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News about the Irish & Irish American culture, music, news, sports. This is hosted by the Irish Aires radio show on KPFT-FM 90.1 in Houston, Texas (a Pacifica community radio station)
September 13, 2005
2 Yr Old Scarred by Loyalist Violence
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News about Ireland & the Irish
BT 09/13/05 Scarred By Loyalist Violence & Only Two Yrs Old
BT 09/13/05 Anger Over Pipe Bombs Left Close To Classrooms
BT 09/13/05 Homes Hit In Racial Attacks On Foreigners
BT 09/13/05 Third Night Of Chaos
BT 09/13/05 Child Suspects In Court After Riots
DI 09/13/05 Nationalists Protect Themselves From Mob
DI 09/13/05 Springfield Siege
BB 09/13/05 Catholic Graves Damaged In Church Attack
BT 09/13/05 Derry Police Want CCTV To Combat Attacks
DI 09/13/05 Opin: British Need To Get Serious On Loyalists
BT 09/13/05 Loyalists 'Let Down' By The Peace Process
BT 09/13/05 DUP Appeals For End To Violence
BT 09/13/05 Durkan Attacks Unionist For Dangerous Rhetoric
BT 09/13/05 Shankill Inquiry Planned
UN 09/13/05 Blame: Finger Pointed At UVF Thugs & Unionist
BB 09/13/05 Protestant Fears And Loyalist Anger
RE 09/13/05 Riots Reveal Deep-Seated Protestant Malaise
UT 09/13/05 Republicans 'Must Reach Out To Unionists'
BT 09/13/05 Too Early To Count Cost Of Riots
******************************************
Caleb Finnegan (22 months) was left with severe head injuries after loyalists tried to hijack his mother's car in Belfast and threw a rock through the window hitting him in the head.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=661343
Scarred By Violence, And He's Only Two Years Old
The toddler hit in the face by a rioter's brick
By Marie Foy
mfoy@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
13 September 2005
THIS is the terrified toddler who needed 12 stitches in his
forehead after he was hit by a brick in north Belfast
during the weekend riots.
The 22-month-old youngster had been in his dad's car when
it was attacked by a gang hurling missiles.
Robert Moore said they had been caught in "a nightmare
situation".
Mr Moore had been driving young Caleb home to his mum in
south Belfast when they were ambushed at Fortwilliam
shortly before 9pm on Saturday night.
"Caleb sustained a large laceration to his forehead and a
slight fracture to his skull," he said. "He could have had
brain damage or had his eye put out. He will likely have a
permanent scar."
The front windscreen of the car and two side windows were
smashed.
"I was coming down Donegall Park Avenue and saw that the
motorway was blocked by a lorry. It was at that point that
about four to six people emerged from nowhere throwing
bricks," he said.
"It was dark as the street lights were out.
"It was pretty frightening. I didn't stop and when I looked
round Caleb was saturated in blood. He was very distressed.
"I came to a police Land Rover and sat with him in the back
for about 20 minutes until an ambulance came.
"That was frightening too as the police were being attacked
and shots had been fired. I was covered in Caleb's blood as
well, there was so much.
"I think it is important to highlight to these people the
sort of damage they are doing to ordinary, decent people.
"I am from the Protestant community myself but these
problems should be worked out by the politicians and not
allowed to escalate into rioting."
******************************************
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=661372
Anger Over Pipe Bombs Left Close To Classrooms
By Nevin Farrell
newsdesk@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
13 September 2005
A PRIMARY school principal in Ballymena last night spoke of
her anger at those who left three pipe bombs close to
classrooms, saying: "The children could have died if they
had gone off."
Lesley Meikle told of her relief that none of the 140
evacuated pupils at Harryville Primary School was hurt and
said the school would re-open today.
Police confirmed an Army explosives team defused three
viable pipe bombs found at Casement Street.
The PSNI said they believe the devices were left for use in
street disorder which had occurred in the Harryville area
in recent nights involving loyalists.
A spokesman said there was nothing to suggest that the pipe
bombs were deliberately targeted at the school.
But police chief, inspector Mark Dennison, said leaving the
devices so close to the school was "totally irresponsible".
Earlier, as the bomb alert unfolded, several schoolchildren
burst into tears when they heard sirens and saw the army
bomb squad coming to the area a short time after they were
evacuated.
Mrs Meikle, who had disguised the evacuation as a fire
drill said: "They thought they were going to be hurt and
that somebody was coming to get them."
Mrs Meikle said it was "despicable" that people should
leave pipe bombs close to a school.
"They were putting the lives of young children at risk and
also the lives of senior citizens who live in the house,
and other people," she added.
DUP councillor Beth Adger, a member of the Board of
Governors at Harryville PS, said: "This is ridiculous that
young children should be targeted. Young children's lives
could have been lost and I admire the teachers for getting
them out of the school as quick as possible."
******************************************
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=661381
Homes Hit In Racial Attacks On Foreigners
By Linda McKee
newsdesk@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
13 September 2005
SEVEN homes were attacked in Dungannon at the weekend as a
gang targeted east European residents.
Cars were set on fire and windows smashed in a number of
homes on the Ballygawley Road estate shortly after 3.30am
on Sunday.
At one stage a number of men forced their way into a house
and smashed up furniture. Firefighters were stoned as they
tried to extinguish a burning car.
There were no reports of any injuries.
Police said a number of rumours circulating over the
weekend may have fed into the violence but these were found
to be groundless.
They also said they had not received the complaints that
might have been expected in the event of the rumours having
been true.
The PSNI said it was treating the attacks on the properties
of Latvian, Lithuanian and Polish residents as purely
racial in motive.
District commander Superintendent Frances Nolan said the
violence directed against innocent families and residents
was nothing short of shameful.
A surgery has been set up at the local leisure centre to
meet the needs of families affected, organised by police,
social services, the Housing Executive and the Polish
Welfare Association.
Superintendent Nolan appealed for co-operation from the
community to identify and isolate those responsible for the
disturbance.
******************************************
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=661380
Third Night Of Chaos
By Deborah McAleese
newsdesk@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
13 September 2005
SIMMERING tensions erupted again in Belfast last night as
police came under violent attack for a third evening.
Fireworks, petrol bombs and other missiles were launched at
police on Cambrai Street in the north of the city during a
night of sporadic violence.
An officer was knocked unconscious after being hit on the
head with a brick at West Circular Road and New Barnsley
police station in west Belfast was targeted by a gang of
petrol bombers.
Several areas of the city were blocked as gangs of rioters
hurled petrol bombs and stones at police and motorists.
Cars were hijacked and set alight in north Belfast,
blocking the Crumlin Road/Ligoniel junction.
Several cars were also torched in the Newtownards area.
Early indications last night were that violence was not as
widespread as previous nights when around 50 police
officers were injured and 500 plastic baton rounds
discharged.
However, there was still disruption across the city.
Laganbank Road, Roden Street, the Westlink and the
Grosvenor Road roundabout were closed due to stoning.
Trouble on the Shore Road also broke out closing the road
at the Fortwilliam junction.
Crates of petrol bombs and paint bombs were seized during
police searches at Ligoniel.
And police officers also prevented a bus from being
hijacked on the nearby Crumlin Road.
Also last night a 34-year-old man was charged with a
terrorist offence in relation to rioting in the Highfield
area on Saturday, when shots were fired at police.
He is due to appear before Laganside Magistrate's Court
today charged with possession of a firearm, ammunition and
explosives with intent to endanger life.
The Policing Board will be briefed about this week's
violence during a meeting on Thursday. Board members will
be given the opportunity to question senior PSNI officers
about the violence that erupted following the re-routed
Whiterock parade on Saturday.
Speculation was mounting last night that Secretary of State
Peter Hain would withdraw recognition of the UVF and UDA
ceasefires within 48 hours.
Mr Hain said: "The evidence I have seen is absolutely
clear-cut. If it wasn't clear-cut before, it's absolutely
categorical now."
******************************************
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=661374
Child Suspects In Court After Riots
13 September 2005
A TOTAL of 18 people arrested in Belfast over the weekend
appeared at the Magistrates Court yesterday on a variety of
charges.
Most of the 14 men and four juveniles were remanded in
custody on charges of riotous assembly, riotous behaviour,
assaults on police, resisting arrest, criminal damage and
possessing offensive weapons, including golf balls.
Magistrate Sarah Creanor said that in view of the
continuing unrest she would not consider granting bail
except where a defendant had an alternative address outside
Belfast.
One man was released after he said he could live in a
caravan at Castlerock, Co Londonderry.
A solicitor for another man said he was heavily intoxicated
and was arrested in east Belfast after he stumbled out of a
bar into a riot situation.
Two 14-year-old juveniles were dressed in police-issue
boiler suits after their clothes were taken for forensic
examination.
Before being remanded in custody to a Youth Justice Centre
they hugged and kissed their mothers.
Meanwhile, three people were remanded in custody yesterday
correct in connection with disturbances which erupted in
Ballymena on Sunday morning in the aftermath of the re-
routing of Saturday's Whiterock Orange Order parade.
They are Jason Raymond Kirk (31), of Alfred Street Place,
and Stuart Kevin Brown (26), from Brooke Park - both in the
Harryville area of Ballymena.
A 17-year-old youth, who cannot be named because of his
age, also appeared at the sitting in Coleraine Courthouse.
They each faced a charge of riotous assembly with others
and were remanded in custody.
Kirk was further charged with obstructing police and the
17-year-old faced a second charge of resisting police.
All three are due to appear via video link at Ballymena
Magistrates Court on Thursday.
******************************************
http://dailyireland.televisual.co.uk/home.tvt?_scope=DailyIreland/Content/News&id=9698&opp=1
Nationalists Protect Themselves From Mob
Francesca Ryan
On a day which saw loyalist violence spiral out of control
across Belfast, nationalist residents of the Grosvenor Road
found themselves forced to protect their homes from a 200-
strong mob that had flooded across the Westlink from the
direction of the loyalist Sandy Row area.
The crowd caused traffic chaos on the Westlink, a major
artery in the city.
Speaking to Daily Ireland, Sinn Féin's Fra McCann said it
was a "disgrace" that so many loyalists had made it so far
up the road without being intercepted by the PSNI.
"These people came a far enough distance. They had to cut
across the Westlink on a busy Saturday afternoon to get to
the Grosvenor Road. Even more importantly, they had to pass
the heavily fortified Grosvenor Road barracks. It's a
disgrace that they were able to do so."
Councillor McCann said many locals feared a repeat of
Bombay Street in 1969 when Catholics were burnt out of
their homes by loyalists.
"This mob was making threats, telling the residents that
they were gong to be burnt out. They were throwing
missiles, shouting sectarian abuse. They smashed a car
windscreen and were doing their best to get to a statue of
Our Lady that was in the garden of a house in Devonshire
Street," said Councillor McCann.
It wasn't until people heard the mob and came out of their
homes and local shops to defend themselves that the crowd
finally retreated back across the Westlink.
"The young people of this area must be commended for their
efforts in chasing this mob from the road. This was an
orchestrated attack which saw loyalists clearly try to
provoke nationalists into a riot situation but our appeals
for calm and restraint were heard and nationalists refused
to get involved."
******************************************
http://dailyireland.televisual.co.uk/home.tvt?_scope=DailyIreland/Content/News&id=9776&opp=1
Springfield Siege
Francesca Ryan
Nationalist residents of west Belfast's Springfield Road
claim they were subjected to two hours of loyalist
intimidation and threats on Saturday as PSNI officers stood
by.
The claims came after Orangemen and bandsmen held a protest
on the Springfield Road in protest at the Parades
Commission's decision not to permit an Orange Order parade
to process via Workman Avenue onto the Springfield Road.
Throughout last week, loyalists blocked roads in north and
west Belfast in protest at the decision. The real trouble
began on Saturday afternoon when a mob of Orangemen and
bandsmen gathered at the junction of the Springfield Road
and Watermouth Crescent.
A 500-strong mob made its way up the Springfield Road and
stopped for almost two hours outside the nationalist cul-
de-sac of Watermouth Crescent. The mob verbally abused
residents and threatened to return later that night to burn
them out of their homes. Only six PSNI officers were
present. Most officers were stationed further down the road
at Workman Avenue, where loyalists threw blast bombs and
missiles across closed gates at residents.
One resident, who did not wish to be named, told Daily
Ireland: "There were only two Land Rovers at the end of the
street and only six cops to supposedly protect us from this
mob. The few cops that were there were leaning against the
wall watching us being abused.
"I have never experienced anything like that in my life.
"It was absolutely terrifying and we had nowhere to go.
"This is a cul-de-sac so we were just hemmed in and
subjected to abuse, threats and intimidation."
Contrary to the Parades Commission's determination that the
bandsmen could walk the few hundred metres to the sole beat
of a drum during that part of the parade, the resident said
the mob had staged a sit-down protest and played loyalist
tunes for two hours while Orangemen hurled abuse. "They
were calling us Fenian Bs and told us they would be back to
burn us out later that night. The music was deafening and
there were loyalist paramilitary flags being waved, which
was also a breach of conduct.
"At one point, they had the pikes they carry in a position
as though they were going to charge us.
"It was then the policemen moved in between us but, rather
than push the Orangemen back onto the street, they pushed
the residents further into the cul-de-sac. We had no
protection whatsoever," said the resident.
Another woman confronted three bandsmen in her garden as
they urinated on her plants.
"My son was standing at our gate when one of these people
told him they were going to ram him with a pike. My son
looked around to see who the man was speaking to, then he
said: 'I'm speaking to you, you Fenian.'
"It was absolute mayhem. Three of them were going to the
toilet in my garden. I told them to get out or I'd set the
dogs on them. They didn't say anything but just climbed
over the fence and back onto the road."
Seán Paul O'Hare, spokesman for the Springfield Residents
Action Group, said the Orangemen and loyalists had tried
their best to provoke residents into a violent response.
******************************************
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/northern_ireland/4241160.stm
Graves Damaged In Church Attack
Graves were damaged in a weekend sectarian attack on a
Catholic church in Magherafelt, County Londonderry, police
have said.
Paint was sprayed on 20 graves and slogans daubed on the
church walls.
It was the second time the church at Castledawson Road has
been targeted.
Graffiti was also sprayed on a Free Presbyterian church at
Mullaghboy Hill. Police also said five Orange halls have
been damaged in the past month.
Inspector Stephen Martin appealed to people with influence
in the community "to take positive action to prevent an
escalation of this unacceptable behaviour".
"Community relations in Magherafelt are normally very good
and I am calling for an end to these sectarian attacks
before they escalate," he said.
The District Commander for the area, Chief Inspector Tom
Wiggins, warned vandals that his officers are engaged in a
range of operations to catch those responsible.
He also said that his officers will be robust in bringing
the culprits before the courts.
Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2005/09/13 10:36:08 GMT
© BBC MMV
******************************************
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northwest_edition/story.jsp?story=661396
Police Want CCTV To Combat Attacks
Derry estate residents in street protest
By Clare Weir
13 September 2005
Police chiefs in Londonderry will ask the Chief Constable
to help them get CCTV cameras installed at a Protestant
area which has come under sustained sectarian attack.
Foyle District Commander, Chief Superintendent Richard
Russell, said today he is to meet with Sir Hugh Orde to ask
for his help in stepping up security measures at the Irish
Street interface with Top of the Hill.
The revelation comes after hundreds of residents from the
Protestant estate took to the streets last night to protest
against ongoing sectarian attacks on their area.
And there were claims today that loyalist paramilitaries
were patrolling the streets as tensions continued to mount.
Last night, a crowd spilled out of a community meeting and
marched to Waterside PSNI station to hand over a letter of
complaint before blocking Dungiven Road for a short time.
The protest came a day after two mothers from the Irish
Street estate were targeted in sectarian petrol bomb
attacks.
The women, both from Bann Drive, were at home with their
children when the attacks took place.
And last weekend, pensioners Sam and Betty McKnight had
their home pelted with missiles by masked men who tried to
smash in their door.
At the same time as last night's protest, Irish Street
resident and DUP MLA, William Hay, was meeting with Chief
Supt Russell to call for heightened security in the area.
Policing Board member Mr Hay said he had pressed Chief Supt
Russell for answers.
"This protest at the same time as our meeting shows the
frustrations felt by the community. People are saying
'enough is enough'," he said.
Today the District Commander said that the safety of people
in the area is "a top priority".
"Patrols were stepped up at the weekend and we will
continue to put on additional resources, while looking at
longer term solutions," he said.
"We applied for CCTV from the NIO last year, but it is
apparent that the need is now much more pressing.
"I will be consulting with the Chief Constable to explain
the situation and ask about additional urgent funding to
get the cameras in place as quickly as possible."
Leslie Mitchell of the PUP said today: "People in the Bann
Drive area are at the end of their tether and some have
asked that loyalist people be on the ground at night to
guard the houses.
"Residents feel that in the past police have not done
enough to stop the attacks or catch the culprits.
"We marched to the police station and handed in a letter
asking for better policing.
"Even since then we have seen a marked improvement and I am
pleased to hear that the Chief Constable is being
consulted.
"However if this change in tactics does not continue then
residents will be forced to request the assistance of
loyalists once again."
******************************************
http://dailyireland.televisual.co.uk/home.tvt?_scope=DailyIreland/Content/Comment&id=9717&opp=1
EDITORIAL: British Need To Get Serious On Loyalists
We hate to say we told you so, but... we told you so. Our
repeated assertion that virtually the entire security
apparatus of the British state is directed against
republicans – from intelligence to military bases to spy
towers – was illustrated with shocking clarity at the
weekend when a wave of loyalist violence washed across the
North with the PSNI and the British army neither prepared
for it nor able to deal effectively with it.
GAA fans travelling to Croke Park for the big match
yesterday report seeing helicopters over the bases that
remain there. No similar sight will have been witnessed in
loyalist North and West Belfast, North Antrim, Larne or
Carrickfergus where the UDA and the UVF's writ runs and
where roaming herds of paramilitary thugs maintain the
ability to bring ordinary life to a halt.
That the Orange Order and loyalist paramilitaries are
acting in close harmony on the issue of contentious parades
has been evident for some time, but when the Chief
Constable of the PSNI says it, when he adds that members of
the Orange Order attacked his officers, and when he lays
the blame for the orgy of violence squarely at the door of
the Orange Order, then such unambiguous words demand
action. At the very least, that means that the Parades
Commission is now required to factor into its
determinations the indisputable fact that the Orange Order
is not just capable of provoking violence by insisting on
marching where it is not wanted, but it is likely to become
engaged in that violence itself. That should have profound
implications when it comes to Parades Commission rulings on
future marches not just on the Springfield Road, but
anywhere else that parades bring strife.
For its part, it is essential that the British government
does nothing to suggest that this latest round of carefully
orchestrated violence does not give its instigators what
they want. Quite simply, those who organised the violence
want the British government to intervene in contentious
parades the way it did when it forced through the parade at
Drumcree in 1996 and 1997, beating Catholics off their own
streets in the process.
That this madness should take place at a time of great hope
and promise is no coincidence. The IRA has ordered its
volunteers to dump arms and it's believed that a
comprehensive process of decommissioning is in train, with
the British response having been swift and significant.
Protracted bleating by unionist politicians about the
removal of spy towers and the dismantling of local units of
the RIR has had little effect as the British government for
once seems capable of seeing the wider picture. But had
loyalist mobs succeeded in their attempts at the weekend to
enter Catholic districts – in the Short Strand and on the
Grosvenor Road, for instance – an armed republican response
would almost certainly have ensued, much to the delight of
unionists, and much to the detriment of the peace process.
Which is why the British state needs to get serious about
loyalist violence.
******************************************
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=661371
Loyalists 'Let Down' By The Peace Process
David McKittrick assesses the wider implications of the
latest outbreak of loyalist violence in Belfast
By David McKittrick
newsdesk@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
13 September 2005
THE recent outbreak of loyalist violence in Belfast and
elsewhere has brought home the unwelcome message that,
whatever move the IRA makes in the near future, extreme
Protestants pose a real threat to the peace process.
The UVF and other extreme loyalists have, through recent
murders, intimidation and sustained rioting, made it clear
that they will remain active, even if the IRA does stand
down.
The paramilitary underworld is restless, and is again
demonstrating that it can be unnerved by IRA activity -
even when that activity is welcomed by the British and
Irish governments.
The IRA's vow to decommission has spread unease and even
alarm among loyalists, as they fear republicans will be
rewarded.
Alistair Little, a community worker who served a life
sentence for a UVF murder, said yesterday: "A lot of people
are living in fear, thinking they're being treated as
second-class citizens.
"They think the politicians are letting us down. A lot of
people feel uncomfortable about the violence, but they're
at their wits' end to know how else you send a message to
the Government."
Although loyalists were called on to the streets by the
Orange Order, it is the paramilitary groups who are,
literally, calling the shots.
If the violence continues for many more days it is bound to
generate worry that republicans could put off disarmament.
While most of the attacks have been on the security forces,
republicans and nationalists in vulnerable areas could put
pressure on the IRA not to give up its guns.
And as one loyalist said: "If there's rioting and hijacking
and burning and looting then young people will be drawn
into it. It's creating another generation."
******************************************
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=661385
DUP Appeals For End To Violence
13 September 2005
THE DUP in east Belfast last night called for calm.
Party representatives met with the chief constable
yesterday to discuss the fallout of the weekend's violence.
Robin Newton MLA said many people and properties have
suffered as a result of the rioting since Saturday and
nobody wants to see it continue.
He said: "Those involved in these disturbances must begin
to realise that their actions are only harming their own
communities. We hope that the police can play their part in
achieving this aim in east Belfast.
"The Secretary of State can try to pass the buck all he
wants and attempt to absolve himself and the Parades
Commission of their responsibility for this violence but it
will not work.
"The Government has been warned for some time of the need
to address the frustrations and problems of the loyalist
community but have chosen to ignore those warnings."
Meanwhile, North Belfast MP Nigel Dodds has launched a
scathing attack on the Government and the Parades
Commission over the "demonisation" of Orangeism and
unionism.
Mr Dodds said there is a "concerted, orchestrated and
transparent" attempt by the Government, US Envoy Mitchell
Reiss and sections of the media to shift responsibility for
the weekend events "onto those who have been working to
prevent precisely those events".
He said: "The Secretary of State has disempowered unionism
by his constant appeasement of Sinn Fein/IRA and his
constant rejection of unionist political demands for fair
treatment.
"His willingness to release Sean Kelly against police
advice in order to appease Sinn Fein/IRA stands in stark
contrast to his unwillingness to deliver anything of
substance to the unionist community since he has came to
office.
"Top officials in Government admitted in the run-up to the
weekend that the Parades Commission had made a complete
mess of the Whiterock situation yet Hain abdicated his
responsibility by refusing to do anything to prevent the
inevitable.
"The Government's black propaganda machine is now in full
swing.
"It is reprehensible that those that worked so tirelessly
in the community and on the ground to prevent trouble and
violence are now being castigated by political blow-ins who
have hardly set foot in the province in the last month, and
who in the case of Mitchell Reiss have had no contact with
anyone on the ground in north and west Belfast."
******************************************
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=661376
Durkan Attacks Unionist Leaders For 'Dangerous Parade
Rhetoric'
By Claire Regan
cregan@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
13 September 2005
THE weekend's widespread and devastating loyalist rioting
was clearly orchestrated by paramilitaries who obviously
felt sanctioned by the rhetoric of the Orange Order and
unionist politicians, SDLP leader Mark Durkan said last
night.
Mr Durkan also hit out at unionist politicians and
Secretary of State Peter Hain, who, he believes, sent out
the wrong message in the build up to the contentious
weekend.
"When unionist party leaders make the sort of rash and
heated predictions which (DUP leader) Ian Paisley and
others made last week they are upping the ante in a
dangerous and irresponsible way," he said.
"They and the Orange Order were effectively telling people
'if you do your worst we will blame the Parades Commission
and the police for you'.
"There was no leadership message last week calling for
self-restraint, never mind mutual respect.
"The Secretary of State's continued failure to call the
truth on the UVF has only encouraged them and other
loyalist paramilitaries to flex their muscles on
Whiterock."
Alliance Party leader, David Ford, also had stern words for
the Orange Order.
"Video evidence clearly shows that the Orange Order
orchestrated violence this weekend and Orangemen led
attacks on the police," he said.
"It is important to be clear where responsibility for this
violence truly lies. It cannot be masked or justified by
talk of social deprivation.
"Responsibility for the violence lies with the Orange
Order, who called people out on the streets in the first
place, in full knowledge of warnings issued by the police
about the potential for widespread violence, and who then
deliberately extended police lines," added Mr Ford.
United States special envoy Mitchell Reiss said unionist
leaders should be barred from serving in government in
Northern Ireland if they cannot uphold the rule of law.
"No political party and no responsible leadership deserves
to serve in government unless it wholly and unconditionally
supports the police and calls on its constituents to do the
same," he said.
President George W Bush's envoy held a 30-minute meeting
with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in Dublin after meeting
politicians and police chiefs in Belfast.
Mr Reiss said everybody had been disheartened by the
violence.
"It is a time for the unionist leadership to really assert
itself because this type of behaviour is completely
unacceptable," he said.
Conservative shadow secretary for Northern Ireland David
Lidington said there "is no justification whatever for the
shocking violence of the last few days".
"It is sickening to see vicious criminal attacks on our
country's police officers; worse when shooting and bombing
is carried out by men who prate about their loyalty to the
UK," he said.
"Loyalists are entitled to express opposition to decisions
of ministers or the Parades Commission, and to do so in
forceful, even strident terms.
"But last weekend's violence deserves to be utterly
condemned," added Mr Lidington.
******************************************
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=661377
Shankill Inquiry Planned
13 September 2005
THE Greater Shankill Community Council is to conduct a
'community inquiry' into events surrounding the Whiterock
Parade.
It said it was undertaking the move "in response to an
overwhelming call from within our community".
In a statement it said: "Further details of this inquiry
will be announced within the next 48 hours.
"We are asking for all people having relevant evidence -
personal testimonies, photographs, video footage, etc - to
make this available to the inquiry.
"The Greater Shankill Community Council, in association
with all its member groups, is calling for calm and a
return to normality on our streets, in the interests of all
the community."
******************************************
http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=1466765&issue_id=12988
Blamed And Shamed
Blame: Finger Pointed At UVF Thugs - And Unionist
Politicians
NORTHERN Secretary Peter Hain is moving towards a
declaration that the UVF ceasefire no longer exists.
He was pondering the decision last night as loyalist
hardliners returned to the streets of Belfast for a third
night of confrontation with police and troops.
The terrorist group is being blamed for mobilising many of
the rioters. But indirect blame fell on the wider unionist
leadership.
President Bush's envoy Mitchell Reiss said unionist leaders
had "abdicated responsibility" and PSNI chief constable
Hugh Orde blamed Orange Order leaders for much of the
trouble which followed the re-routing of an Orange parade
away from a nationalist area.
"I think all of us are pretty disappointed with the
abdication of responsibility by many unionist political
leaders," Mr Reiss said. "No political party, and certainly
no responsible political leadership, deserves to serve in a
government unless it co-operates and supports fully and
unconditionally the police, and calls on its supporters to
do so."
Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams accused DUP leader Ian
Paisley and Ulster Unionist leader Reg Empey of giving
"wrong and negative leadership". He said they could not
wash their hands of what happened.
The continuing clashes are threatening to destabilise plans
for significant political progress in the short term after
the Provisional IRA completes the process of
decommissioning.
Last night republican sources said the IRA remained on
course to honour its pledge to eliminate its arms and
explosives arsenal in front of General John de Chastelain
and two churchmen. But political leaders were nervous that
the peace moves could be stalled by the fallout from the
escalating loyalist violence.
After studying police video footage of the weekend rioting
and attacks on the police and soldiers, Mr Hain said the
British government would announce its verdict on the status
of the UVF ceasefire within days.
He signalled strongly that his government would declare
that it no longer regarded the ceasefire as being
operational.
This view has been reinforced by the findings of the
International Monitoring Commission, whose report last week
to the Irish and British governments made it clear that the
UVF was responsible for four murders during its feud with
the LVF faction.
Mr Hain said he was horrified by what he had viewed and
added: "The evidence I have seen is absolutely clear cut.
As a result, I am now going through, and have been over the
past week, a process in which I will be making an
announcement in the next few days."
The role played by the UDA in the violence was also under
the spotlight as police closely studied the footage to
unearth evidence to support criminal charges against some
of the thugs.
The British government has been reluctant up to now to move
against the main loyalist paramilitary organisations as
officials pinned their hopes on a theory that the violence
would be short lived and the factions persuaded to
concentrate on political progress. But last night as
Belfast was brought to a halt by a well organised series of
blockades on routes out of the city, it was left with no
option.
Areas blockaded included the Broadway roundabout in west
Belfast, causing traffic chaos on the M1 motorway.
A 22-month-old boy, Caleb Finnegan, became the youngest
victim of the trouble. His skull was fractured when
loyalists smashed the window of his mother's car which they
were attempting to hijack.
PSNI chief constable Hugh Orde blamed Orange Order leaders
for much of the trouble and offered to show them a video of
their members removing their collarettes and throwing rocks
at the police. But the Order dismissed his remarks as
inflammatory.
Mr Paisley defended his predictions that the re-routing of
the parade "could be the spark which kindles a fire there
would be no putting out".
"My words have been proved to be right," he said.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern discussed the violence with Mitchell
Reiss.
Earlier the Taoiseach and Tanaiste Mary Harney both
stressed there could be absolutely no justification for any
violence.
Tom Brady and
Dominic Cunningham
******************************************
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/northern_ireland/4240398.stm
Protestant Fears And Loyalist Anger
By Dominic Casciani
BBC News in Belfast
What's behind the surge in loyalist violence in Northern
Ireland - and what does it say for the peace process?
If you want to know what's going on in Belfast, start with
the murals.
Amid the blast bombs, petrol bombs and barricades of this
sudden surge of loyalist violence, fresh graffiti appeared
near the Albert Bridge Road.
A mural claiming double standards - namely that the Orange
Order is banned from marching, while the IRA can - had been
defaced. A local hand accused the Orangemen of cowardice,
duplicity and of failing the community.
Across the road, more graffiti revealed divisions among
loyalist paramilitary groups, street corners marking
invisible boundaries of influence.
There's a growing confidence in the Catholic communities -
they are streets ahead of a Protestant community that sees
its identity being eroded
Sammy Douglas, East Belfast Partnership
The world has largely focused on the future of the IRA. But
there are real fears of fragmentation in the poorest
Protestant communities - a fear that support for the peace
process will ebb away in areas where it is most needed.
Protestant Belfast's problems appear a simple story: High
unemployment and communities talking openly of a lack of
confidence amid the rise of nationalist self esteem.
The community's decline is there for all to see - poor
neighbourhoods in the shadow of Harland and Wolff's
historic shipyard cranes, the heavy industries that once
employed entire generations.
Into this mix goes the strength of paramilitaries,
sectarianism, political divisions within unionism and,
crucially, a belief among many that London capitulated to
the IRA.
Teenagers near the smouldering remains of barricades
smirked that the riots had been "great" - but the police
had prevented them taking on a nearby Catholic area. They
didn't use the word Catholic to describe their neighbours.
One woman in her 50s said she had walked through the riot's
embers with holiday suitcases after her taxi driver refused
to drive to her front door, fearing losing his car to
teenage hoods.
"What could I do? I had to get home," she said. "But this
is just wicked and I cannot understand where this came from
and what they are trying to achieve."
'Cauldron overflows'
But David Ervine of the Progessive Unionist Party, aligned
to the Ulster Volunteer Force, said the warning signs had
been there - Protestant discontent was a "cauldron that
overflowed".
COMMUNITY AT THE BOTTOM?
It's almost as if we've gone full circle since 1969
Raymond Laverty, youth worker
Raymond Laverty was counting the cost of that over-flowing
cauldron.
His youth organisation, "The Base", targets teenagers
likely to fall into paramilitarism. This week it's playing
host to a group of teenagers from Burnley, scene of race-
related riots in 2001.
They have come to learn about where sectarianism leads -
but the first major event was cancelled because of safety
fears.
"We're trying to educate the young that there's more to
life than paramilitaries. But it's very difficult when
these kids look around and see that the only successful
people are those who follow that route.
"We're having a tug of war every day.
"There is only so much you can do when parents bring their
small children out at night to see this violence. There's
no logic to it."
Raymond says that the chronic lack of opportunities is the
breeding ground for resentment which feeds the
paramilitaries with willing helpers.
The difference now, he believes, is that the Catholic areas
are going places in the peace process. They've grasped the
benefits of the IRA ceasefire to rebuild and invest in
their own areas. The opposite is true in many poor
Protestant areas, he argues, partly because of a lack of
local leadership.
"Things have been building up since 1998 [the Good Friday
Agreement]," he says. "I think the biggest is this sense
that people think the government has let them down while
the middle class of unionism has effectively pulled up the
ladder behind them and ignored what is happening here.
"It's almost as if we've gone full circle since 1969."
Who's doing best?
What he means by this is that some poor Protestants are
comparing their situation today with that of Catholics at
the start of The Troubles: that they are at the bottom -
and some appear to believe the government wants it that
way.
Ask many Protestants in poor areas whether they or their
Catholics neighbours are getting regeneration funding and
the answer is "them".
Money is however going into east Belfast. The so-called
Peace II initiative has put £14m into 72 projects in east
Belfast, projects like a major community centre, job
development schemes and subtle programmes to break down
barriers.
Today, a mammoth regeneration of what's now dubbed the
"Titanic Quarter" is underway - a scheme to rebuild
opportunities in predominantly Protestant areas now that
much of the heavy industry has gone.
But Sammy Douglas of the East Belfast Partnership says
there is a long way to go - not least when the violence
damages opportunities aimed directly at Protestant
communities.
His organisation is currently overseeing a major commercial
development - a digger was stolen from the site during the
riots to smash into a bank cash machine.
"The tradition in Protestant areas has tended to be of
self-reliance, individualism and jobs in heavy industry -
jobs that are now gone," he says.
"In contrast, there has been a stronger tradition among
Catholic or nationalist families to send their children to
university and they are benefiting because of it.
"All of these things have a role to play in the
disenfranchisement that many Protestant people feel."
Sammy says that Protestant people see Sinn Fein doing an
"excellent job" at pushing their community's agenda - but
amid a fragmented unionist response, this only adds to a
sense that the peace process has become a "one-way street
of concessions".
"There's a growing confidence in the Catholic communities.
They are streets ahead of a Protestant community that sees
its identity being eroded. When people think they are on
the losing side, then the community fragments.
"These people [behind the violence] have no vision and
people without vision perish as they're only wrecking their
own communities.
"We have to pick ourselves up and start all over again."
Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2005/09/13 08:22:34 GMT
© BBC MMV
******************************************
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=reutersEdge&storyID=2005-09-13T080704Z_01_NOA329013_RTRUKOC_0_ANALYSIS-BELFAST-RIOTS.xml
Northern Irish Riots Reveal Deep-Seated Protestant Malaise
Tue Sep 13, 2005 9:07 AM BST
"Protestants look around and they can't locate a peace
dividend."
Peter Shirlow of the University of Ulster
By Kevin Smith
DUBLIN (Reuters) - Scenes of mayhem in Belfast last
weekend, reminiscent of the worst days of Northern
Ireland's 30- year conflict, have their roots in growing
suspicions among Protestants that they are being squeezed
into the political sidelines.
The eruption of violence, with Protestants attacking police
and soldiers with guns and homemade bombs, came after
months of mounting tension over Britain's perceived haste
in responding to July's vow by the IRA to disarm.
Protestants, who largely regard themselves as loyal to the
British crown, have been angered by British moves to scale
down security in the province before any concrete action by
the IRA.
However, experts say the current disaffection goes back
much further and stems from 1998's Good Friday peace
agreement, aimed at ending decades of bloodshed between the
Protestant majority who cherish the union with Britain and
minority Catholics who favour union with the Irish
Republic.
"What has happened over the past seven years of peace
process is that ... the unionist community has walked
further and further away and presented the agreement as a
betrayal of their rights and freedoms," said Peter Shirlow,
senior lecturer in human geography at the University of
Ulster.
There was a perception among Protestants that Irish
republicans, led by the IRA's political ally Sinn Fein, had
derived far more benefits from the pact than they had.
"Protestants look around and they can't locate a peace
dividend," Shirlow said.
GROWING INSECURITY
Political gains by Sinn Fein, now the dominant Irish
nationalist party in Northern Ireland, since 1998 had also
increased Protestant insecurity, he added.
Trigger for the weekend riots was the rerouting of a march
by the Orange Order -- Protestants fiercely loyal to
British rule -- to take it away from a Catholic area of
west Belfast.
Richard English, professor of politics at Queen's
University in Belfast, said part of the problem underlying
the events was the British government's longterm focus on
republicans.
"The political process was primarily about stopping the IRA
campaign," he said, adding that Protestants had come to
feel they were low down on the priority list.
"From the government's point of view, they did not really
see this coming," he said.
Reg Empey, leader of the moderate pro-British Ulster
Unionist Party, said the weekend's violence was more deep-
seated than many were perhaps prepared to accept.
"There has been a build-up of resentment that those who
practise violence get listened to and have their concerns
addressed," he said.
"Republicans are seen to influence government by
threatening force and getting rewarded for their efforts."
While condemning the weekend's rioting, Northern Ireland
Secretary Peter Hain acknowledged that part of the problem
was social deprivation in hardline Protestant areas.
"We do need to get to the root of it. These communities are
alienated, they are deprived. They have not benefited from
the prosperity and record number of jobs that apply right
across Northern Ireland now," he said.
Since the 1970s, Protestants who regarded a job for life in
one of Belfast's heavy industries as their birthright have
seen their livelihoods die along with the shipyards and
engineering plants that were once mainstays of the economy.
Protestant strongholds like the Shankill have also failed
to take advantage of educational opportunities which were
seized on by the Catholic community as a means to a better
life.
These factors, combined with shifting demographics in
Belfast that have created a sense of diminishing territory,
have added to insecurity within Protestant communities.
"The problem is republicans use alienation to mobilise an
electorate, while unionists use alienation to mobilise
anger and frustration," Shirlow said.
"The Protestant community is essentially quite conservative
and the unionist leadership seems to have been unable to
explain changes to them."
© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.
******************************************
http://u.tv/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=64918&pt=n
Republicans 'Must Reach Out To Unionists'
True republicans must do more to reach out to the unionist
community in Northern Ireland, it was claimed today.
By:Press Association
As loyalist rioting erupted across Belfast for a third
night, Irish Justice Minister Michael McDowell vowed that
the violence would not bring down the 1998 Good Friday
Agreement and urged greater reconciliation.
He said that a new vision of Ireland must recognise and
respect the orange panel in the Irish Tricolour.
Police Service of Northern Ireland officers said they
arrested 20 people last night after blast bombs and
missiles rained down on them and burning cars blocked main
streets across Belfast.
It was the third night of violence across the province,
which has been described by the PSNI as some of the most
dangerous ever seen in the UK.
"I don`t think it will bring down the Agreement because the
two Governments are totally committed to it," Mr McDowell
said today.
"But I believe it can be deeply damaging to the prospects
for reconciliation between the two communities in Northern
Ireland."
He said the first challenge for all republicans was to
respect the orange panel of the Tricolour and to develop a
sense of Irishness which includes Ulster Scots and Anglo
Irish.
"It must reach out to those people, not polarise Northern
society," he explained.
"The two communities are drifting further and further
apart. That`s wrong for Ireland and it`s wrong for the
children of both communities going forward."
Progressive Democrats president Mr McDowell, who took part
in recent power-sharing talks, said the British and Irish
Governments had made every possible effort to include every
shade of opinion in the political process in Northern
Ireland.
He said voters had made the choice to opt for a polarised
political spectrum, rather than supporting the centre
ground.
"It`s for genuine republicans such as myself to re-
articulate a vision of Ireland where reconciliation of
orange and green is the centrepiece of progress in Northern
Ireland.
"Not polarisation of two communities, not the foolish idea
being proposed by Sinn Fein at the moment that Westminster
elections should in Catholic areas be elections to Dail
Eireann and in Protestant areas be elections to
Westminster."
Unionist leaders have been urged to re-assert their
authority over their communities by PSNI Chief Constable
Hugh Orde and US Envoy to Northern Ireland Mitchell Reiss.
******************************************
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=661375
Too Early To Count Cost Of Riots
By Linda McKee
newsdesk@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
13 September 2005
AS loyalists set up further roadblocks last night, it was
still too early to count the cost of the weekend riots.
Buildings and cars were burned and debris scattered across
roads during the three days of violence that followed the
Orange Order's Whiterock parade on Saturday.
Following the weekend, Translink estimated that £500,000
worth of damage had been caused to buses. Roads Service
crews were kept busy clearing up routes across Belfast and
beyond, with traffic lights and street lights destroyed.
Mo Durkan, communications manager with Northern Ireland
Tourist Board, said the unrest did nothing to encourage
people to visit Ulster.
"The events of the past few days have impacted on the
international image of Northern Ireland at a time when
tourism here has been performing well," he said.
"Over recent years, NITB and the local tourism industry
have worked hard to portray a positive image of Northern
Ireland as a holiday destination.
"Tourism here is dependent on a positive image and the
television pictures broadcast over the weekend reinforce an
image which we had hoped was confined to the past.
"As it stands, it is too early to assess the cost of the
weekend's unrest to tourism and the Northern Ireland
economy," Ms Durkan said.
----
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News about Ireland & the Irish
BT 09/13/05 Scarred By Loyalist Violence & Only Two Yrs Old
BT 09/13/05 Anger Over Pipe Bombs Left Close To Classrooms
BT 09/13/05 Homes Hit In Racial Attacks On Foreigners
BT 09/13/05 Third Night Of Chaos
BT 09/13/05 Child Suspects In Court After Riots
DI 09/13/05 Nationalists Protect Themselves From Mob
DI 09/13/05 Springfield Siege
BB 09/13/05 Catholic Graves Damaged In Church Attack
BT 09/13/05 Derry Police Want CCTV To Combat Attacks
DI 09/13/05 Opin: British Need To Get Serious On Loyalists
BT 09/13/05 Loyalists 'Let Down' By The Peace Process
BT 09/13/05 DUP Appeals For End To Violence
BT 09/13/05 Durkan Attacks Unionist For Dangerous Rhetoric
BT 09/13/05 Shankill Inquiry Planned
UN 09/13/05 Blame: Finger Pointed At UVF Thugs & Unionist
BB 09/13/05 Protestant Fears And Loyalist Anger
RE 09/13/05 Riots Reveal Deep-Seated Protestant Malaise
UT 09/13/05 Republicans 'Must Reach Out To Unionists'
BT 09/13/05 Too Early To Count Cost Of Riots
******************************************
Caleb Finnegan (22 months) was left with severe head injuries after loyalists tried to hijack his mother's car in Belfast and threw a rock through the window hitting him in the head.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=661343
Scarred By Violence, And He's Only Two Years Old
The toddler hit in the face by a rioter's brick
By Marie Foy
mfoy@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
13 September 2005
THIS is the terrified toddler who needed 12 stitches in his
forehead after he was hit by a brick in north Belfast
during the weekend riots.
The 22-month-old youngster had been in his dad's car when
it was attacked by a gang hurling missiles.
Robert Moore said they had been caught in "a nightmare
situation".
Mr Moore had been driving young Caleb home to his mum in
south Belfast when they were ambushed at Fortwilliam
shortly before 9pm on Saturday night.
"Caleb sustained a large laceration to his forehead and a
slight fracture to his skull," he said. "He could have had
brain damage or had his eye put out. He will likely have a
permanent scar."
The front windscreen of the car and two side windows were
smashed.
"I was coming down Donegall Park Avenue and saw that the
motorway was blocked by a lorry. It was at that point that
about four to six people emerged from nowhere throwing
bricks," he said.
"It was dark as the street lights were out.
"It was pretty frightening. I didn't stop and when I looked
round Caleb was saturated in blood. He was very distressed.
"I came to a police Land Rover and sat with him in the back
for about 20 minutes until an ambulance came.
"That was frightening too as the police were being attacked
and shots had been fired. I was covered in Caleb's blood as
well, there was so much.
"I think it is important to highlight to these people the
sort of damage they are doing to ordinary, decent people.
"I am from the Protestant community myself but these
problems should be worked out by the politicians and not
allowed to escalate into rioting."
******************************************
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=661372
Anger Over Pipe Bombs Left Close To Classrooms
By Nevin Farrell
newsdesk@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
13 September 2005
A PRIMARY school principal in Ballymena last night spoke of
her anger at those who left three pipe bombs close to
classrooms, saying: "The children could have died if they
had gone off."
Lesley Meikle told of her relief that none of the 140
evacuated pupils at Harryville Primary School was hurt and
said the school would re-open today.
Police confirmed an Army explosives team defused three
viable pipe bombs found at Casement Street.
The PSNI said they believe the devices were left for use in
street disorder which had occurred in the Harryville area
in recent nights involving loyalists.
A spokesman said there was nothing to suggest that the pipe
bombs were deliberately targeted at the school.
But police chief, inspector Mark Dennison, said leaving the
devices so close to the school was "totally irresponsible".
Earlier, as the bomb alert unfolded, several schoolchildren
burst into tears when they heard sirens and saw the army
bomb squad coming to the area a short time after they were
evacuated.
Mrs Meikle, who had disguised the evacuation as a fire
drill said: "They thought they were going to be hurt and
that somebody was coming to get them."
Mrs Meikle said it was "despicable" that people should
leave pipe bombs close to a school.
"They were putting the lives of young children at risk and
also the lives of senior citizens who live in the house,
and other people," she added.
DUP councillor Beth Adger, a member of the Board of
Governors at Harryville PS, said: "This is ridiculous that
young children should be targeted. Young children's lives
could have been lost and I admire the teachers for getting
them out of the school as quick as possible."
******************************************
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=661381
Homes Hit In Racial Attacks On Foreigners
By Linda McKee
newsdesk@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
13 September 2005
SEVEN homes were attacked in Dungannon at the weekend as a
gang targeted east European residents.
Cars were set on fire and windows smashed in a number of
homes on the Ballygawley Road estate shortly after 3.30am
on Sunday.
At one stage a number of men forced their way into a house
and smashed up furniture. Firefighters were stoned as they
tried to extinguish a burning car.
There were no reports of any injuries.
Police said a number of rumours circulating over the
weekend may have fed into the violence but these were found
to be groundless.
They also said they had not received the complaints that
might have been expected in the event of the rumours having
been true.
The PSNI said it was treating the attacks on the properties
of Latvian, Lithuanian and Polish residents as purely
racial in motive.
District commander Superintendent Frances Nolan said the
violence directed against innocent families and residents
was nothing short of shameful.
A surgery has been set up at the local leisure centre to
meet the needs of families affected, organised by police,
social services, the Housing Executive and the Polish
Welfare Association.
Superintendent Nolan appealed for co-operation from the
community to identify and isolate those responsible for the
disturbance.
******************************************
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=661380
Third Night Of Chaos
By Deborah McAleese
newsdesk@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
13 September 2005
SIMMERING tensions erupted again in Belfast last night as
police came under violent attack for a third evening.
Fireworks, petrol bombs and other missiles were launched at
police on Cambrai Street in the north of the city during a
night of sporadic violence.
An officer was knocked unconscious after being hit on the
head with a brick at West Circular Road and New Barnsley
police station in west Belfast was targeted by a gang of
petrol bombers.
Several areas of the city were blocked as gangs of rioters
hurled petrol bombs and stones at police and motorists.
Cars were hijacked and set alight in north Belfast,
blocking the Crumlin Road/Ligoniel junction.
Several cars were also torched in the Newtownards area.
Early indications last night were that violence was not as
widespread as previous nights when around 50 police
officers were injured and 500 plastic baton rounds
discharged.
However, there was still disruption across the city.
Laganbank Road, Roden Street, the Westlink and the
Grosvenor Road roundabout were closed due to stoning.
Trouble on the Shore Road also broke out closing the road
at the Fortwilliam junction.
Crates of petrol bombs and paint bombs were seized during
police searches at Ligoniel.
And police officers also prevented a bus from being
hijacked on the nearby Crumlin Road.
Also last night a 34-year-old man was charged with a
terrorist offence in relation to rioting in the Highfield
area on Saturday, when shots were fired at police.
He is due to appear before Laganside Magistrate's Court
today charged with possession of a firearm, ammunition and
explosives with intent to endanger life.
The Policing Board will be briefed about this week's
violence during a meeting on Thursday. Board members will
be given the opportunity to question senior PSNI officers
about the violence that erupted following the re-routed
Whiterock parade on Saturday.
Speculation was mounting last night that Secretary of State
Peter Hain would withdraw recognition of the UVF and UDA
ceasefires within 48 hours.
Mr Hain said: "The evidence I have seen is absolutely
clear-cut. If it wasn't clear-cut before, it's absolutely
categorical now."
******************************************
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=661374
Child Suspects In Court After Riots
13 September 2005
A TOTAL of 18 people arrested in Belfast over the weekend
appeared at the Magistrates Court yesterday on a variety of
charges.
Most of the 14 men and four juveniles were remanded in
custody on charges of riotous assembly, riotous behaviour,
assaults on police, resisting arrest, criminal damage and
possessing offensive weapons, including golf balls.
Magistrate Sarah Creanor said that in view of the
continuing unrest she would not consider granting bail
except where a defendant had an alternative address outside
Belfast.
One man was released after he said he could live in a
caravan at Castlerock, Co Londonderry.
A solicitor for another man said he was heavily intoxicated
and was arrested in east Belfast after he stumbled out of a
bar into a riot situation.
Two 14-year-old juveniles were dressed in police-issue
boiler suits after their clothes were taken for forensic
examination.
Before being remanded in custody to a Youth Justice Centre
they hugged and kissed their mothers.
Meanwhile, three people were remanded in custody yesterday
correct in connection with disturbances which erupted in
Ballymena on Sunday morning in the aftermath of the re-
routing of Saturday's Whiterock Orange Order parade.
They are Jason Raymond Kirk (31), of Alfred Street Place,
and Stuart Kevin Brown (26), from Brooke Park - both in the
Harryville area of Ballymena.
A 17-year-old youth, who cannot be named because of his
age, also appeared at the sitting in Coleraine Courthouse.
They each faced a charge of riotous assembly with others
and were remanded in custody.
Kirk was further charged with obstructing police and the
17-year-old faced a second charge of resisting police.
All three are due to appear via video link at Ballymena
Magistrates Court on Thursday.
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http://dailyireland.televisual.co.uk/home.tvt?_scope=DailyIreland/Content/News&id=9698&opp=1
Nationalists Protect Themselves From Mob
Francesca Ryan
On a day which saw loyalist violence spiral out of control
across Belfast, nationalist residents of the Grosvenor Road
found themselves forced to protect their homes from a 200-
strong mob that had flooded across the Westlink from the
direction of the loyalist Sandy Row area.
The crowd caused traffic chaos on the Westlink, a major
artery in the city.
Speaking to Daily Ireland, Sinn Féin's Fra McCann said it
was a "disgrace" that so many loyalists had made it so far
up the road without being intercepted by the PSNI.
"These people came a far enough distance. They had to cut
across the Westlink on a busy Saturday afternoon to get to
the Grosvenor Road. Even more importantly, they had to pass
the heavily fortified Grosvenor Road barracks. It's a
disgrace that they were able to do so."
Councillor McCann said many locals feared a repeat of
Bombay Street in 1969 when Catholics were burnt out of
their homes by loyalists.
"This mob was making threats, telling the residents that
they were gong to be burnt out. They were throwing
missiles, shouting sectarian abuse. They smashed a car
windscreen and were doing their best to get to a statue of
Our Lady that was in the garden of a house in Devonshire
Street," said Councillor McCann.
It wasn't until people heard the mob and came out of their
homes and local shops to defend themselves that the crowd
finally retreated back across the Westlink.
"The young people of this area must be commended for their
efforts in chasing this mob from the road. This was an
orchestrated attack which saw loyalists clearly try to
provoke nationalists into a riot situation but our appeals
for calm and restraint were heard and nationalists refused
to get involved."
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http://dailyireland.televisual.co.uk/home.tvt?_scope=DailyIreland/Content/News&id=9776&opp=1
Springfield Siege
Francesca Ryan
Nationalist residents of west Belfast's Springfield Road
claim they were subjected to two hours of loyalist
intimidation and threats on Saturday as PSNI officers stood
by.
The claims came after Orangemen and bandsmen held a protest
on the Springfield Road in protest at the Parades
Commission's decision not to permit an Orange Order parade
to process via Workman Avenue onto the Springfield Road.
Throughout last week, loyalists blocked roads in north and
west Belfast in protest at the decision. The real trouble
began on Saturday afternoon when a mob of Orangemen and
bandsmen gathered at the junction of the Springfield Road
and Watermouth Crescent.
A 500-strong mob made its way up the Springfield Road and
stopped for almost two hours outside the nationalist cul-
de-sac of Watermouth Crescent. The mob verbally abused
residents and threatened to return later that night to burn
them out of their homes. Only six PSNI officers were
present. Most officers were stationed further down the road
at Workman Avenue, where loyalists threw blast bombs and
missiles across closed gates at residents.
One resident, who did not wish to be named, told Daily
Ireland: "There were only two Land Rovers at the end of the
street and only six cops to supposedly protect us from this
mob. The few cops that were there were leaning against the
wall watching us being abused.
"I have never experienced anything like that in my life.
"It was absolutely terrifying and we had nowhere to go.
"This is a cul-de-sac so we were just hemmed in and
subjected to abuse, threats and intimidation."
Contrary to the Parades Commission's determination that the
bandsmen could walk the few hundred metres to the sole beat
of a drum during that part of the parade, the resident said
the mob had staged a sit-down protest and played loyalist
tunes for two hours while Orangemen hurled abuse. "They
were calling us Fenian Bs and told us they would be back to
burn us out later that night. The music was deafening and
there were loyalist paramilitary flags being waved, which
was also a breach of conduct.
"At one point, they had the pikes they carry in a position
as though they were going to charge us.
"It was then the policemen moved in between us but, rather
than push the Orangemen back onto the street, they pushed
the residents further into the cul-de-sac. We had no
protection whatsoever," said the resident.
Another woman confronted three bandsmen in her garden as
they urinated on her plants.
"My son was standing at our gate when one of these people
told him they were going to ram him with a pike. My son
looked around to see who the man was speaking to, then he
said: 'I'm speaking to you, you Fenian.'
"It was absolute mayhem. Three of them were going to the
toilet in my garden. I told them to get out or I'd set the
dogs on them. They didn't say anything but just climbed
over the fence and back onto the road."
Seán Paul O'Hare, spokesman for the Springfield Residents
Action Group, said the Orangemen and loyalists had tried
their best to provoke residents into a violent response.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/northern_ireland/4241160.stm
Graves Damaged In Church Attack
Graves were damaged in a weekend sectarian attack on a
Catholic church in Magherafelt, County Londonderry, police
have said.
Paint was sprayed on 20 graves and slogans daubed on the
church walls.
It was the second time the church at Castledawson Road has
been targeted.
Graffiti was also sprayed on a Free Presbyterian church at
Mullaghboy Hill. Police also said five Orange halls have
been damaged in the past month.
Inspector Stephen Martin appealed to people with influence
in the community "to take positive action to prevent an
escalation of this unacceptable behaviour".
"Community relations in Magherafelt are normally very good
and I am calling for an end to these sectarian attacks
before they escalate," he said.
The District Commander for the area, Chief Inspector Tom
Wiggins, warned vandals that his officers are engaged in a
range of operations to catch those responsible.
He also said that his officers will be robust in bringing
the culprits before the courts.
Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2005/09/13 10:36:08 GMT
© BBC MMV
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http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northwest_edition/story.jsp?story=661396
Police Want CCTV To Combat Attacks
Derry estate residents in street protest
By Clare Weir
13 September 2005
Police chiefs in Londonderry will ask the Chief Constable
to help them get CCTV cameras installed at a Protestant
area which has come under sustained sectarian attack.
Foyle District Commander, Chief Superintendent Richard
Russell, said today he is to meet with Sir Hugh Orde to ask
for his help in stepping up security measures at the Irish
Street interface with Top of the Hill.
The revelation comes after hundreds of residents from the
Protestant estate took to the streets last night to protest
against ongoing sectarian attacks on their area.
And there were claims today that loyalist paramilitaries
were patrolling the streets as tensions continued to mount.
Last night, a crowd spilled out of a community meeting and
marched to Waterside PSNI station to hand over a letter of
complaint before blocking Dungiven Road for a short time.
The protest came a day after two mothers from the Irish
Street estate were targeted in sectarian petrol bomb
attacks.
The women, both from Bann Drive, were at home with their
children when the attacks took place.
And last weekend, pensioners Sam and Betty McKnight had
their home pelted with missiles by masked men who tried to
smash in their door.
At the same time as last night's protest, Irish Street
resident and DUP MLA, William Hay, was meeting with Chief
Supt Russell to call for heightened security in the area.
Policing Board member Mr Hay said he had pressed Chief Supt
Russell for answers.
"This protest at the same time as our meeting shows the
frustrations felt by the community. People are saying
'enough is enough'," he said.
Today the District Commander said that the safety of people
in the area is "a top priority".
"Patrols were stepped up at the weekend and we will
continue to put on additional resources, while looking at
longer term solutions," he said.
"We applied for CCTV from the NIO last year, but it is
apparent that the need is now much more pressing.
"I will be consulting with the Chief Constable to explain
the situation and ask about additional urgent funding to
get the cameras in place as quickly as possible."
Leslie Mitchell of the PUP said today: "People in the Bann
Drive area are at the end of their tether and some have
asked that loyalist people be on the ground at night to
guard the houses.
"Residents feel that in the past police have not done
enough to stop the attacks or catch the culprits.
"We marched to the police station and handed in a letter
asking for better policing.
"Even since then we have seen a marked improvement and I am
pleased to hear that the Chief Constable is being
consulted.
"However if this change in tactics does not continue then
residents will be forced to request the assistance of
loyalists once again."
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http://dailyireland.televisual.co.uk/home.tvt?_scope=DailyIreland/Content/Comment&id=9717&opp=1
EDITORIAL: British Need To Get Serious On Loyalists
We hate to say we told you so, but... we told you so. Our
repeated assertion that virtually the entire security
apparatus of the British state is directed against
republicans – from intelligence to military bases to spy
towers – was illustrated with shocking clarity at the
weekend when a wave of loyalist violence washed across the
North with the PSNI and the British army neither prepared
for it nor able to deal effectively with it.
GAA fans travelling to Croke Park for the big match
yesterday report seeing helicopters over the bases that
remain there. No similar sight will have been witnessed in
loyalist North and West Belfast, North Antrim, Larne or
Carrickfergus where the UDA and the UVF's writ runs and
where roaming herds of paramilitary thugs maintain the
ability to bring ordinary life to a halt.
That the Orange Order and loyalist paramilitaries are
acting in close harmony on the issue of contentious parades
has been evident for some time, but when the Chief
Constable of the PSNI says it, when he adds that members of
the Orange Order attacked his officers, and when he lays
the blame for the orgy of violence squarely at the door of
the Orange Order, then such unambiguous words demand
action. At the very least, that means that the Parades
Commission is now required to factor into its
determinations the indisputable fact that the Orange Order
is not just capable of provoking violence by insisting on
marching where it is not wanted, but it is likely to become
engaged in that violence itself. That should have profound
implications when it comes to Parades Commission rulings on
future marches not just on the Springfield Road, but
anywhere else that parades bring strife.
For its part, it is essential that the British government
does nothing to suggest that this latest round of carefully
orchestrated violence does not give its instigators what
they want. Quite simply, those who organised the violence
want the British government to intervene in contentious
parades the way it did when it forced through the parade at
Drumcree in 1996 and 1997, beating Catholics off their own
streets in the process.
That this madness should take place at a time of great hope
and promise is no coincidence. The IRA has ordered its
volunteers to dump arms and it's believed that a
comprehensive process of decommissioning is in train, with
the British response having been swift and significant.
Protracted bleating by unionist politicians about the
removal of spy towers and the dismantling of local units of
the RIR has had little effect as the British government for
once seems capable of seeing the wider picture. But had
loyalist mobs succeeded in their attempts at the weekend to
enter Catholic districts – in the Short Strand and on the
Grosvenor Road, for instance – an armed republican response
would almost certainly have ensued, much to the delight of
unionists, and much to the detriment of the peace process.
Which is why the British state needs to get serious about
loyalist violence.
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http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=661371
Loyalists 'Let Down' By The Peace Process
David McKittrick assesses the wider implications of the
latest outbreak of loyalist violence in Belfast
By David McKittrick
newsdesk@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
13 September 2005
THE recent outbreak of loyalist violence in Belfast and
elsewhere has brought home the unwelcome message that,
whatever move the IRA makes in the near future, extreme
Protestants pose a real threat to the peace process.
The UVF and other extreme loyalists have, through recent
murders, intimidation and sustained rioting, made it clear
that they will remain active, even if the IRA does stand
down.
The paramilitary underworld is restless, and is again
demonstrating that it can be unnerved by IRA activity -
even when that activity is welcomed by the British and
Irish governments.
The IRA's vow to decommission has spread unease and even
alarm among loyalists, as they fear republicans will be
rewarded.
Alistair Little, a community worker who served a life
sentence for a UVF murder, said yesterday: "A lot of people
are living in fear, thinking they're being treated as
second-class citizens.
"They think the politicians are letting us down. A lot of
people feel uncomfortable about the violence, but they're
at their wits' end to know how else you send a message to
the Government."
Although loyalists were called on to the streets by the
Orange Order, it is the paramilitary groups who are,
literally, calling the shots.
If the violence continues for many more days it is bound to
generate worry that republicans could put off disarmament.
While most of the attacks have been on the security forces,
republicans and nationalists in vulnerable areas could put
pressure on the IRA not to give up its guns.
And as one loyalist said: "If there's rioting and hijacking
and burning and looting then young people will be drawn
into it. It's creating another generation."
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http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=661385
DUP Appeals For End To Violence
13 September 2005
THE DUP in east Belfast last night called for calm.
Party representatives met with the chief constable
yesterday to discuss the fallout of the weekend's violence.
Robin Newton MLA said many people and properties have
suffered as a result of the rioting since Saturday and
nobody wants to see it continue.
He said: "Those involved in these disturbances must begin
to realise that their actions are only harming their own
communities. We hope that the police can play their part in
achieving this aim in east Belfast.
"The Secretary of State can try to pass the buck all he
wants and attempt to absolve himself and the Parades
Commission of their responsibility for this violence but it
will not work.
"The Government has been warned for some time of the need
to address the frustrations and problems of the loyalist
community but have chosen to ignore those warnings."
Meanwhile, North Belfast MP Nigel Dodds has launched a
scathing attack on the Government and the Parades
Commission over the "demonisation" of Orangeism and
unionism.
Mr Dodds said there is a "concerted, orchestrated and
transparent" attempt by the Government, US Envoy Mitchell
Reiss and sections of the media to shift responsibility for
the weekend events "onto those who have been working to
prevent precisely those events".
He said: "The Secretary of State has disempowered unionism
by his constant appeasement of Sinn Fein/IRA and his
constant rejection of unionist political demands for fair
treatment.
"His willingness to release Sean Kelly against police
advice in order to appease Sinn Fein/IRA stands in stark
contrast to his unwillingness to deliver anything of
substance to the unionist community since he has came to
office.
"Top officials in Government admitted in the run-up to the
weekend that the Parades Commission had made a complete
mess of the Whiterock situation yet Hain abdicated his
responsibility by refusing to do anything to prevent the
inevitable.
"The Government's black propaganda machine is now in full
swing.
"It is reprehensible that those that worked so tirelessly
in the community and on the ground to prevent trouble and
violence are now being castigated by political blow-ins who
have hardly set foot in the province in the last month, and
who in the case of Mitchell Reiss have had no contact with
anyone on the ground in north and west Belfast."
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http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=661376
Durkan Attacks Unionist Leaders For 'Dangerous Parade
Rhetoric'
By Claire Regan
cregan@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
13 September 2005
THE weekend's widespread and devastating loyalist rioting
was clearly orchestrated by paramilitaries who obviously
felt sanctioned by the rhetoric of the Orange Order and
unionist politicians, SDLP leader Mark Durkan said last
night.
Mr Durkan also hit out at unionist politicians and
Secretary of State Peter Hain, who, he believes, sent out
the wrong message in the build up to the contentious
weekend.
"When unionist party leaders make the sort of rash and
heated predictions which (DUP leader) Ian Paisley and
others made last week they are upping the ante in a
dangerous and irresponsible way," he said.
"They and the Orange Order were effectively telling people
'if you do your worst we will blame the Parades Commission
and the police for you'.
"There was no leadership message last week calling for
self-restraint, never mind mutual respect.
"The Secretary of State's continued failure to call the
truth on the UVF has only encouraged them and other
loyalist paramilitaries to flex their muscles on
Whiterock."
Alliance Party leader, David Ford, also had stern words for
the Orange Order.
"Video evidence clearly shows that the Orange Order
orchestrated violence this weekend and Orangemen led
attacks on the police," he said.
"It is important to be clear where responsibility for this
violence truly lies. It cannot be masked or justified by
talk of social deprivation.
"Responsibility for the violence lies with the Orange
Order, who called people out on the streets in the first
place, in full knowledge of warnings issued by the police
about the potential for widespread violence, and who then
deliberately extended police lines," added Mr Ford.
United States special envoy Mitchell Reiss said unionist
leaders should be barred from serving in government in
Northern Ireland if they cannot uphold the rule of law.
"No political party and no responsible leadership deserves
to serve in government unless it wholly and unconditionally
supports the police and calls on its constituents to do the
same," he said.
President George W Bush's envoy held a 30-minute meeting
with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in Dublin after meeting
politicians and police chiefs in Belfast.
Mr Reiss said everybody had been disheartened by the
violence.
"It is a time for the unionist leadership to really assert
itself because this type of behaviour is completely
unacceptable," he said.
Conservative shadow secretary for Northern Ireland David
Lidington said there "is no justification whatever for the
shocking violence of the last few days".
"It is sickening to see vicious criminal attacks on our
country's police officers; worse when shooting and bombing
is carried out by men who prate about their loyalty to the
UK," he said.
"Loyalists are entitled to express opposition to decisions
of ministers or the Parades Commission, and to do so in
forceful, even strident terms.
"But last weekend's violence deserves to be utterly
condemned," added Mr Lidington.
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http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=661377
Shankill Inquiry Planned
13 September 2005
THE Greater Shankill Community Council is to conduct a
'community inquiry' into events surrounding the Whiterock
Parade.
It said it was undertaking the move "in response to an
overwhelming call from within our community".
In a statement it said: "Further details of this inquiry
will be announced within the next 48 hours.
"We are asking for all people having relevant evidence -
personal testimonies, photographs, video footage, etc - to
make this available to the inquiry.
"The Greater Shankill Community Council, in association
with all its member groups, is calling for calm and a
return to normality on our streets, in the interests of all
the community."
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http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=1466765&issue_id=12988
Blamed And Shamed
Blame: Finger Pointed At UVF Thugs - And Unionist
Politicians
NORTHERN Secretary Peter Hain is moving towards a
declaration that the UVF ceasefire no longer exists.
He was pondering the decision last night as loyalist
hardliners returned to the streets of Belfast for a third
night of confrontation with police and troops.
The terrorist group is being blamed for mobilising many of
the rioters. But indirect blame fell on the wider unionist
leadership.
President Bush's envoy Mitchell Reiss said unionist leaders
had "abdicated responsibility" and PSNI chief constable
Hugh Orde blamed Orange Order leaders for much of the
trouble which followed the re-routing of an Orange parade
away from a nationalist area.
"I think all of us are pretty disappointed with the
abdication of responsibility by many unionist political
leaders," Mr Reiss said. "No political party, and certainly
no responsible political leadership, deserves to serve in a
government unless it co-operates and supports fully and
unconditionally the police, and calls on its supporters to
do so."
Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams accused DUP leader Ian
Paisley and Ulster Unionist leader Reg Empey of giving
"wrong and negative leadership". He said they could not
wash their hands of what happened.
The continuing clashes are threatening to destabilise plans
for significant political progress in the short term after
the Provisional IRA completes the process of
decommissioning.
Last night republican sources said the IRA remained on
course to honour its pledge to eliminate its arms and
explosives arsenal in front of General John de Chastelain
and two churchmen. But political leaders were nervous that
the peace moves could be stalled by the fallout from the
escalating loyalist violence.
After studying police video footage of the weekend rioting
and attacks on the police and soldiers, Mr Hain said the
British government would announce its verdict on the status
of the UVF ceasefire within days.
He signalled strongly that his government would declare
that it no longer regarded the ceasefire as being
operational.
This view has been reinforced by the findings of the
International Monitoring Commission, whose report last week
to the Irish and British governments made it clear that the
UVF was responsible for four murders during its feud with
the LVF faction.
Mr Hain said he was horrified by what he had viewed and
added: "The evidence I have seen is absolutely clear cut.
As a result, I am now going through, and have been over the
past week, a process in which I will be making an
announcement in the next few days."
The role played by the UDA in the violence was also under
the spotlight as police closely studied the footage to
unearth evidence to support criminal charges against some
of the thugs.
The British government has been reluctant up to now to move
against the main loyalist paramilitary organisations as
officials pinned their hopes on a theory that the violence
would be short lived and the factions persuaded to
concentrate on political progress. But last night as
Belfast was brought to a halt by a well organised series of
blockades on routes out of the city, it was left with no
option.
Areas blockaded included the Broadway roundabout in west
Belfast, causing traffic chaos on the M1 motorway.
A 22-month-old boy, Caleb Finnegan, became the youngest
victim of the trouble. His skull was fractured when
loyalists smashed the window of his mother's car which they
were attempting to hijack.
PSNI chief constable Hugh Orde blamed Orange Order leaders
for much of the trouble and offered to show them a video of
their members removing their collarettes and throwing rocks
at the police. But the Order dismissed his remarks as
inflammatory.
Mr Paisley defended his predictions that the re-routing of
the parade "could be the spark which kindles a fire there
would be no putting out".
"My words have been proved to be right," he said.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern discussed the violence with Mitchell
Reiss.
Earlier the Taoiseach and Tanaiste Mary Harney both
stressed there could be absolutely no justification for any
violence.
Tom Brady and
Dominic Cunningham
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/northern_ireland/4240398.stm
Protestant Fears And Loyalist Anger
By Dominic Casciani
BBC News in Belfast
What's behind the surge in loyalist violence in Northern
Ireland - and what does it say for the peace process?
If you want to know what's going on in Belfast, start with
the murals.
Amid the blast bombs, petrol bombs and barricades of this
sudden surge of loyalist violence, fresh graffiti appeared
near the Albert Bridge Road.
A mural claiming double standards - namely that the Orange
Order is banned from marching, while the IRA can - had been
defaced. A local hand accused the Orangemen of cowardice,
duplicity and of failing the community.
Across the road, more graffiti revealed divisions among
loyalist paramilitary groups, street corners marking
invisible boundaries of influence.
There's a growing confidence in the Catholic communities -
they are streets ahead of a Protestant community that sees
its identity being eroded
Sammy Douglas, East Belfast Partnership
The world has largely focused on the future of the IRA. But
there are real fears of fragmentation in the poorest
Protestant communities - a fear that support for the peace
process will ebb away in areas where it is most needed.
Protestant Belfast's problems appear a simple story: High
unemployment and communities talking openly of a lack of
confidence amid the rise of nationalist self esteem.
The community's decline is there for all to see - poor
neighbourhoods in the shadow of Harland and Wolff's
historic shipyard cranes, the heavy industries that once
employed entire generations.
Into this mix goes the strength of paramilitaries,
sectarianism, political divisions within unionism and,
crucially, a belief among many that London capitulated to
the IRA.
Teenagers near the smouldering remains of barricades
smirked that the riots had been "great" - but the police
had prevented them taking on a nearby Catholic area. They
didn't use the word Catholic to describe their neighbours.
One woman in her 50s said she had walked through the riot's
embers with holiday suitcases after her taxi driver refused
to drive to her front door, fearing losing his car to
teenage hoods.
"What could I do? I had to get home," she said. "But this
is just wicked and I cannot understand where this came from
and what they are trying to achieve."
'Cauldron overflows'
But David Ervine of the Progessive Unionist Party, aligned
to the Ulster Volunteer Force, said the warning signs had
been there - Protestant discontent was a "cauldron that
overflowed".
COMMUNITY AT THE BOTTOM?
It's almost as if we've gone full circle since 1969
Raymond Laverty, youth worker
Raymond Laverty was counting the cost of that over-flowing
cauldron.
His youth organisation, "The Base", targets teenagers
likely to fall into paramilitarism. This week it's playing
host to a group of teenagers from Burnley, scene of race-
related riots in 2001.
They have come to learn about where sectarianism leads -
but the first major event was cancelled because of safety
fears.
"We're trying to educate the young that there's more to
life than paramilitaries. But it's very difficult when
these kids look around and see that the only successful
people are those who follow that route.
"We're having a tug of war every day.
"There is only so much you can do when parents bring their
small children out at night to see this violence. There's
no logic to it."
Raymond says that the chronic lack of opportunities is the
breeding ground for resentment which feeds the
paramilitaries with willing helpers.
The difference now, he believes, is that the Catholic areas
are going places in the peace process. They've grasped the
benefits of the IRA ceasefire to rebuild and invest in
their own areas. The opposite is true in many poor
Protestant areas, he argues, partly because of a lack of
local leadership.
"Things have been building up since 1998 [the Good Friday
Agreement]," he says. "I think the biggest is this sense
that people think the government has let them down while
the middle class of unionism has effectively pulled up the
ladder behind them and ignored what is happening here.
"It's almost as if we've gone full circle since 1969."
Who's doing best?
What he means by this is that some poor Protestants are
comparing their situation today with that of Catholics at
the start of The Troubles: that they are at the bottom -
and some appear to believe the government wants it that
way.
Ask many Protestants in poor areas whether they or their
Catholics neighbours are getting regeneration funding and
the answer is "them".
Money is however going into east Belfast. The so-called
Peace II initiative has put £14m into 72 projects in east
Belfast, projects like a major community centre, job
development schemes and subtle programmes to break down
barriers.
Today, a mammoth regeneration of what's now dubbed the
"Titanic Quarter" is underway - a scheme to rebuild
opportunities in predominantly Protestant areas now that
much of the heavy industry has gone.
But Sammy Douglas of the East Belfast Partnership says
there is a long way to go - not least when the violence
damages opportunities aimed directly at Protestant
communities.
His organisation is currently overseeing a major commercial
development - a digger was stolen from the site during the
riots to smash into a bank cash machine.
"The tradition in Protestant areas has tended to be of
self-reliance, individualism and jobs in heavy industry -
jobs that are now gone," he says.
"In contrast, there has been a stronger tradition among
Catholic or nationalist families to send their children to
university and they are benefiting because of it.
"All of these things have a role to play in the
disenfranchisement that many Protestant people feel."
Sammy says that Protestant people see Sinn Fein doing an
"excellent job" at pushing their community's agenda - but
amid a fragmented unionist response, this only adds to a
sense that the peace process has become a "one-way street
of concessions".
"There's a growing confidence in the Catholic communities.
They are streets ahead of a Protestant community that sees
its identity being eroded. When people think they are on
the losing side, then the community fragments.
"These people [behind the violence] have no vision and
people without vision perish as they're only wrecking their
own communities.
"We have to pick ourselves up and start all over again."
Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2005/09/13 08:22:34 GMT
© BBC MMV
******************************************
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=reutersEdge&storyID=2005-09-13T080704Z_01_NOA329013_RTRUKOC_0_ANALYSIS-BELFAST-RIOTS.xml
Northern Irish Riots Reveal Deep-Seated Protestant Malaise
Tue Sep 13, 2005 9:07 AM BST
"Protestants look around and they can't locate a peace
dividend."
Peter Shirlow of the University of Ulster
By Kevin Smith
DUBLIN (Reuters) - Scenes of mayhem in Belfast last
weekend, reminiscent of the worst days of Northern
Ireland's 30- year conflict, have their roots in growing
suspicions among Protestants that they are being squeezed
into the political sidelines.
The eruption of violence, with Protestants attacking police
and soldiers with guns and homemade bombs, came after
months of mounting tension over Britain's perceived haste
in responding to July's vow by the IRA to disarm.
Protestants, who largely regard themselves as loyal to the
British crown, have been angered by British moves to scale
down security in the province before any concrete action by
the IRA.
However, experts say the current disaffection goes back
much further and stems from 1998's Good Friday peace
agreement, aimed at ending decades of bloodshed between the
Protestant majority who cherish the union with Britain and
minority Catholics who favour union with the Irish
Republic.
"What has happened over the past seven years of peace
process is that ... the unionist community has walked
further and further away and presented the agreement as a
betrayal of their rights and freedoms," said Peter Shirlow,
senior lecturer in human geography at the University of
Ulster.
There was a perception among Protestants that Irish
republicans, led by the IRA's political ally Sinn Fein, had
derived far more benefits from the pact than they had.
"Protestants look around and they can't locate a peace
dividend," Shirlow said.
GROWING INSECURITY
Political gains by Sinn Fein, now the dominant Irish
nationalist party in Northern Ireland, since 1998 had also
increased Protestant insecurity, he added.
Trigger for the weekend riots was the rerouting of a march
by the Orange Order -- Protestants fiercely loyal to
British rule -- to take it away from a Catholic area of
west Belfast.
Richard English, professor of politics at Queen's
University in Belfast, said part of the problem underlying
the events was the British government's longterm focus on
republicans.
"The political process was primarily about stopping the IRA
campaign," he said, adding that Protestants had come to
feel they were low down on the priority list.
"From the government's point of view, they did not really
see this coming," he said.
Reg Empey, leader of the moderate pro-British Ulster
Unionist Party, said the weekend's violence was more deep-
seated than many were perhaps prepared to accept.
"There has been a build-up of resentment that those who
practise violence get listened to and have their concerns
addressed," he said.
"Republicans are seen to influence government by
threatening force and getting rewarded for their efforts."
While condemning the weekend's rioting, Northern Ireland
Secretary Peter Hain acknowledged that part of the problem
was social deprivation in hardline Protestant areas.
"We do need to get to the root of it. These communities are
alienated, they are deprived. They have not benefited from
the prosperity and record number of jobs that apply right
across Northern Ireland now," he said.
Since the 1970s, Protestants who regarded a job for life in
one of Belfast's heavy industries as their birthright have
seen their livelihoods die along with the shipyards and
engineering plants that were once mainstays of the economy.
Protestant strongholds like the Shankill have also failed
to take advantage of educational opportunities which were
seized on by the Catholic community as a means to a better
life.
These factors, combined with shifting demographics in
Belfast that have created a sense of diminishing territory,
have added to insecurity within Protestant communities.
"The problem is republicans use alienation to mobilise an
electorate, while unionists use alienation to mobilise
anger and frustration," Shirlow said.
"The Protestant community is essentially quite conservative
and the unionist leadership seems to have been unable to
explain changes to them."
© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.
******************************************
http://u.tv/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=64918&pt=n
Republicans 'Must Reach Out To Unionists'
True republicans must do more to reach out to the unionist
community in Northern Ireland, it was claimed today.
By:Press Association
As loyalist rioting erupted across Belfast for a third
night, Irish Justice Minister Michael McDowell vowed that
the violence would not bring down the 1998 Good Friday
Agreement and urged greater reconciliation.
He said that a new vision of Ireland must recognise and
respect the orange panel in the Irish Tricolour.
Police Service of Northern Ireland officers said they
arrested 20 people last night after blast bombs and
missiles rained down on them and burning cars blocked main
streets across Belfast.
It was the third night of violence across the province,
which has been described by the PSNI as some of the most
dangerous ever seen in the UK.
"I don`t think it will bring down the Agreement because the
two Governments are totally committed to it," Mr McDowell
said today.
"But I believe it can be deeply damaging to the prospects
for reconciliation between the two communities in Northern
Ireland."
He said the first challenge for all republicans was to
respect the orange panel of the Tricolour and to develop a
sense of Irishness which includes Ulster Scots and Anglo
Irish.
"It must reach out to those people, not polarise Northern
society," he explained.
"The two communities are drifting further and further
apart. That`s wrong for Ireland and it`s wrong for the
children of both communities going forward."
Progressive Democrats president Mr McDowell, who took part
in recent power-sharing talks, said the British and Irish
Governments had made every possible effort to include every
shade of opinion in the political process in Northern
Ireland.
He said voters had made the choice to opt for a polarised
political spectrum, rather than supporting the centre
ground.
"It`s for genuine republicans such as myself to re-
articulate a vision of Ireland where reconciliation of
orange and green is the centrepiece of progress in Northern
Ireland.
"Not polarisation of two communities, not the foolish idea
being proposed by Sinn Fein at the moment that Westminster
elections should in Catholic areas be elections to Dail
Eireann and in Protestant areas be elections to
Westminster."
Unionist leaders have been urged to re-assert their
authority over their communities by PSNI Chief Constable
Hugh Orde and US Envoy to Northern Ireland Mitchell Reiss.
******************************************
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=661375
Too Early To Count Cost Of Riots
By Linda McKee
newsdesk@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
13 September 2005
AS loyalists set up further roadblocks last night, it was
still too early to count the cost of the weekend riots.
Buildings and cars were burned and debris scattered across
roads during the three days of violence that followed the
Orange Order's Whiterock parade on Saturday.
Following the weekend, Translink estimated that £500,000
worth of damage had been caused to buses. Roads Service
crews were kept busy clearing up routes across Belfast and
beyond, with traffic lights and street lights destroyed.
Mo Durkan, communications manager with Northern Ireland
Tourist Board, said the unrest did nothing to encourage
people to visit Ulster.
"The events of the past few days have impacted on the
international image of Northern Ireland at a time when
tourism here has been performing well," he said.
"Over recent years, NITB and the local tourism industry
have worked hard to portray a positive image of Northern
Ireland as a holiday destination.
"Tourism here is dependent on a positive image and the
television pictures broadcast over the weekend reinforce an
image which we had hoped was confined to the past.
"As it stands, it is too early to assess the cost of the
weekend's unrest to tourism and the Northern Ireland
economy," Ms Durkan said.
----
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