
and a Knights of Malta colleague, Mr Leo Day, were told that
there were three dead or injured people inside an armoured
personnel carrier.
They approached the vehicle, where a small soldier stood by the
rear doors. The doors were partially open and she and Mr Day
glimpsed three bodies inside, piled on top of one another "like
meat".
She added: "I then heard a moaning sound from inside the Saracen.
I reached forward and grabbed open the door. Immediately the
small soldier kicked it shut . . . I opened the door of the
Saracen again. I saw one of the feet of the boy at the bottom
give a slight twitch.
"Leo Day saw this movement too. One or both of us said words to
the effect that the boy was still alive. The small soldier kicked
the door shut again and told us that we were not allowed to look
inside. Then he lifted up his rifle and poked the barrel through
a flap in the side of the Saracen and fired three shots inside.
"He had to hold the rifle up high so that he could aim it
downwards. After he had fired he said something like 'They're
dead now' or 'They'll not make any more noise now.' "
She said she had never before given details of the incident to
avoid further upset to the families of the deceased.
Meanwhile, the photographer responsible for some of the most
powerful and dramatic images of Bloody Sunday has revealed how he
was almost killed himself.
Robert White, a keen amateur photographer, provided some of the
most enduring and startling photographs taken on Bloody Sunday.
One of his pictures showed Bernard McGuigan taking cover with
other people moments before his head was blown off by an army
bullet.
A short time after taking a picture of another victim, the
witness said he looked out from his position of cover and saw a
soldier raise his rifle and point it at him. He dropped to the
ground only to hear the "whine" of a bullet pass over his head.
In other testimony, a Derry man told Inquiry he witnessed a mock
British Army execution on the edge of the Bogside on Bloody
Sunday.
Thomas Carlin, who was 29-years-old at the time, said he was
making his way home when he came on a British army checkpoint at
Barrack Street. There he saw a car surrounded by soldiers, one of
whom had a pistol.
The soldier with the pistol had pulled a male passenger out of
the car by the hair, the witness said. "He was holding on to the
man's hair with his left hand and with the pistol in his right
hand. He held the pistol to the man's head and fired two shots.
"It looked to me like an execution but I do not think the shots
were fired at his head because I did not see the head move,
although I would have expected a movement or some other sign that
he had been shot," Mr Carlin said.
One of the soldiers shouted "There's another yobbo" and the
witness said he turned and ran. As he ran away the soldier with
the pistol ordered him to stop before firing two shots, he said.
He also described how he saw smoke, which he thought was gun
smoke, billowing from an army sangar on the Derry Walls as he
sheltered near Free Derry Corner when the shooting started.
On Wednesday, a witness broke down in tears yesterday as she
recalled a young man being shot on Bloody Sunday as he appeared
to "lament" over another victim.
Watching from her parents' flat, Olive Mottram said she saw a
body lying at a rubble barricade at Rossville Street with a young
boy kneeling beside it who was obviously distressed.
"As I watched him he straightened himself up. I don't know why,
perhaps somebody shouted to him. Still kneeling, he put his hands
in the air with his hands open and approximately at head height.
"There was nothing in his hands, I am sure of that... I heard a
shot. He fell. I knew he was shot," she said.
In other inquiry news, five former members of the now-defunct
breakaway 'Official IRA', have been granted anonymity.
The men sought anonymity on the grounds that their safety and the
safety of their families could be at risk from loyalist
paramilitaries.
>>>>>> Assembly to debate right to education
The Belfast Assembly will debate a motion calling for support for
the right to education of schoolchildren attending the Holy Cross
Primary School in North Belfast on Monday at its first session
after the summer recess.
Commenting on the motion, which he proposed, Sinn Fein North
Belfast Assembly member Gerry Kelly said:
"It is important that now people from across the political
spectrum have urged a resolution of the disgraceful situation in
North Belfast that the Assembly supports the basic right to
education.
"A cross party message from the Assembly will send out a very
clear message to those loyalists who are targeting school girls
as young as four for sectarian violence and intimidation, that
this is not acceptable and that it is not the way to tackle the
deeper issues.
"I would call upon all the political parties to support this
clear call for basic rights to be upheld."
And Sinn Fein Education Spokesperson, West Tyrone Assembly member
Barry McElduff has said that he will urge the Education Committee
to issue a statement on the situation at the Holy Cross Girls
Primary School when it meets this Thursday.
"As part of the structures arising from the Agreement it would be
important that the Education Committee take a stand on the right
to education of these young school children," he said.
"The right to education is not negotiable. The demand for these
children to be cowed should be treated with the contempt it
deserves. They are entitled to be treated with dignity and
equality, they are not second class citizens.
"Loyalists in Glenbryn should be given all the encouragement
possible to enter into dialogue. The education committee can send
that encouragement. Hopefully a cross party visit to support the
school children, parents and staff at the Holy Cross Girls
Primary School can also be arranged."
>>>>>> McBride family still seeking justice
Tuesday marked the ninth anniversary of the 1992 killing by two
British soldiers of Peter McBride in North Belfast. Guardsmen Mark
Wright and James Fisher remain in the British Army.
The McBride family have judicially reviewed the decisions of two
separate Army Boards to allow Wright and Fisher to remain in the
British Army. The decision on the second judicial review is
expected to be announced soon.
Jean McBride, mother of the victim, said: "It's nine years since
Peter was taken from us. Who would have believed nine years ago
that the two men convicted in a court of law of his murder would
have been allowed to remain in the British Army?
"John Reid was one of many who played a disgraceful role in this
whole affair. He refused to meet me while Minister of State for
the Armed Forces but met with campaigners for the Guardsmen and
expressed 'concern' that they were even in prison.
"Prime Minister Tony Blair allowed his senior ministers to sit on
Army Boards and rubber stamp these decisions. Have they no shame,
no compassion, no sense of injustice?
"For Peter's sake, my family will pursue this until justice is
done. If needs be, we will travel to Germany and let the German
people know that convicted murderers, armed and dangerous, are in
their country. The past nine years have been nine years of shame
but we will continue if it takes another nine years."
>>>>>> Skibbereen honours the hunger strikers
Republicans from all over West Cork attended a hunger strike
commemoration in Skibbereen on Saturday 25 August. Close on 200
participated in the march and this grew to well over 300 for the
main commemoration in the square.
Donnchadh O Seaghdha chaired the proceedings and welcomed all
those present agus chuir se failte speisialta roimh an beirt
cainteoiri Owen Carron agus Coireail McCurtain, agus an beirt
comhairloiri, Aine O'Leary agus Cionnaith O Suilleabhain . He
continued ''we are gathered here to pay honour and homage to
Bobby Sands, Francis Hughes and their comrades for their courage
and integrity in laying down their lifes indefending the
republican struggle .In a few weeks time Martin McGuinness will
be travelling to South Africa to meet Nelson Mandela and one of
his duties there will be to unveil a plaque to the memory of the
ten hunger strikers, such has been the impact of the sacrifices
of the hunger strikers wordwide. Struggle, resistance and
solidarity know no boundaries. A victory for the oppressed people
of South Africa was a victory for us and a victory for us is a
victory for them. We also pay tribute to those who supported the
hunger strikers of 1981 from the Skibbereen and West Cork area."
Coireail MacCurtain, republican former prisoner from West
Limerick, who taught Bobby Sands Gaeilge in Long Kesh, then
addressed the crowd: ''Ta an athas orm a bheith anseo anocht mar
ta se an tabhachtach go mbaillionn daoine le cheile chun onoir
agus omois a thabhairt dos na laochra siud a fuair bas ar stailc
ocrais i 1981, an iobairt ba mhisniula agus ba chroga a tharla
riamh I stair na tire seo. Deichniuir a fuair bas ag cosaint
ainm agus chlu poblachtanaigh, ni raibheadar sasta geilleadh do
ri Shasana agus a ra gur coirpigh iad mar bhiodar ag iarraidh an
smal sin a chur ar poblachtanaigh tri cheile ar fud na hEireann.
Ta tionchar an stailc ocrais sin le feiscint fos ar fud na tire
mar nuair a smaoinaionn tu siar ba phairti an-bheag e Sinn Fein i
1981, anois taimid an-laidir sna se chontae agus ag fas freisin
sna 26 chontae agus an mor chuid den bhuiochas sin ag dul do
Bobby Sands Francis Hughes agus a chomradaithe a fuair bas i
1981.'
"I got to know Bobby Sands in 1974 in Long Kesh - like all the
other hunger strikers he was just an ordinary person. Bobby was a
great football player, athlete, musician and had tremendous love
for his language and culture. The British thought they were
striking at the weakest and most vulnerable, but in reality they
were taking on the bravest and the best of our people . By their
courage and sacrifices they preserved the honour and integrity of
the struggle for freedom and justice in Ireland.
Owen Carron spoke of how he has spoken at commemorations all over
Ireland this Summer and is still struck even 20 years after, by
the many people who are still being moved by the hunger strikers,
many of whom were not born at that time.
"I thought that when republicans flocked from all over Ireland
and got Bobby
Sands elected MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone that that would
save his life. But the cold and ruthless British government
wouldnt meet the prisoners wouldn't recognise their mandate . It
didn't matter that 100,000 people marched after the coffin of
Bobby Sands, that the Longshoreman's union blocked the port of
New York and that the parliament of New Delhi stood in silence.
"I am heartened to come here tonight to see that many people down
here in Skibbereen understand that the struggle that is going on
in the Six Counties is the same struggle, whether you live in
Derry, Belfast, Leitrim or Skibbereen.
Before the ceremony was concluded the cathaoirleach Donnchadh O
Seaghdha
paid tribute to Joseph O'Sullivan of Fachtnas Terrace, who left
his sick bed to be present. Joe was the only remaining link with
a previous generation of republicans at the time of the hunger
strikes.
>>>>>> History: IRA wipe out 'G' Division.
Throughout the summer of 1919, amid cries of outrage and
denunciation from the clergy, the IRA began executing detectives
of the 'G' division of the Dublin Metropolitian police (DMP).
The greatest threat to the safety of IRA Volunteers, during the
early days of the Tan War, came from the political detective
branch, the 'G' Division of the DMP. The 'G' men, as they became
known, had been engaged in political work for years, spying on
IRA Volunteers and identifying leaders of the Army. Their chief
function, however, was to guide military raiding-parties to the
homes of members of the Republican Movement, in particular
members of Sinn Fein.
Warnings from the Irish Republican Army to cease their activities
were ignored and in July 1919, Michael Collins, the then Director
of Intelligence, formed an active service unit, comprising of
twelve of the most skilled Volunteers from the Dublin Brigade of
the IRA. These men became known as the 'Twelve Apostles'. Towards
the end of July, and after a period of intense intelligence
gathering by the IRA, the systematic execution of the detectives
of the 'G; division began.
One 'G' man, Det. Constable Dan Hoey, was particularly active in
apprehending IRA leaders. Hoey, a tall, elderly grim faced man
had identified Sean McDermott in 1916. As the rebel prisoners
were lined up and marched towards the North Wall to be interned
in England, McDermott was recognised by Hoey as being one of the
leaders of the rising. Hoey had him dragged from the lines. He
was taken away to face a British Courts Martial and was
subsequently executed. Had it not been for Hoey, McDermott would
have been interned with the other prisoners.
Undeterred by the execution of his colleagues, Hoey persisted
with his activities against the IRA. In August 1919, he led a
raiding party of British military on the Mansion House, during
which Collins narrowly avoided capture by scaling a rope ladder
and escaping through a skylight.
A month later, Collins and Harry Boland had another narrow escape
when a British Army raiding party assisted by the police, led by
Hoey, raided the Sinn Fein headquarters in Harcourt Street.
The following day, on 13 September 1919, on the order of Collins,
Detective Dan Hoey was shot dead outside the Dublin Metropolitian
Police Headquarters on Brunswick Street, known today as Pearse
Street.
Following the execution of Hoey and his colleagues in the 'G'
Division, other 'G' men, finding it impossible to stay at their
homes, moved into the relative safety of Dublin Castle. Many of
them resigned, while others transferred to 'other duties'.
The detectives of the 'G' Division no longer posed a threat to
the IRA.
It was 82 years ago this month that the 'G' Division of the
Dublin Metropolitian Police, the predecessors of the present day
Garda Special Branch, felt the wrath of the Irish Republican
Army.
>>>>>> Feature: Ardoyne -- Running the gauntlet
BY LAURA FRIEL
What would you like me to teach my child?" asks a Catholic
mother, responding to the media. "Should I tell her that our
Protestant neighbours have decided she's a second class citizen
and from now on we'll be going to school by the back door?"
At the corner of Ardoyne Road, the scene is as hostile as the
questioning. British army vehicles straddle the roadway leaving
only a small gap through which parents and their children will be
expected to walk. Beyond the first barrier rows of RUC Land
Rovers and the armoured jeeps of the British army line both sides
of the road.
Hundreds of heavily armed, mostly masked, RUC officers in full
riot gear and British soldiers carrying semi automatic rifles and
prepared for combat, line the route. Just visible at the end of
this corridor of military hardware are the bright blue gates of
Holy Cross Catholic School, a primary school for girls in North
Belfast and the focus of a sectarian campaign of intimidation by
loyalists.
It's over 40 minutes before Holy Cross children are due to walk
to school but halfway down, adjacent to the main Ardoyne Road,
loyalist mobs are already beginning to gather at Hesketh and
Glenbryn Park. The streets are littered with stones, broken
bricks and smashed glass, the debris of confrontation the night
before. Red, white and blue painted bollards mark the entrance to
the Glenbryn estate.
With predictable zeal, loyalist flags, including the Union Jack,
UVF, UDA and Orange Order flags have been erected along the
route. Less predictably, a huge French Tricolour is flying from a
rooftop. It's obviously a case of 'Yaba daba doo, any red, white
and blue will do'. The roar of an overhead helicopter adds to the
oppression of the early morning scene.
At 8.30am, parents from the nearby nationalist estate begin to
arrive with their children. In their red school uniforms, the
young pupils of Holy Cross, from the top of their beribboned
heads to the toe of their polished shoes, have been dressed with
obvious care and attention. These are cherished children from
loving homes. And for parents and pupils this should have been a
day of pleasure and pride.
Yesterday, Monday, the first day of the new school year, parents
and pupils had been forced to run a gauntlet of sectarian abuse
and attack by loyalists lining the route to Holy Cross School.
The RUC operation to afford the children protection had been
woefully inadequate, if not down right half hearted. Children,
many as young as four and five, had wept and screamed in
bewilderment and fear as loyalists hurled their particular brand
of hate.
"Scum, scum, scum," the mob had chanted. Catholic parents had
been told to "get that Fenian Bastard out of here." Catholic
mothers were subjected to particularly nasty sexual verbal abuse.
Distressed, and by then also desperate, parents had pulled their
crying children close, many covering their ears and eyes as if
this could somehow shield them from the worst excesses of hatred
in which they had been unwittingly plunged. "I didn't expect it
to be as bad as this," one parent said.
Pelted with stones, bottles and fireworks, the children had
arrived at Holy Cross hysterical and too afraid to stay. A
teacher described a child cowering in a corner and others hiding
under desks as the mob outside continued to lay siege to the
school gates. Newly appointed parish priest, Fr. Aidan Troy, who
had accompanied parents and children on the route to the school,
described the journey as "beyond my worst nightmare".
"I have been in many troubled areas in the world," said Fr. Troy.
"In 30 years of being a priest, I have never seen anything like
this."
And the scenes had been heartbreaking. As news broadcasters
flashed the images across the world, they were watched by
thousands, perhaps millions, of people, but most particularly by
northern nationalists. Sectarianism in whatever form is always
ugly, but stripped of all pretence, it is hideous.
British journalists, upon whom the mantle of apologist for
unionism has rested so comfortably for years, repeatedly focused
their hostility towards nationalist parents. "Just why were they
subjecting their children to such an ordeal?"
Traumatised mothers and their children were hauled up before the
cameras by a media still running along the parallel tracks of the
'two tribes' model. Increasingly desperate commentators tried to
build a picture of events in which both sides were equally
blameworthy.
But how could the images of the baying mob, hurling insults and
missiles, be equated with the tearstained faces of terrified
children, some barely more than babies? The story had already
careered off the rails. The power relationship of oppressed and
oppressor had been exposed by the display of naked sectarianism
captured on screen, just as it had been in Alabama decades ago.
And sadly, while loyalists, caught up in rivalry between various
of their paramilitary groups, may well have orchestrated this,
there appears to have been no shortage of Protestant residents
willing to attach themselves to the cause. Screaming sectarian
abuse in front of cameras caused no visible sign of shame amongst
many Glenbryn residents, who appeared totally immune or unaware
of their own despicable behaviour.
Brazen-faced in her bigotry, a resident old enough to be a
grandmother demanded to know "why should there be four Fenian
schools in a Protestant area?" No pretence here that this was
something other than what we can see before our own eyes.
This is not David Ervine's 'cry for help and understanding'.
There are no 'great complexities' as suggested by Church of
Ireland Primate Robin Eames, too difficult for outsiders to
comprehend, as some unionist politicians and commentators have
suggested. This is the white supremacist calling the black a
'****** '.
So what if the object of their racist venom just happens to be a
four-year-old whose only 'crime' is walking to school past their
front door? What's the big deal? A Fenian is a Fenian from the
day it is born.
And should we really be surprised by this shocking display of
hatred and intolerance? For decades, anti-Catholic sectarianism
has been fostered and utilised in the interests of British
occupation in the North. If the residents of Glenbryn have no
shame, it is because they have been shamefully used.
And many loyalist leaders, like Billy Hutchinson, are intelligent
enough to know this. They lack, not insight, but the political
will to lead their constituency out of this cul de sac of
reaction.
Day two, Tuesday, and as parents wait, children who arrived
stoically, with even an occasional smile, begin to wilt under the
pressure. Offering comfort and support, local priests, teachers
and members of the school's board of governors join parents and
pupils as they wait to walk to school.
As the decision is taken to set off, some of the children
collapse into tears and panic and are taken home. Others, pale
with fear, cling to mothers and fathers who remain calm despite
their own visible anxiety.
The RUC and British Army have decided that only parents and
pupils will be allowed to walk the 400-yard stretch along the
Ardoyne Road to Holy Cross School. Even a clear view of the road
has been obscured. Relatives, friends and neighbours stand aside.
Everyone is very aware that this ordeal will not only be faced by
some of the most vulnerable and defenceless members of this
community but that they will be facing it alone. Cut off from
their own neighbourhood, parents and pupils are now totally
dependant for their protection upon the discredited RUC and a
hostile army of occupation. Some of those left behind are already
tearful, and everyone is afraid.
A threat against Catholic parents, issued the night before in the
name of the Red Hand Defenders, adds to the tension. Just minutes
earlier, the sound of an explosion ripped through the air as a
blast bomb was thrown further along the Ardoyne Road. From behind
the cordon, another blast is heard and within minutes a number of
ambulances begin to arrive.
Unable to see or communicate with their relatives, people in the
waiting crowd begin to panic. Fathers, who had been persuaded it
would be less provocative if they stayed behind, scramble onto
the top of armoured cars and Land Rovers in a desperate attempt
to find out what is happening.
News filters down that the children have arrived at school unhurt
and the crowd settles. Now all we have to do is to get them home
safely when the school day ends and then tomorrow the process
starts over again.
Day three, Wednesday, and the British Army and RUC are out in
force again. As parents and children make their way along the
Ardoyne Road loyalists gathered at a junction within the Glenbryn
estate throw a pipe bomb, packed with shrapnel. Falling just a
few feet short of its intended target, the bomb explodes,
injuring four RUC officers. A mother screams, "Oh God, Oh God,"
and runs, dragging her terrified child away from the junction.
Other mothers and their children cry out and begin to run.
Fr. Troy stands at the junction, arms raised as he tries to calm
traumatised parents, now terrified for the safety of their
children. The scene is one of hysteria and panic. "This is
carnage," says Fr. Troy. "It is beyond belief."
Inside the school grounds, teachers try to comfort pupils and
parents. "This is attempted murder," one tearful mother says. "
They tried to murder babies and the mothers of babies today."
"It was absolute chaos," says Philomena Flood, who was walking
with her seven-year-old daughter Erin when the attack took place.
"There were children everywhere and we were trying to grab our
own and get to school."
Outside and amidst the ranks of loyalist protestors, John White
of the Ulster Democratic Party and Billy Hutchinson of the
Progressive Unionist Party both condemned the attack. "I am
totally ashamed to be a loyalist today," says Billy Hutchinson,
calling for the loyalist protest to end.
"It was disgraceful that any situation should come to this," says
John White choosing his words carefully, before accusing the RUC
of "attacking innocent people".
For decades, northern nationalists have been forced to run the
gauntlet of sectarian hatred, but in the words of Minister for
Education Martin McGuinness, the time when nationalists will sit
at the back of the bus or go by the back door are gone and gone
for good. If the Good Friday Agreement is to mean anything it has
to mean an end to sectarian harassment and discrimination, and
for the little girls of Holy Cross, the right to walk to school
unmolested.
>>>>>> Analysis: Democracy and loyalism are irreconcilable
BY MICHEAL MacDONNCHA
In his book, 'Travels with Charley', the great American writer
John Steinbeck described the naked hatred of Southern white
racists as they screamed obscenities at a little black girl whose
parents dared to send her to a formerly 'whites only' school in
New Orleans in 1960:
"The big marshals stood her on the curb and a jangle of jeering
shrieks went up from behind the barricades. The little girl did
not look at the howling crowd but from the side the whites of her
eyes showed like those of a frightened fawn. The men turned her
around like a doll, and then the strange procession moved up the
broad walk toward the school, and the child was even more a mite
because the men were so big."
I was reminded of these words when I saw and heard the sickening
assault on children in North Belfast this week. Their faces
distorted with hate, their lips dripping with foul abuse, a
loyalist mob reduced primary school pupils to tears as their
parents brought them to school.
If this were not enough, it was compounded by some of the initial
media coverage. The line from Sky News was that the children were
"caught in the middle of a row between Catholics and
Protestants". We were told it was an "inter-community conflict"
and there were people "on both sides" who did not want
negotiations.
Then from Montrose came the News at One on RTE Radio. Billy
Hutchinson of the PUP was given the softest of interviews by
presenter Sean O'Rourke and went unchallenged when he declared
that what they had seen that morning was a "display of
republicanism"! Republicans were to blame again. Not once did
Hutchinson offer criticism or condemnation of the bigots - his
constituents - who taunted children and, much worse, Sean
O'Rourke did not ask him to offer any.
The Ardoyne children's tears were tears of fear but the cry of
that mob was a cry from the rotten heart of loyalism. Let us put
all the nonsense aside. It is not sectarian to tell the truth.
And the truth is that loyalism is sectarianism and unionism is
its political expression. This is not a culture or a tradition;
it is a reactionary political force, a force which must be
defeated if democracy is to flourish.
As the children ran the sectarian gauntlet, Paisley and Trimble
were meeting to coordinate their opposition to changes in
policing. The British government's policing plan falls short of
Patten but it is still too much for the unionist leadership. The
London and Dublin governments have allowed unionism to reduce the
tide of change to a trickle and the politics of progress is mired
in a swamp.
Both governments should remember that the white racists who ruled
the Southern states, their brethren in South Africa, and the
landlord class who once ruled all Ireland did not give up their
privileges willingly. They had to be forced one way or another.
There can be reconciliation between people in Ireland. But there
cannot be reconciliation between Irish democracy and the scourge
of loyalism, whether it masquerades as a 'cultural tradition' or
shows its true face as it did in North Belfast this week. The
bigots must be shown that change is not only inevitable and
irreversible but rapid and irresistible.
The foulest abuse outside that school in New Orleans in 1960 was
reserved for the white parent who dared to break the racist
boycott and send his child to class with 'niggers'. The words of
the mob were "bestial and filthy and degenerate". They filled
Steinbeck with "a shocked and sickened sorrow".
When will ordinary people and leaders from the unionist community
come out and stand with the children of Holy Cross School?
RM-Distribution
PO Box 160,
Galway,
Ireland
Web Address: http://irlnet.com/rmlist/
Mailto:rmlist-reply@irlnet.com
Phone/Fax: (353)1-6335113
RMD1010907060138u19
Diesel
88888888
http://irlnet.com/rmlist/
Tuesday-Thursday, 4-6 September, 2001
1. LOYALISTS BOMB CHILDREN AT SCHOOL BLOCKADE
* Death threats issued against parents
2. Home destroyed in sectarian attack
3. Nationalist woman escapes abduction
4. Soldier 'finished off' victims inside armoured vehicle
5. Assembly to debate right to education
6. McBride family still seeking justice
7. Skibbereen honours the hunger strikers
8. History: IRA wipe out 'G' Division.
9. Feature: Ardoyne -- Running the gauntlet
10. Analysis: Democracy and loyalism are irreconcilable
>>>>>> LOYALISTS BOMB CHILDREN AT SCHOOL BLOCKADE
The ugly nature of loyalism was further exposed on the Ardoyne
Road in North Belfast this week, when Catholic schoolchildren,
some as young as four, were targeted by a loyalist bomb as they
returned to school for the first week of the new term.
Loyalists want to prevent pupils from the Holy Cross school to
walk along the Ardoyne Road, past the loyalist Glenbryn Estate,
and enter their school by its front gate. Their 'protest' has
been nothing other than an organised sectarian assault on the
children and their parents.
The 400-yard walk along Ardoyne Road through a tunnel of
hate-filled sectarian and even sexual verbal abuse revealed to
the world the nature of loyalism - a racist ideology portraying
nationalists as subhuman.
On Monday, shocked television audiences witnessed a middle-aged
man, just one of many furious loyalists, screaming "Scum! Scum!
Scum!" repeatedly at clearly terrified mothers and children. With
tension in the area at its highest level in weeks, loyalist mobs
in Glenbryn bombarded them with bricks and bottles.
On Wednesday, as the children were running the gauntlet of hate
along Ardoyne Road for the third day, a pipe bomb was hurled at
them. It exploded, injuring four RUC members.
Known UDA figures were among the crowd screaming abuse at the
children, while DUP councillor Nelson McCausland, who was in the
area, had no words of condemnation.
The area's MP, the DUP's Nigel Dodds could only call for a
"cooling off" period and refused to condemn the verbal violence
against innocent children.
DEATH THREATS
On Thursday, the paramilitary Red Hand Defenders issued death
threats against the parents of several children attending the
school. But under the glare of the media spotlight, loyalists
appear to be changing the nature of their blockade, sounding
whistles and foghorns and crashing bin lids as the children go to
school.
Meanwhile, Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams said the blockade of
the school and the loyalist protest should end now. "There can be
no excuse or justification for the sectarian abuse and violence
directed at the children and their parents as they try to make
their way to school," he said. "Children have a right to
education and a right to travel to and from their school free
from threat and intimidation. The picket is being fuelled by
elements of the DUP and the violence is from the UDA and is based
on pure sectarian hatred. Sections of the media have sought to
present this issue as one of 'each side as bad as the other'.
This is not true."
Sinn Fein MP Martin McGuinness has accused unionist politicians
of creating the conditions and encouraging the campaign of
terror against the nationalist and republican community.
"These attacks and threats are designed to provoke the IRA into
retaliation," he said. "It is no coincidence that the upsurge in
loyalist attacks and threats directed at republicans and
nationalists has coincided with David Trimble's agenda to
collapse the political institutions as spelt out in his letter to
the Ulster Unionist Council last October. Both are designed to
put the republican peace strategy under pressure. They will not
succeed.
"We thought that loyalists had stooped as low as they could
during the blockade of Harryville Church but the political vacuum
created by David Trimble in undermining of the institutions and
the British governments' failure to check his actions has
encouraged them to sink to even lower depths.
"Their cowardly sectarian campaign has now spread to targeting
young children, firstly in preventing pupils from going
unhindered to school at Holy Cross in Ardoyne and now underage
GAA members in South Derry wishing to participate in sporting
activities.
He said the UDA -- using another of its flags of convenience --
had forced one business in South Derry engaged in transporting
children to Gaelic sports activities to close. Other businesses
had similarly been threatened "without a whimper of censure from
Unionist politicians," he added.
"While I would encourage everyone to be vigilant and to take
precautions against such threats and attacks it is imperative
that communities do not allow themselves to become paralysed by
paranoia. I would ask the many decent protestant and unionist
people who live in these areas to show solidarity and support for
their nationalist and republican neighbours by letting it be
known that there is no support for this activity."
>>>>>> Home destroyed in sectarian attack
"I can't offer you a cup of tea because there is no electricity,"
says Christine Kelly, "but I've plenty of toast in the kitchen."
The Catholic mother of two is putting a brave face on it. Her
hands are shaking with the trauma of her family's ordeal but she
can still crack a joke or two.
Inside the kitchen, everything is black and charred, incinerated
in a fire which swept through the back of the Kelly family's
North Belfast home after a petrol bomb was deliberately thrown
into an outside heating oil tank. "They must have prized off the
cap because I had the tank padlocked," says Christine.
Not only is the back kitchen completely destroyed, so are a
downstairs living room, upstairs bathroom, a back bedroom and
third storey attic room. Christine shows me around each of the
rooms, the family's possessions lie blackened and ruined. "At
least no one was killed," says Christine.
Just before the attack, Christine had called her elder son,
16-year-old Joseph out of the back living room where he had been
playing computer games. "I keep the children away from the back
of the house when ever I think there might be any trouble," says
Christine.
Christine was standing outside her front door talking to a
neighbour when the loyalists attack her home shortly after 9pm.
Her younger son ran from the house and alerted Christine to the
attack. "A few hours later when we would have been asleep," says
Christine, "and none of us would have survived."
The fire from the ignited oil tank was so intense two of
Christine's neighbours' homes were also badly damaged.
Michael Crangle and his wife were at home when the blaze ripped
through the roof and down through the ceiling of their bathroom
leaving the room gutted and the rest of the house smoke damaged.
Margaret Goodall, whose home was also damaged in the fire, says
the ordeal has intensified the trauma of her 22-year-old
daughter, who is recovering from a loyalist gun attack at her
place of work earlier this summer.
"We live in a constant state of fear here," says Christine. "We
have fire extinguishers in every room and at night we're too
afraid to draw attention to the house by putting on a light. We
creep about here in semi darkness."
Christine's Newington home is owner occupied, so she has little
hope of ever moving away. "I've sent my children to live with
relatives for the time being," she says, "but in the end we've
nowhere else to go."
>>>>>> Nationalist woman escapes abduction
The loyalist protest directed at school children attending Holy
Cross primary school and the media attention given to it has
ensured that the continuing campaign of violence against
nationalists has gone largely unnoticed.
Over the weekend, a 33-year-old Ardoyne woman returning home from
a friend's house was the target of an abduction attempt at the
junction of Jamaica Street and Alliance Avenue.
Mother of three Ann Kelly said that she became worried when she
noticed a car carrying four men coming towards her from the
direction of the Loyalist Glenbryn area.
The incident happened in the early hours of Saturday morning, 1
September, and the streets were empty.
Kelly says the car drove past her, then turned and drove back
towards the top of Alliance Avenue and returned along the street
towards her.
At this point the woman was in a state of panic and tried to walk
faster, but the loyalists pulled in behind her and she was
grabbed from behind and two of the loyalists tried to drag her
towards the car, thought to be a red Ford Sierra.
As she tried to fight the men off and scream for help she heard
one of the men in the car saying, 'shut the Fenian bitch up, keep
her quiet'. During the struggle one of the attackers punched
Kelly in the face and around the head.
"I just kept struggling and put my feet against the car to stop
them getting me in. I then sunk my teeth into one of the men's
hands, drawing blood, and he let go of me," said Ann Kelly. "I
somehow managed to get free from the other man and run towards my
house"
The loyalists didn't pursue the woman but jumped into the car and
sped off.
Kelly says that she is now going to move as her assailants saw
her going into her house and now know where she lives.
Not far from the Ardoyne attack, at Westland Gardens, a group of
up to six loyalists attacked two teenagers using iron bars.
Trouble flared in the area at about 1.30am when the teenagers
were set upon as the got out of a taxi. The loyalists pulled up
behind them in a car and jumped out brandishing iron bars,
hammers and sticks.
As well as severelt injuring the youths, the the loyalist gang
broke windows in two houses and smashed the windscreen of a car.
The mother of one of the injured youths said he received injuries
to his head, back and shoulder with a hammer and could have been
killed.
As neighbours came out to defend and protect their homes, a gang
of up to 70 loyalists appeared from the direction of Oldpark
Road.
Fierce hand to hand fighting then erupted as the loyalists
attempted to attack the area until the RUC arrived. Residents
criticised the fact that when they came on the scene, the RUC
pointed their Land Rovers at the residents as if they were
responsible for the trouble. No action was taken against the
loyalists.
As with other vulnerable nationalist areas throughout the North,
Westland Gardens has been under constant attack from the UDA
based in the nearby Westland Estate.
Pipe bombers and paint bombers have targeted homes in a series of
organised attacks over the past year with a number of people
being forced to leave their homes.
Sinn Fein's Eoin O'Broin said that while the area had been
attacked on numerous occasions previously the fact that the
loyalists had attacked in such large numbers from the top end
was, "a serious development and a serious escalation".
>>>>>> Soldier 'finished off' victims inside armoured vehicle
A first aid volunteer has told the Bloody Sunday inquiry that she
saw a British paratrooper fire shots into an armoured vehicle
which contained three victims, at least one of whom may have
shown signs of life moments earlier.
The inquiry is attempting to establish what happened on January
30th, 1972, when 13 civil rights demonstrators were shot dead by
British soldiers. A 14th victim died later of his injuries.
Ms Alice Doherty, who was an 18-year-old Knights of Malta officer
with the rank of superintendent said that during the shooting she
and a Knights of Malta colleague, Mr Leo Day, were told that
there were three dead or injured people inside an armoured
personnel carrier.
They approached the vehicle, where a small soldier stood by the
rear doors. The doors were partially open and she and Mr Day
glimpsed three bodies inside, piled on top of one another "like
meat".
She added: "I then heard a moaning sound from inside the Saracen.
I reached forward and grabbed open the door. Immediately the
small soldier kicked it shut . . . I opened the door of the
Saracen again. I saw one of the feet of the boy at the bottom
give a slight twitch.
"Leo Day saw this movement too. One or both of us said words to
the effect that the boy was still alive. The small soldier kicked
the door shut again and told us that we were not allowed to look
inside. Then he lifted up his rifle and poked the barrel through
a flap in the side of the Saracen and fired three shots inside.
"He had to hold the rifle up high so that he could aim it
downwards. After he had fired he said something like 'They're
dead now' or 'They'll not make any more noise now.' "
She said she had never before given details of the incident to
avoid further upset to the families of the deceased.
Meanwhile, the photographer responsible for some of the most
powerful and dramatic images of Bloody Sunday has revealed how he
was almost killed himself.
Robert White, a keen amateur photographer, provided some of the
most enduring and startling photographs taken on Bloody Sunday.
One of his pictures showed Bernard McGuigan taking cover with
other people moments before his head was blown off by an army
bullet.
A short time after taking a picture of another victim, the
witness said he looked out from his position of cover and saw a
soldier raise his rifle and point it at him. He dropped to the
ground only to hear the "whine" of a bullet pass over his head.
In other testimony, a Derry man told Inquiry he witnessed a mock
British Army execution on the edge of the Bogside on Bloody
Sunday.
Thomas Carlin, who was 29-years-old at the time, said he was
making his way home when he came on a British army checkpoint at
Barrack Street. There he saw a car surrounded by soldiers, one of
whom had a pistol.
The soldier with the pistol had pulled a male passenger out of
the car by the hair, the witness said. "He was holding on to the
man's hair with his left hand and with the pistol in his right
hand. He held the pistol to the man's head and fired two shots.
"It looked to me like an execution but I do not think the shots
were fired at his head because I did not see the head move,
although I would have expected a movement or some other sign that
he had been shot," Mr Carlin said.
One of the soldiers shouted "There's another yobbo" and the
witness said he turned and ran. As he ran away the soldier with
the pistol ordered him to stop before firing two shots, he said.
He also described how he saw smoke, which he thought was gun
smoke, billowing from an army sangar on the Derry Walls as he
sheltered near Free Derry Corner when the shooting started.
On Wednesday, a witness broke down in tears yesterday as she
recalled a young man being shot on Bloody Sunday as he appeared
to "lament" over another victim.
Watching from her parents' flat, Olive Mottram said she saw a
body lying at a rubble barricade at Rossville Street with a young
boy kneeling beside it who was obviously distressed.
"As I watched him he straightened himself up. I don't know why,
perhaps somebody shouted to him. Still kneeling, he put his hands
in the air with his hands open and approximately at head height.
"There was nothing in his hands, I am sure of that... I heard a
shot. He fell. I knew he was shot," she said.
In other inquiry news, five former members of the now-defunct
breakaway 'Official IRA', have been granted anonymity.
The men sought anonymity on the grounds that their safety and the
safety of their families could be at risk from loyalist
paramilitaries.
>>>>>> Assembly to debate right to education
The Belfast Assembly will debate a motion calling for support for
the right to education of schoolchildren attending the Holy Cross
Primary School in North Belfast on Monday at its first session
after the summer recess.
Commenting on the motion, which he proposed, Sinn Fein North
Belfast Assembly member Gerry Kelly said:
"It is important that now people from across the political
spectrum have urged a resolution of the disgraceful situation in
North Belfast that the Assembly supports the basic right to
education.
"A cross party message from the Assembly will send out a very
clear message to those loyalists who are targeting school girls
as young as four for sectarian violence and intimidation, that
this is not acceptable and that it is not the way to tackle the
deeper issues.
"I would call upon all the political parties to support this
clear call for basic rights to be upheld."
And Sinn Fein Education Spokesperson, West Tyrone Assembly member
Barry McElduff has said that he will urge the Education Committee
to issue a statement on the situation at the Holy Cross Girls
Primary School when it meets this Thursday.
"As part of the structures arising from the Agreement it would be
important that the Education Committee take a stand on the right
to education of these young school children," he said.
"The right to education is not negotiable. The demand for these
children to be cowed should be treated with the contempt it
deserves. They are entitled to be treated with dignity and
equality, they are not second class citizens.
"Loyalists in Glenbryn should be given all the encouragement
possible to enter into dialogue. The education committee can send
that encouragement. Hopefully a cross party visit to support the
school children, parents and staff at the Holy Cross Girls
Primary School can also be arranged."
>>>>>> McBride family still seeking justice
Tuesday marked the ninth anniversary of the 1992 killing by two
British soldiers of Peter McBride in North Belfast. Guardsmen Mark
Wright and James Fisher remain in the British Army.
The McBride family have judicially reviewed the decisions of two
separate Army Boards to allow Wright and Fisher to remain in the
British Army. The decision on the second judicial review is
expected to be announced soon.
Jean McBride, mother of the victim, said: "It's nine years since
Peter was taken from us. Who would have believed nine years ago
that the two men convicted in a court of law of his murder would
have been allowed to remain in the British Army?
"John Reid was one of many who played a disgraceful role in this
whole affair. He refused to meet me while Minister of State for
the Armed Forces but met with campaigners for the Guardsmen and
expressed 'concern' that they were even in prison.
"Prime Minister Tony Blair allowed his senior ministers to sit on
Army Boards and rubber stamp these decisions. Have they no shame,
no compassion, no sense of injustice?
"For Peter's sake, my family will pursue this until justice is
done. If needs be, we will travel to Germany and let the German
people know that convicted murderers, armed and dangerous, are in
their country. The past nine years have been nine years of shame
but we will continue if it takes another nine years."
>>>>>> Skibbereen honours the hunger strikers
Republicans from all over West Cork attended a hunger strike
commemoration in Skibbereen on Saturday 25 August. Close on 200
participated in the march and this grew to well over 300 for the
main commemoration in the square.
Donnchadh O Seaghdha chaired the proceedings and welcomed all
those present agus chuir se failte speisialta roimh an beirt
cainteoiri Owen Carron agus Coireail McCurtain, agus an beirt
comhairloiri, Aine O'Leary agus Cionnaith O Suilleabhain . He
continued ''we are gathered here to pay honour and homage to
Bobby Sands, Francis Hughes and their comrades for their courage
and integrity in laying down their lifes indefending the
republican struggle .In a few weeks time Martin McGuinness will
be travelling to South Africa to meet Nelson Mandela and one of
his duties there will be to unveil a plaque to the memory of the
ten hunger strikers, such has been the impact of the sacrifices
of the hunger strikers wordwide. Struggle, resistance and
solidarity know no boundaries. A victory for the oppressed people
of South Africa was a victory for us and a victory for us is a
victory for them. We also pay tribute to those who supported the
hunger strikers of 1981 from the Skibbereen and West Cork area."
Coireail MacCurtain, republican former prisoner from West
Limerick, who taught Bobby Sands Gaeilge in Long Kesh, then
addressed the crowd: ''Ta an athas orm a bheith anseo anocht mar
ta se an tabhachtach go mbaillionn daoine le cheile chun onoir
agus omois a thabhairt dos na laochra siud a fuair bas ar stailc
ocrais i 1981, an iobairt ba mhisniula agus ba chroga a tharla
riamh I stair na tire seo. Deichniuir a fuair bas ag cosaint
ainm agus chlu poblachtanaigh, ni raibheadar sasta geilleadh do
ri Shasana agus a ra gur coirpigh iad mar bhiodar ag iarraidh an
smal sin a chur ar poblachtanaigh tri cheile ar fud na hEireann.
Ta tionchar an stailc ocrais sin le feiscint fos ar fud na tire
mar nuair a smaoinaionn tu siar ba phairti an-bheag e Sinn Fein i
1981, anois taimid an-laidir sna se chontae agus ag fas freisin
sna 26 chontae agus an mor chuid den bhuiochas sin ag dul do
Bobby Sands Francis Hughes agus a chomradaithe a fuair bas i
1981.'
"I got to know Bobby Sands in 1974 in Long Kesh - like all the
other hunger strikers he was just an ordinary person. Bobby was a
great football player, athlete, musician and had tremendous love
for his language and culture. The British thought they were
striking at the weakest and most vulnerable, but in reality they
were taking on the bravest and the best of our people . By their
courage and sacrifices they preserved the honour and integrity of
the struggle for freedom and justice in Ireland.
Owen Carron spoke of how he has spoken at commemorations all over
Ireland this Summer and is still struck even 20 years after, by
the many people who are still being moved by the hunger strikers,
many of whom were not born at that time.
"I thought that when republicans flocked from all over Ireland
and got Bobby
Sands elected MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone that that would
save his life. But the cold and ruthless British government
wouldnt meet the prisoners wouldn't recognise their mandate . It
didn't matter that 100,000 people marched after the coffin of
Bobby Sands, that the Longshoreman's union blocked the port of
New York and that the parliament of New Delhi stood in silence.
"I am heartened to come here tonight to see that many people down
here in Skibbereen understand that the struggle that is going on
in the Six Counties is the same struggle, whether you live in
Derry, Belfast, Leitrim or Skibbereen.
Before the ceremony was concluded the cathaoirleach Donnchadh O
Seaghdha
paid tribute to Joseph O'Sullivan of Fachtnas Terrace, who left
his sick bed to be present. Joe was the only remaining link with
a previous generation of republicans at the time of the hunger
strikes.
>>>>>> History: IRA wipe out 'G' Division.
Throughout the summer of 1919, amid cries of outrage and
denunciation from the clergy, the IRA began executing detectives
of the 'G' division of the Dublin Metropolitian police (DMP).
The greatest threat to the safety of IRA Volunteers, during the
early days of the Tan War, came from the political detective
branch, the 'G' Division of the DMP. The 'G' men, as they became
known, had been engaged in political work for years, spying on
IRA Volunteers and identifying leaders of the Army. Their chief
function, however, was to guide military raiding-parties to the
homes of members of the Republican Movement, in particular
members of Sinn Fein.
Warnings from the Irish Republican Army to cease their activities
were ignored and in July 1919, Michael Collins, the then Director
of Intelligence, formed an active service unit, comprising of
twelve of the most skilled Volunteers from the Dublin Brigade of
the IRA. These men became known as the 'Twelve Apostles'. Towards
the end of July, and after a period of intense intelligence
gathering by the IRA, the systematic execution of the detectives
of the 'G; division began.
One 'G' man, Det. Constable Dan Hoey, was particularly active in
apprehending IRA leaders. Hoey, a tall, elderly grim faced man
had identified Sean McDermott in 1916. As the rebel prisoners
were lined up and marched towards the North Wall to be interned
in England, McDermott was recognised by Hoey as being one of the
leaders of the rising. Hoey had him dragged from the lines. He
was taken away to face a British Courts Martial and was
subsequently executed. Had it not been for Hoey, McDermott would
have been interned with the other prisoners.
Undeterred by the execution of his colleagues, Hoey persisted
with his activities against the IRA. In August 1919, he led a
raiding party of British military on the Mansion House, during
which Collins narrowly avoided capture by scaling a rope ladder
and escaping through a skylight.
A month later, Collins and Harry Boland had another narrow escape
when a British Army raiding party assisted by the police, led by
Hoey, raided the Sinn Fein headquarters in Harcourt Street.
The following day, on 13 September 1919, on the order of Collins,
Detective Dan Hoey was shot dead outside the Dublin Metropolitian
Police Headquarters on Brunswick Street, known today as Pearse
Street.
Following the execution of Hoey and his colleagues in the 'G'
Division, other 'G' men, finding it impossible to stay at their
homes, moved into the relative safety of Dublin Castle. Many of
them resigned, while others transferred to 'other duties'.
The detectives of the 'G' Division no longer posed a threat to
the IRA.
It was 82 years ago this month that the 'G' Division of the
Dublin Metropolitian Police, the predecessors of the present day
Garda Special Branch, felt the wrath of the Irish Republican
Army.
>>>>>> Feature: Ardoyne -- Running the gauntlet
BY LAURA FRIEL
What would you like me to teach my child?" asks a Catholic
mother, responding to the media. "Should I tell her that our
Protestant neighbours have decided she's a second class citizen
and from now on we'll be going to school by the back door?"
At the corner of Ardoyne Road, the scene is as hostile as the
questioning. British army vehicles straddle the roadway leaving
only a small gap through which parents and their children will be
expected to walk. Beyond the first barrier rows of RUC Land
Rovers and the armoured jeeps of the British army line both sides
of the road.
Hundreds of heavily armed, mostly masked, RUC officers in full
riot gear and British soldiers carrying semi automatic rifles and
prepared for combat, line the route. Just visible at the end of
this corridor of military hardware are the bright blue gates of
Holy Cross Catholic School, a primary school for girls in North
Belfast and the focus of a sectarian campaign of intimidation by
loyalists.
It's over 40 minutes before Holy Cross children are due to walk
to school but halfway down, adjacent to the main Ardoyne Road,
loyalist mobs are already beginning to gather at Hesketh and
Glenbryn Park. The streets are littered with stones, broken
bricks and smashed glass, the debris of confrontation the night
before. Red, white and blue painted bollards mark the entrance to
the Glenbryn estate.
With predictable zeal, loyalist flags, including the Union Jack,
UVF, UDA and Orange Order flags have been erected along the
route. Less predictably, a huge French Tricolour is flying from a
rooftop. It's obviously a case of 'Yaba daba doo, any red, white
and blue will do'. The roar of an overhead helicopter adds to the
oppression of the early morning scene.
At 8.30am, parents from the nearby nationalist estate begin to
arrive with their children. In their red school uniforms, the
young pupils of Holy Cross, from the top of their beribboned
heads to the toe of their polished shoes, have been dressed with
obvious care and attention. These are cherished children from
loving homes. And for parents and pupils this should have been a
day of pleasure and pride.
Yesterday, Monday, the first day of the new school year, parents
and pupils had been forced to run a gauntlet of sectarian abuse
and attack by loyalists lining the route to Holy Cross School.
The RUC operation to afford the children protection had been
woefully inadequate, if not down right half hearted. Children,
many as young as four and five, had wept and screamed in
bewilderment and fear as loyalists hurled their particular brand
of hate.
"Scum, scum, scum," the mob had chanted. Catholic parents had
been told to "get that Fenian Bastard out of here." Catholic
mothers were subjected to particularly nasty sexual verbal abuse.
Distressed, and by then also desperate, parents had pulled their
crying children close, many covering their ears and eyes as if
this could somehow shield them from the worst excesses of hatred
in which they had been unwittingly plunged. "I didn't expect it
to be as bad as this," one parent said.
Pelted with stones, bottles and fireworks, the children had
arrived at Holy Cross hysterical and too afraid to stay. A
teacher described a child cowering in a corner and others hiding
under desks as the mob outside continued to lay siege to the
school gates. Newly appointed parish priest, Fr. Aidan Troy, who
had accompanied parents and children on the route to the school,
described the journey as "beyond my worst nightmare".
"I have been in many troubled areas in the world," said Fr. Troy.
"In 30 years of being a priest, I have never seen anything like
this."
And the scenes had been heartbreaking. As news broadcasters
flashed the images across the world, they were watched by
thousands, perhaps millions, of people, but most particularly by
northern nationalists. Sectarianism in whatever form is always
ugly, but stripped of all pretence, it is hideous.
British journalists, upon whom the mantle of apologist for
unionism has rested so comfortably for years, repeatedly focused
their hostility towards nationalist parents. "Just why were they
subjecting their children to such an ordeal?"
Traumatised mothers and their children were hauled up before the
cameras by a media still running along the parallel tracks of the
'two tribes' model. Increasingly desperate commentators tried to
build a picture of events in which both sides were equally
blameworthy.
But how could the images of the baying mob, hurling insults and
missiles, be equated with the tearstained faces of terrified
children, some barely more than babies? The story had already
careered off the rails. The power relationship of oppressed and
oppressor had been exposed by the display of naked sectarianism
captured on screen, just as it had been in Alabama decades ago.
And sadly, while loyalists, caught up in rivalry between various
of their paramilitary groups, may well have orchestrated this,
there appears to have been no shortage of Protestant residents
willing to attach themselves to the cause. Screaming sectarian
abuse in front of cameras caused no visible sign of shame amongst
many Glenbryn residents, who appeared totally immune or unaware
of their own despicable behaviour.
Brazen-faced in her bigotry, a resident old enough to be a
grandmother demanded to know "why should there be four Fenian
schools in a Protestant area?" No pretence here that this was
something other than what we can see before our own eyes.
This is not David Ervine's 'cry for help and understanding'.
There are no 'great complexities' as suggested by Church of
Ireland Primate Robin Eames, too difficult for outsiders to
comprehend, as some unionist politicians and commentators have
suggested. This is the white supremacist calling the black a
'****** '.
So what if the object of their racist venom just happens to be a
four-year-old whose only 'crime' is walking to school past their
front door? What's the big deal? A Fenian is a Fenian from the
day it is born.
And should we really be surprised by this shocking display of
hatred and intolerance? For decades, anti-Catholic sectarianism
has been fostered and utilised in the interests of British
occupation in the North. If the residents of Glenbryn have no
shame, it is because they have been shamefully used.
And many loyalist leaders, like Billy Hutchinson, are intelligent
enough to know this. They lack, not insight, but the political
will to lead their constituency out of this cul de sac of
reaction.
Day two, Tuesday, and as parents wait, children who arrived
stoically, with even an occasional smile, begin to wilt under the
pressure. Offering comfort and support, local priests, teachers
and members of the school's board of governors join parents and
pupils as they wait to walk to school.
As the decision is taken to set off, some of the children
collapse into tears and panic and are taken home. Others, pale
with fear, cling to mothers and fathers who remain calm despite
their own visible anxiety.
The RUC and British Army have decided that only parents and
pupils will be allowed to walk the 400-yard stretch along the
Ardoyne Road to Holy Cross School. Even a clear view of the road
has been obscured. Relatives, friends and neighbours stand aside.
Everyone is very aware that this ordeal will not only be faced by
some of the most vulnerable and defenceless members of this
community but that they will be facing it alone. Cut off from
their own neighbourhood, parents and pupils are now totally
dependant for their protection upon the discredited RUC and a
hostile army of occupation. Some of those left behind are already
tearful, and everyone is afraid.
A threat against Catholic parents, issued the night before in the
name of the Red Hand Defenders, adds to the tension. Just minutes
earlier, the sound of an explosion ripped through the air as a
blast bomb was thrown further along the Ardoyne Road. From behind
the cordon, another blast is heard and within minutes a number of
ambulances begin to arrive.
Unable to see or communicate with their relatives, people in the
waiting crowd begin to panic. Fathers, who had been persuaded it
would be less provocative if they stayed behind, scramble onto
the top of armoured cars and Land Rovers in a desperate attempt
to find out what is happening.
News filters down that the children have arrived at school unhurt
and the crowd settles. Now all we have to do is to get them home
safely when the school day ends and then tomorrow the process
starts over again.
Day three, Wednesday, and the British Army and RUC are out in
force again. As parents and children make their way along the
Ardoyne Road loyalists gathered at a junction within the Glenbryn
estate throw a pipe bomb, packed with shrapnel. Falling just a
few feet short of its intended target, the bomb explodes,
injuring four RUC officers. A mother screams, "Oh God, Oh God,"
and runs, dragging her terrified child away from the junction.
Other mothers and their children cry out and begin to run.
Fr. Troy stands at the junction, arms raised as he tries to calm
traumatised parents, now terrified for the safety of their
children. The scene is one of hysteria and panic. "This is
carnage," says Fr. Troy. "It is beyond belief."
Inside the school grounds, teachers try to comfort pupils and
parents. "This is attempted murder," one tearful mother says. "
They tried to murder babies and the mothers of babies today."
"It was absolute chaos," says Philomena Flood, who was walking
with her seven-year-old daughter Erin when the attack took place.
"There were children everywhere and we were trying to grab our
own and get to school."
Outside and amidst the ranks of loyalist protestors, John White
of the Ulster Democratic Party and Billy Hutchinson of the
Progressive Unionist Party both condemned the attack. "I am
totally ashamed to be a loyalist today," says Billy Hutchinson,
calling for the loyalist protest to end.
"It was disgraceful that any situation should come to this," says
John White choosing his words carefully, before accusing the RUC
of "attacking innocent people".
For decades, northern nationalists have been forced to run the
gauntlet of sectarian hatred, but in the words of Minister for
Education Martin McGuinness, the time when nationalists will sit
at the back of the bus or go by the back door are gone and gone
for good. If the Good Friday Agreement is to mean anything it has
to mean an end to sectarian harassment and discrimination, and
for the little girls of Holy Cross, the right to walk to school
unmolested.
>>>>>> Analysis: Democracy and loyalism are irreconcilable
BY MICHEAL MacDONNCHA
In his book, 'Travels with Charley', the great American writer
John Steinbeck described the naked hatred of Southern white
racists as they screamed obscenities at a little black girl whose
parents dared to send her to a formerly 'whites only' school in
New Orleans in 1960:
"The big marshals stood her on the curb and a jangle of jeering
shrieks went up from behind the barricades. The little girl did
not look at the howling crowd but from the side the whites of her
eyes showed like those of a frightened fawn. The men turned her
around like a doll, and then the strange procession moved up the
broad walk toward the school, and the child was even more a mite
because the men were so big."
I was reminded of these words when I saw and heard the sickening
assault on children in North Belfast this week. Their faces
distorted with hate, their lips dripping with foul abuse, a
loyalist mob reduced primary school pupils to tears as their
parents brought them to school.
If this were not enough, it was compounded by some of the initial
media coverage. The line from Sky News was that the children were
"caught in the middle of a row between Catholics and
Protestants". We were told it was an "inter-community conflict"
and there were people "on both sides" who did not want
negotiations.
Then from Montrose came the News at One on RTE Radio. Billy
Hutchinson of the PUP was given the softest of interviews by
presenter Sean O'Rourke and went unchallenged when he declared
that what they had seen that morning was a "display of
republicanism"! Republicans were to blame again. Not once did
Hutchinson offer criticism or condemnation of the bigots - his
constituents - who taunted children and, much worse, Sean
O'Rourke did not ask him to offer any.
The Ardoyne children's tears were tears of fear but the cry of
that mob was a cry from the rotten heart of loyalism. Let us put
all the nonsense aside. It is not sectarian to tell the truth.
And the truth is that loyalism is sectarianism and unionism is
its political expression. This is not a culture or a tradition;
it is a reactionary political force, a force which must be
defeated if democracy is to flourish.
As the children ran the sectarian gauntlet, Paisley and Trimble
were meeting to coordinate their opposition to changes in
policing. The British government's policing plan falls short of
Patten but it is still too much for the unionist leadership. The
London and Dublin governments have allowed unionism to reduce the
tide of change to a trickle and the politics of progress is mired
in a swamp.
Both governments should remember that the white racists who ruled
the Southern states, their brethren in South Africa, and the
landlord class who once ruled all Ireland did not give up their
privileges willingly. They had to be forced one way or another.
There can be reconciliation between people in Ireland. But there
cannot be reconciliation between Irish democracy and the scourge
of loyalism, whether it masquerades as a 'cultural tradition' or
shows its true face as it did in North Belfast this week. The
bigots must be shown that change is not only inevitable and
irreversible but rapid and irresistible.
The foulest abuse outside that school in New Orleans in 1960 was
reserved for the white parent who dared to break the racist
boycott and send his child to class with 'niggers'. The words of
the mob were "bestial and filthy and degenerate". They filled
Steinbeck with "a shocked and sickened sorrow".
When will ordinary people and leaders from the unionist community
come out and stand with the children of Holy Cross School?
RM-Distribution
PO Box 160,
Galway,
Ireland
Web Address: http://irlnet.com/rmlist/
Mailto:rmlist-reply@irlnet.com
Phone/Fax: (353)1-6335113
RMD1010907060138u19
Diesel
88888888
0
Comments
I noticed yesterday that things were quieter after some of the child bombers were caught.
Still in awe of the protective efforts the previous day for the children...changed my opinion slightly of the 'policing' forces in NI.
Diesel
88888888
Of course England is going to support the Unionists more, the Unionists are in effect on the same side, even if their methods are entirely different, they still want the same result.
I wish you would stop dragging up Irish news reports alone, why don't you try and find some English ones as well? That way you can show the world you aren't at all biased in anyway!
Take this for example:
Posted by Hells Kitchen on September 07, 2001 at 20:31:58:
The Red Hand Defenders have apparently made threats against parents taking their children to school. I say that the IRA or INLA need to find these RHD people and kill them like the animals they are. Republicans are either going to allow themselves to be victims or they are going to fight back. The choice is pretty clear in my opinion. I say take your kids to school and make sure everyone sees you. show these loyalist cocksuckers that Catholics are not afraid of their punk asses.
and if they try any shit- kill them all
I think with people like this running around it is a good idea that the Army remains in N Ireland, and that they themselves decide they arent going to take any shit!
And I'm wondering whether they have color TV in NI...because it is such a good occupier of the mischevious mind.
Our children are our only true and precious treasure in this life...attacking them, either side, is without a doubt the most dangerous challenge that can be laid down.
This situation needs some heroes...heroes from among both sides that can bring them together...otherwise...!
As for why I post these here...it is because so many people from all over the world visit this site...to read. You should be flattered that they come to the site for entertainment, excitement and information.
Diesel
88888888
You really dont wanna try and argue this with Diesel..Hes a diehard republican and theres nothing that will change that.
Diesel, Im wondering just how many Americans in your local area think the same way? Is there a large Irish population in Seattle?
One thing ive always wondered about America is whether the republican and loyalist immigrants get on over there?
For some reason I have an image of you sitting in the local felons club discussing with the local 'RA how to get some ARs into Ireland <IMG alt="image" SRC="http://www.thesite.org/ubb/wink.gif">
Not much need for me to try to get arms to the NI...though I may have done such things in my distant past...however, they like the M-180 and that was manufactured in england under liscence from J.B. Stoner and Armalite.
Our Russian/Ukranian population stands out much more than the Irish...heck, the orientals are the most noticeable of all, and we have a lot of Mexican nationals and the odd African (from Africa).
You english must truly envy the IRA for having the balls to obtain arms and refusing to stand down...while you pay your wages to taxes and comply (or try to) with every edict of government...if you were armed you wouldn't be treated like cattle by the government and you would see and not just hear about the benefits of your labours.
Diesel
88888888
You also seem to gloss over the fact that the IRA want to DISARM all the Irish people, catholic and protestant, the minute they get the Brits out..That fact doesnt quite fit into your RKBA argument does it.
Americans are armed and 95% are sheep same as here.
[This message has been edited by Steelgate (edited 09-09-2001).]
A lot of folks from US and elsewhere visit here whether they post or not...it is the best way to share information...however, if one of the board moderators objects about their leingth the of course I will do something else with them.
The reason for posting it as a seperate topic was intended to allow for an option to anyone not wanting to scroll through a long read in order to get to the next message.
And of course I have to ask whether your objection is really the content because perhaps it is rightly embarassing to some?
Diesel
88888888
A huge mob of over 600 loyalists attempted to force their way
into the nationalist Ardoyne last night as the worst violence for
decades continued this week in North Belfast.
And in an escalation at Holy Cross school yesterday, fireworks
were among the missiles thrown at parents of Catholic schoolgirls
on their way to and from school.
The intention of the UDA-orchestrated attacks across north
Belfast is to terrorise the nationalist population and drive them
from the area.
Last night automatic gunfire, blast bombs, petrol bombs,
fireworks and other missiles were hurled as self-styled loyalist
'protestors' battled with RUC police at a sectarian interface on
the Crumlin Road near the Ardoyne shops.
A bus and car were also hijacked and set on fire during the
violence as the loyalist paramilitary UDA continued to turn the
screw on the terrified nationalist residents in the area.
Earlier in the day, workers carrying out repairs in the
Brookfield Mill complex in Ardoyne narrowly escaped injury or
death in the latest loyalist bomb attack, the fifth in the area
in 24 hours.
The attack, an example of the one-way loyalist war in North
Belfast, was launched across the 'peace line' on Crumlin Road as
the workers carried out repairs to the complex. One man, who was
on a ladder and a workmate who was holding the ladder, both
escaped injury as the device exploded.
According to witnesses, loyalists had been climbing up onto the
wall during the course of the morning and were hurling sectarian
abuse at people in the Mill complex. The loyalists also warned
that they would attack the mill "again".
The Mill has become a focal point for intense loyalist violence
this week. Sinn Fein councillor Margaret McClenaghan said the
latest attacks were clearly UDA attempts to kill. "These people
have been able to walk openly in front of the RUC brandishing
weapons without fear of arrest while they terrorise the
nationalist population."
HOLY CROSS LINK
The attack on Brookfield Mill coincided with lunchtime at Holy
Cross girl's school and appeared timed this attack to terrorise
the children."
Young girls attending the Catholic school, which is located at
the nearby sectarian interface the loyalist Glenbryn estate, have
been forced to run a gauntlet of sectarian hate and violence
every schoolday since the first day of term. RUC police have
formed a corridor to allow the children attend school but have
failed to take action to prevent the abuse and attacks.
Fireworks were thrown yesterday at the parents of pupils at the
school. Loyalists also hurled hot tea, coffee and water at
parents as they were going up the road.
The parents had earlier received a death threat from the Red Hand
Defenders -- a cover name for the UDA -- before going to collect
their children. The threat claimed snipers were in position to
shoot parents as they went to collect their children.
As the fireworks exploded, the parents ducked what they thought
was sniper fire. Loyalists jeered at the obvious tension and
fear among the parents.
The school had deliberately planned two teacher training days for
Monday and Tuesday in an attempt to lower tension in the area,
allowing a four-day break -- but it was not enough.
The Glenbryn residents had been busy in the four-day break --
more flags and bunting greeted the parents and children, and a
new banner across the road proclaimed: "For God and Ulster - God
Save the Queen."
Father Aidan Troy, the chairman of the school's board of
governors, said all the parents were extremely worried about the
walk to school.
"It's amazing how easy it is to forget what is going on here,
this is simply children going to school," he said.
"To see the children traumatised is still sad. Even one or two is
too many. They do not deserve all this.
"And the sad thing is - I don't think there's any end in sight.
There are no plans for any meetings so I presume we'll just have
to carry on."
Sinn Fein MLA Mr Gerry Kelly said yesterday's events signalled a
change in tactics.
"Quite obviously someone has decided to up the ante here. Once
the bangers were thrown a lot of parents thought it was an attack
on them, that they were going to be shot," he said.
Mr Martin McGuinness, the North's education minister, condemned
the intimidation of pupils and parents.
"This is absolutely disgraceful, quite deplorable, and the people
involved in this protest should bring it to an end as a matter of
urgency."
He also reflected the sense of disconnect being felt by
nationalists as the expulsion of their representatives tops the
political agenda in the Belfast Assembly.
"I have to say I am absolutely amazed that a unionist political
delegation is on its way to Dublin today to call for support from
political parties in the south [of Ireland] for the exclusion of
Sinn Fein ministers from the executive".
Meanwhile, the British secretary of state still claims to be
undecided on the state of the self-professed UDA 'ceasefire'.
Even RUC chief constalbe Ronnie Flanagan has now said there is
"ample evidence" to support claims that the UDA had re-engaged in
acts of violence.
But Dr Reid has re-iterated that the UDA 'ceasefire' is
constantly under review.
Sinn Fein assembly member Gerry Kelly said: "The more John Reid
prevaricates on the status of the UDA ceasefire the more I am
convinced that he will be not be prepared to publicly accept that
the UDA is no longer in ceasefire mode until more people have
been killed.
"Does John Reid seriously expect us to believe that with the mass
of resources at his disposal he is unable to identify the
organisation responsible for the ongoing sectarian onslaught?"
>>>>>> RUC watch from jeep as Catholics attacked
In a scene reminiscent of the attack on Portadown Catholic Robert
Hamill, terrified and screaming for help, Carmel Grant pleaded
with armed RUC officers sitting in a jeep outside her Newington
Avenue home to intervene as loyalists laid siege to the back of
her house.
"They refused," says Carmel. "They said they weren't allowed to
leave the jeep."
Standing on a wall to the rear of the house, a gang of loyalist
men pelted the Catholic family's home with bricks and bottles and
bolts. Carmel's husband John, who was in the backyard attempting
to board up a back window, ran for cover into a neighbour's home.
The couple's eleven-year-old son, John, cried out as he watched
loyalists bombard his father with missiles, "Daddy, daddy," he
screamed. As the windows came in around her, eight-year-old
Shauna sought refuge in a front room while her mother ran for
help. It was 3.30pm on a Sunday afternoon.
A few hours later and in another part of North Belfast, loyalists
struck again. A Catholic couple had been spending the afternoon
watching football at their local pub. "We decided to go for a
quiet drink and watch the match," says Frank.
Earlier that day, shortly after noon, loyalists had thrown two
pipe bombs into the Brookfield complex where the pub is situated.
One device, packed with nails, exploded scattering shrapnel
across the yard. The second had been defused.
It was 7.30pm when someone shouted a warning. Loyalists had
broken through security gates that divide the complex from the
Crumlin Road. "Someone shouted to get out," says Frank. "They're
outside, someone said. Everyone was a bit panicky."
Two RUC jeeps were already at the scene and beside them stood RUC
officers in full riot gear. As a local security man struggled to
secure the gates, Frank went over to help. "Once the gates were
locked we thought we'd be safe," says Frank.
At the gates there were between 40 and 50 loyalists shouting and
spitting the usual sectarian venom. "A loyalist with a Scottish
accent shouted 'Fenian bastard' at me and spat in my face," says
Frank.
The loyalist was poking a wooden stick through the rails, it
looked innocuous but it must have been doctored with nails. "I
was hit in the leg, there was blood everywhere," says Frank. "I
thought I'd been shot."
The RUC made no attempt to intervene. They made no attempt to
arrest any of the loyalists laying siege. They did not challenge
the loyalist who, in front of their eyes, had just carried out a
serious assault. Angry and injured, Frank remonstrated with the
RUC officers standing around him. Their response was swift and
decisive.
"I was batoned to the ground and beaten by three RUC officers,"
says Frank. "I was hit across the back of my head and on my arms
and legs." As Frank struggled to his feet one RUC officer lifted
his shield and slammed it down hard on his leg, splitting the
flesh open and breaking the bone.
Diesel
88888888
Come on Deisel send some more money to the IRA and help fund/train the islamic terrorists....as according to you it's OK to kill innocent people in Ireland but not in the USA.
SinnFein/IRA try to murder Child
A two-and-a-half year old Protestant girl has escaped injury in a gun attack on her home during a night of SinnFein/IRA violence in north Belfast.
The attack happened on Monday night at a house at Halliday's Road in the loyalist Tiger's Bay area.
Up to 25 rounds were fired at the house from the SinnFein/IRA nationalist Newington Avenue area.
The child was at her grandmother's home at the time of the attack.
"I have lived here for 30 years, and honestly I have never heard gunfire like that in my life," said the girl's grandmother.
"The child was screaming, I was screaming, and she just kept saying 'Granny I want to go home, I want to go home'."
More than 30 shots were fired during three incidents on Monday, apparently carried out by republican gunmen.
They followed fierce rioting in the area over the weekend.
Sinn Fein/IRA has said Basque separatists will address its party conference in Dublin this weekend.
Speaking at a press conference in Belfast on Tuesday, Sinn Fein party chairman Mitchel McLaughlin said members of the Basque dissident group would address the delegates. The separatist parties will include Euskai Herritarrock and Eusko Alkartasuna.
A Protestant pensioner, living in the Protestant Cambrai Street was in her home when it came under attack from SinnFein/IRA.
Martha Parsons holds the brick used in an attack on her home
Eighty-year-old Martha Parsons said she had no idea why she was targeted.
"Up here it is just getting terrible. I don't know what we were targeted for, the house next door got it too," she said.
Meanwhile, in a separate incident, Protestant homes off the Crumlin Road were attacked.
Stones, bottles and fireworks were also thrown during the sectarian clashes which erupted in the Limestone Road area of the city at about 1500 BST.
About 200 people were involved in the trouble, according to the police.
Nationalists/IRA/Sinn Fein Murder Protestant youth
A Protestant teenager has been killed by a hit-and-run driver in north Belfast
Thomas McDonald, was on a BMX bicycle which was driven over. It is understood that the car involved, a silver Ford Focus chased the Protestant teenager into the Protestant White City estate..North Belfast MP Nigel Dodds : ``A number of witnesses say that a car emerging from a nationalist area mounted the footpath and drove deliberately at the boy knocking him of his bike AND KILLING HIM.``
For every incident you find in favour of the IRA, there is another in favour of the Loyalists.
[This message has been edited by peacechild (edited 28-09-2001).]
I'm not gonna join in the argument due to time restrictions, but I did wonder why it was neccersary to specify that the africans were from Africa........
I would guess he specified because so many blacks in America call themselves African or African-Americans etc etc when most of them dont even know where Africa is on a globe and are as American as the next guy.
"Politicians are the lowest form of life on the earth. Liberal Democrats are the lowest form of politician" George Patton
I've been watching CNN & NBC news following the WTC Attack, and they are hilarious. Either the US Media is really patronising or they need to treat their views like schoolchildren. Bearing in mind that many US citizens think London and England are the same place and in a survey for 'TV Nation' couldn't locate Europe on a map of the world, I suspect it is the latter.
And before BBH and Diesel give me stick, I do know that not ALL American are dumbasses, some of the posts on her have proved that in the past. That said, it is REALLY dumb supporting a terrorist organisation which trains and arms the enemies of your country (ie Islamic Extremeists, Colombian Terrorists etc), something which the IRA have done openly for decades now...
"Perhaps my best years are gone, but I wouldn't want them back. Not with the fire in me now." - Samuel Beckett
I see on the news today that NI is boiling over...again...and some idiot wanted both sids to decomission their weapons...right!
Either the english will get out and 'they' will get along...or they stay and the fighting boils on and on!
If you folks are hearing any news about the SAS in Afganistan...please post it...ours gets sanatized...we have only heard that they are there and there was a bit of shooting.
Diesel
88888888
So call them 'Americans'.
What is with this 'African-American' crap anyway? You have a go at us for our PC approach and yet you use this crap. Surely you are all just Americans...?
I presume that you would prefer that only one 'side' disarmed.
Noting of course that the IRA plan to do EXACTLY that if ever they take control of Ireland. The only people who would have guns then would be the IRA - by your own definition of freedom and the 'rights' a free man has - you could hardly then describe them as fighting for freedom. What they are actually doing is fighting for the right to opress their own countrymen.
Of course, it is difficult to see this when you are thousands of miles away and your only real link with the 'old country' was several generations ago - like many of your countrymen. So has the FBI cracked down on Noraid yet? Or is George W just full of wind when he talks about a war on terrorism and those who support terrorism?
"Perhaps my best years are gone, but I wouldn't want them back. Not with the fire in me now." - Samuel Beckett
An honorable solution in NI would require that all sides keep their arms and have free access to replenishing them and resupplying ammunition...create a whole new national sport...shttoint...at targets...maybe together someday.
Diesel
88888888
>>>>>> Flash: Irish journalist shot dead
A well-known Irish journalist was shot dead by loyalists close to
his home in Lurgan, County Armagh, tonight.
Martin O'Hagan, who worked for the northern edition of the
popular Dublin-based Sunday World, was walking home from the
local pub with his wife when he was murdered.
A gunman pulled up beside him in a car in Wheatfield Gardens and
shot him. He died at the scene. A burnt-out car which was found
later near the scene of the shooting.
Mr O'Hagan and other Sunday World journalists have received
loyalist death threats as far back as 1992.
There was speculation tonight that the loyalist paramilitary UDA
and/or the LVF may have been responsible for the murder. Both
organisations are jointly involved in an escalating campaign of
violence to destroy the 1998 Good Friday Agreement under the
cover name of the 'Red Hand Defenders'.
After several days of UDA violence in Belfast and elsewhere, the
British Secretary of State Dr John Reid earlier today gave a
"final warning" to the UDA that further violence would lead him
to declare their 'ceasefire' to be at an end.
The murder of Mr O'Hagan took place as Dr Reid cracked jokes on
the Late Late Show, a light entertainment show broadcast live
from Dublin. Dr Reid he has not yet commented on the murder,
which is being seen as an act of loyalist defiance. A declaration
that the UDA or LVF 'ceasefire' is over could be quickly followed
by a move to re-imprison loyalist paramilitaries released on
licence following the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.
Mr O'Hagan was a key witness in a case over the book and
television documentary 'The Committee', which uncovered evidence
that prominent unionist figures, members of the British forces
and loyalist paramilitaries were involved in a long-running
secret campaign of violence against nationalists. Mr O'Hagan had
interviewed loyalist Jim Sands, whose allegations formed the
basis for the documentary and book by Sean McPhelimy.
The loyalist death squad which murdered Mr O'Hagan may also have
assassinated prominent human rights lawyer Rosemary Nelson in the
same town in 1999. A campaign is continuing for a full
independent inquiry into the murder of Mrs Nelson, who had
received death threats from RUC police prior to her murder.
Martin O'Hagan's editor, Jim McDowell, said he was "devastated"
by the murder and described it as "an attack on the freedom of
speech and freedom of the press".
He said he was not aware Mr O'Hagan was under any threat at this
time. In the early 70's, the paper's former northern editor Jim
Campbell was shot several times by a loyalist gunman on the
doorstep of his north Belfast home.
c. RM Distribution and others. Articles may be reprinted with credit.
Diesel
88888888
Have any political opinion you want. It's your right, and there are valuable points to all views. But nothing gives ANYONE the right to terrorism. There is no heroism in a bomb blast. I will not shoot an innocent person just to make a point, to get my own way, or to get attention for my point of view.
Decommission, give our fragile parliment room to breathe. We can sort it out like adults using a democratic system, with no bullies holding the people of Northern Ireland to ransom. Maybe I'm an idealist, but after knowing nothing but violence I have the right to hope. The only alternative is to let all the terrorists win.
From here I can only be an 'observer' with an opinion...opinions tend to piss folks off no matter their source.
You seek peace and security at the price of the ability to protect yourself...you willhave neither...look at the mess in england from that kind of thinking.
Lastly, at least be on one side or the other...if you are in the middle both sides will be shooting at you...there can be no neutrality within.
Diesel
88888888
Your money also helps keep the IRA leadership in a luxury that most people only dream of.
The IRA is illegal in Southern Ireland ever wondered why ?
The IRA run drugs, protection, prostitution and most major crime in NI that's why they don't want to give up they would lose their power.
Very few people in NI support the terrorists of either side.
These terrorists aren't moral heroes, they're criminal, power-hungry thugs. They don't defend poeple's rights they trample on them.
No neutrality? Bollocks.
NO terrorist with a gun represents me.
I have my side, it's the side that is taking a stand against terrorism, fear and intimidation. I want peace, and I'm not stupid or deluded. This hope cannot die, this hope is our only chance of breaking the cycle.
People's lives ARE the most important thing, NOT the politics.
I want to welcome the steps being taken by the Irish government
to re-inter the ten IRA Volunteers buried in Mountjoy jail and to
urge people to attend their State funeral on October 14th in
Dublin. Republicans have always remembered and commemorated with
pride those who gave their lives so that future generations may
live in better times.
Republicans continually look to the future and how best to
achieve our goals but we also acknowledge that it was the
sacrifice of previous generations that has brought us closer to
the objectives of independence, justice and a lasting peace.
The forgotten ten played their part and we will commemorate their
lives with pride.
Suineas siorai do Kevin Barry, Thomas Whelan, Patrick Moran,
Thomas Bryan, Patrick Doyle, Frank Flood, Bernard Ryan, Thomas
Traynor, Patrick Maher and Edward Foley. I measc laochra na nGael
go raibh siad.
We know the difference between a freedom fighter and a terrorist.
And that the second can be an agent of a government and a foreign
one at that. There are elements on this island who say there
should be a repudiation of those who used force to win freedom
and that Ireland should apologise for our patriots.
I am sure that even at this serious juncture America is not going
to apologise for George Washington, who would expect them to,
neither should the Irish nation apologise for Wolfe Tone, or
Padraig Pearse or James Connolly, or Maire Drumm, or Mairead
Farrell or Bobby Sands or Kevin Barry.
Quoted from RM
Diesel
88888888
Your efforts to win us over to the cause are fruitless, and I only hope that our leaders think "hmm, there are terrorists in Northern Ireland too, I think we should bomb the crap out of them". And unlike the Taliban it will be a lot easier because they haven't been trained by special forces. But then of course, you wouldn't support such a controvesial strike because you are simply a hypocrit.
Not the lack of denial that the people training US enemies in Colombia were IRA Activists, and that these groups sent delegates along with some from Islamic fundalmetalist groups. Not that he claims that the attacks on the US are a 'setback' for international terrorism. And finally note that terrorism is 'ethically indefensible" - his words - kinda makes you wonder why he involves himself in the process then, doesn't it?
"Perhaps my best years are gone, but I wouldn't want them back. Not with the fire in me now." - Samuel Beckett