Sectarian Attacks in north of Ireland
Pat Finucane Centre | 22.10.2002 14:46
the Pat Finucane Centre, an independent, community based human rights centre based in Derry, Ireland, publishes the most complete monthly log of sectarian incidents in the north of Ireland. (sources at bottom)
The following list of sectarian and other hate-driven incidents and attacks is from 1 through 30 September 2002. The criteria we use for inclusion is based on the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) criteria; if a person/organisation feels that the motivation for an attack against them was sectarian (or racist or homophobic), then it should be counted as such. We rely on a number of sources for our information, but this is by no means comprehensive. If you find incidents that have been left off the list please contact us. A full dossier of sectarian and other hate attacks from January 1999 until August 2002 is available on our website at www.serve.com/pfc.
September 1, Sunday. Masked and boiler-suited loyalists carrying a holdall bag were seen in the vicinity of the home of SDLP Assembly member John Dallat in Kilrea, Co Derry. Mr Dallat, who last year was the first Catholic to be elected Mayor of Coleraine, has been the subject of numerous death threats by loyalist paramilitaries. (IN, NL)
In north Belfast, nationalists and loyalists exchanged petrol bombs and stones between Alliance Avenue and the Glenbryn estate. Loyalists threw "flammable liquid" at one of the buildings at the Mercy Primary School on the Crumlin Road. (IN, BBC, CW)
In east Belfast, loyalists threw petrol bombs from Cluan Place into Clandeboye Gardens. At the same time ball bearings were thrown into the Short Strand estate from the Albertbridge Road. (CW)
Loyalists in Portadown attempted to barricade the railway line and attacked two trains carrying Armagh fans home from the Gaelic Football semi-final against Dublin. Loyalists also attacked busloads of fans in Markethill, Co Armagh. (IN, NL, BBC)
Loyalist gunmen tried to kill two Catholic men in Winston Way, Coleraine, Co Derry, amid claims that loyalist paramilitaries were carrying out a series of orchestrated attacks against Catholics in north Antrim and east Derry. The gun jammed and no one was injured. Nationalist leaders appealed for Protestant church and community leaders to make unequivocal calls for the violence to stop. (IN, BBC)
Loyalists attacked St Patrick's Catholic Church in Lisburn. (IN, BBC)
September 2, Monday. In Derry's Clooney estate, loyalists attacked cars belonging to nine Catholic families. (DN, IN, DJ)
A hatchet attack on a 15-year-old Catholic youth in Antrim town is thought to have been motivated by sectarian hatred. The PSNI detained a number of youths. The 15-year-old was described as being in 'critical' condition in hospital. (IN, NL)
The "Loyalist Commission", made up of members of the UDA/UFF and UVF/RHC (Red Hand Commando) announced that loyalist paramilitaries would enter into a "period of calm" in order to facilitate an easing in community relations. The statement called for "republican reciprocation". The announcement was greeted with scepticism by nationalist leaders who recalled the Commission's "no first strike policy" announced in June that they said was found to be "completely worthless". (IN, BBC, NL)
Hugh Orde, Chief Constable of the PSNI announced that the force would take new measures to tackle sectarian violence. (IN, BBC, NL)
Loyalists in Cluan Place attacked workmen fixing roofs in Clandeboye Drive in the Short Strand, East Belfast. The attack was followed by a barrage of bricks, bottles and fireworks thrown into Clandeboye Drive from Cluan Place. During the attack, a suspect device, later declared to be a hoax, was also thrown into Clandeboye Drive. (CW)
September 3, Tuesday. Loyalists attacked Holy Cross Monastery in north Belfast with paintbombs and other missiles. Protestant residents of Woodvale said that the Monastery had in the past been used as cover for nationalist youths to throw missiles at Protestant homes. Loyalists shouting sectarian slogans from a car tried to run over a teenage Catholic girl at a zebra crossing in North Queen Street. In Alliance Avenue, Catholic homes were attacked from Glenbryn with bricks, bolts and petrol bombs. A blast bomb was thrown into a Catholic home in Wyndham Street. (NBN, CW)
Loyalists threw ball bearings into the mainly Catholic Beechfield Street in east Belfast. (CW)
September 4, Wednesday. The UDA was blamed for pipe bombing the home of a Catholic family on Cliftonville Road, north Belfast. The PUP's Billy Hutchinson denied that loyalists had thrown it from the Torrens area. The attack came just over a day after the Loyalist Commission's "period of calm" pledge. In east Belfast, loyalists stoned Catholic homes in Beechfield Street and Madrid Street. At the Alliance Avenue/Glenbryn interface, loyalists threw bolts, stones, marbles, and later fired up to six shots, at Catholic homes. At Ballygomartin Bridge, loyalists attempted to drag a Catholic man from his car. (NBN, IN, CW)
Catholic residents blamed loyalists for planting an electronically triggered homemade explosive device that was left in a holdall bag draped over a diesel pump at a Catholic-owned filling station in Obins Street in Portadown. The device exploded causing damage to the nearby pump and property. The PSNI, who denied accusations from nationalists that they were too slow to respond to reports of the explosion, said they were keeping an "open mind" about who was to blame for the device. (IN)
The UDA/UFF's southeast Antrim brigade was blamed for a pipe bomb attack on the home of Mark Langhammer, an independent Labour councillor in Newtownabbey, north of Belfast. Mr Langhammer, who is from a Protestant background, has been outspoken about the UDA murders of Gavin Brett and Daniel McColgan. The same brigade of the UDA is thought to be behind attacks on Catholic graves in Carnmoney Cemetery. (IN, Obs)
September 5, Thursday. As loyalists in north Belfast attacked Alliance Avenue homes with bottles, bolts and bricks, PSNI Assistant Chief Constable for Greater Belfast, Alan McQuillan, told the Policing Board that loyalist groupings were responsible for the "significant majority" of violence in Belfast. At the same time, loyalists in east Belfast attacked Catholic homes with stones and fireworks. (IN, RTE, BBC, CW)
September 6, Friday. The three men accused of murdering 20-year-old Catholic Chris Whitson, who died as a result of injuries sustained during a sectarian attack outside Kelly's nightclub in Portrush on August 4, were granted bail by the High Court in Belfast. (See August 2002)(IN, NL, BBC)
At Belfast Crown Court judgement was reserved in the case of 37-year-old Philip Joseph Blaney who is charged with manslaughter. The court had heard that Blaney was part of a four-man loyalist paramilitary team that threw pipe bombs into two Catholic homes in Portadown in 1999. One of the pipe bombs killed Mrs Elizabeth O'Neill. (BBC, IN)
In east Belfast, local sources alleged that RIR soldiers posted in the Short Strand used the entrance to Clandeboye Drive as "an open toilet" area while others hurled sectarian abuse at residents. Others made sexual remarks to women, some of them as young as 13. (CW)
September 7, Saturday. The North Belfast News reported that Gusty Spence, the former leader of the UVF, had told the self-styled Yorkshire Loyalist fascist group in England that he had no wish to be honoured on their website as a "loyalist legend". The same website calls for "action" against Muslims and Jews living in Britain. (NBN, PFC)
Billy Hutchinson of the UVF-aligned PUP offered to mediate between a loyalist family and Catholic residents of the Glandore area in Skegoniel, north Belfast, where members of the family are accused of attacking Catholic homes. Eight Catholic homes were damaged in the latest incidents in which a gang of 10 men used petrol bombs, paintbombs and bricks to attack houses in Skegoniel Avenue. Sinn Fein claimed that the attacks were being organised by the UDA to force Catholics out of the area. (NBN, IN, G, PSNI)
In east Belfast, for the second day running, RIR soldiers posted in the Short Strand used the entrance to Clandeboye Drive as "an open toilet" while others hurled sectarian abuse at residents. (CW)
September 8, Sunday. The body of 30-year-old civil servant Ian Flanagan from Keady, Co Armagh, was found in the upper Malone Area of Belfast where he had been stabbed and battered to death. It is thought the motive for the attack was homophobic. A number of youths would later be charged with his murder. (IN, BBC, PSNI)
Mark Pilling, a Derry "community activist" and member of the UDA-aligned Ulster Political Research Group (UPRG), was arrested by the PSNI and charged with having information likely to be of use to terrorists, including a list of details of republicans. A number of republicans, including Sinn Fein MLA Mitchell McLaughlin, were warned that their personal details had been found. (IN, DN, G, CW, IE)
It was reported that Sinn Fein had video evidence to prove that the PSNI were failing to prevent loyalist attacks on Catholics in east Belfast. The footage apparently shows PSNI land rovers standing by as loyalists attack Catholic homes, and members of the PSNI assaulting nationalists. (SBP)
In east Belfast, local residents reported that for the third day running RIR soldiers posted in the Short Strand used the entrance to Clandeboye Drive as "an open toilet", hurled sectarian abuse at residents, and made sexual remarks to women and children. (CW)
September 9, Monday. The Irish News and BBC reported that graffiti had appeared in north Belfast, taunting the family of 16-year-old Thomas McDonald, the Protestant teenager killed when he was knocked off his bicycle on the Whitewell Road by a car driven by a nationalist during sectarian clashes in September 2001. (IN, BBC)
In Derry, nationalist youths threw petrol bombs and paint bombs into the mainly Protestant Fountain estate from Nailor's Row. (DN, IN)
September 10, Tuesday. One of four self-confessed loyalist gunmen sentenced to 12 years for possession of weapons including a shotgun and a loaded and cocked 9mm pistol in a car in Coleraine on November 21 last year shouted the republican slogan "tiocfaidh ár lá" as he was taken away from Belfast's Crown Court. (IN)
Nationalists threw more petrol and paint bombs into Derry's mainly Protestant Fountain estate. Loyalists in the Fountain also attacked Catholic homes in Upper Bennet Street. (IN, DN)
September 11, Wednesday. North Belfast republican Eddie Copeland was warned by the PSNI that loyalist paramilitaries had been monitoring his girlfriend's movements. However the couple complained that a Sunday newspaper had the information three days before the PSNI informed them and demanded to know why it had taken the PSNI so long to inform them. (NBN, CW, IN)
In north Belfast, loyalist youths from the Torrens area attacked Catholic homes in Wyndham street. Later, masked and armed loyalists were seen coming and going from a hiding place in some bushes nearby. (CW)
September 12, Thursday. A 14-year-old boy appeared in court charged with the murder of Ian Flanagan. See above, 8 September. (IN, PSNI)
September 13, Friday. In north Belfast, a pipe bomb, thrown from the mainly Protestant Glenbryn estate into the mainly Catholic Alliance Avenue, exploded at around 9:45pm. (IN, CW)
The NIO announced that more security cameras would be installed in interface areas of east Belfast. (RTE)
September 14, Saturday. In north Belfast, loyalists travelling in a car opened fire on a crowd of shoppers on Atlantic Avenue injuring three men, one of them in the back and stomach. The injured man, still recovering in hospital, told the North Belfast News that he could not believe that people would fire indiscriminately into a crowd that included children. The car used in the attack was later found burned out in the Tiger's Bay area, regarded as a UDA stronghold. Earlier, a man described locally as a "known loyalist" from Torrens, attempted to abduct a 13-year-old Catholic boy on Wyndham Street. (NBN, CW, IN)
The PSNI informed two Larne men, described by the Irish News as 'prominent nationalists' that their personal details were in the hands of loyalist paramilitaries. (IN)
In east Belfast, loyalists stoned Short Strand residents going to Mass. (CW)
September 15, Sunday. In north Belfast, Glenbryn loyalists attacked Catholic homes in Alliance Avenue with stones. Residents complained of PSNI inaction. (CW)
In east Belfast loyalists again stoned people going to mass before attacking the chapel with fireworks. The firework attacks continued throughout the day. (CW)
September 16, Monday. Loyalists pipe bombed the Antrim Road home of a seven months pregnant Catholic woman. The woman was alone in her home when the attack occurred at around 10.40pm. She was uninjured, but detained in hospital for observation. The British army earlier defused a device found in bushes beside Catholic homes in Duncairn Gardens. (NBN, CW, IN, PSNI)
September 17, Tuesday. Loyalists in north Belfast attacked the Wyndham Street home of a Catholic woman and her four children with three petrol bombs. The woman vowed to leave, saying that this was the latest in a series of attacks over two weeks, including a pipe bombing. Local sources say there has been an upsurge in attacks on Catholic homes in Wyndham Street. Glenbryn loyalists attacked Alliance Avenue and Etna Drive homes with stones and fireworks. (NBN, CW)
September 18, Wednesday. Loyalists in Glenbryn threw stones, a pipe bomb and a petrol bomb at Catholic homes in the Alliance Avenue area. (CW)
September 19, Thursday. Former British agent Willie Carlin told the Derry News that Torrens Knight, one of the UDA gang that carried out the massacre of eight people in Greysteel in 1993, and the killing of four Catholic workmen in Castlerock in March 1993, had been a FRU agent who regularly visited Ebrington Barracks, the British Army's HQ in Derry. It is also known that Knight has had links with British neo-fascist group Combat 18. (DN, PFC)
Loyalists in Glenbryn threw stones and fireworks at Catholic homes in Alliance Avenue/Etna Drive, north Belfast. (CW)
September 20, Friday. In east Belfast, loyalists stoned Catholic women from the Short Strand district who were using the pharmacy on the Newtownards Road. (CW)
September 21, Saturday. A loyalist gang, circling in a car, fired a shotgun at three Catholic homes in Longlands Court and two in Bawnmore, north Belfast. The PSNI initially denied that shotguns had caused the damage done to the houses, saying that it had been caused by fireworks or bricks. They later admitted that the damage was caused by shotgun blasts. One of the victims, an 84-year-old widow, rubbished claims by White City residents' spokesman Brian Dunn that the attacks were the result of a feud between nationalists in the area. The attack came hours before the loyalist Whitewell Defenders flute band was due to parade through the area. The parade, in memory of Thomas McDonald, the 16-year-old Protestant who was killed in a hit-and-run in September 2001 (see attacks, September 2001), was allowed to go ahead if it was devoid of paramilitary regalia, said the Parade's Commission. However nationalists complained that there were UFF banners carried on the parade. (IN, NBN)
Two north Belfast loyalists, including 25-year-old Andre Shoukri, the UDA's north Belfast brigadier and close associate of Johnny Adair, were arrested by the PSNI in Rathcoole, north of Belfast. The two were arrested after the car they were travelling in was found to contain a Walther semi-automatic pistol and 30 rounds of ammunition. (IN, NBN)
Sinn Féin Councillor Joe O'Donnell told the South Belfast News that 29 pages from a loyalist website, set up in support of Cluan Place residents by far right groups Swansea Loyal and the British Ulster Alliance, which contain racist and sectarian messages were printed out and pinned to a wall in Cluan Place community house. "That's a lie, " said UUP east Belfast Councillor Michael Copeland, "the messages are kept in a folder and are only shown to interested parties... I won't condone some of the language used in the messages". (SBN, CW, AF)
The same paper reported that Cluan place loyalists would be attending a far right march in London on October 5, organised by the British Ulster Alliance and made up of "hardcore members of Combat 18 and the National Front". The BUA's website features pieces glorifying the murders of Moslems, Jews and Irish. The connection between Ulster loyalism and British fascism is well documented. (SBN, CW, AF)
Short Strand residents, many of them elderly or very young, were subjected to a barrage of bottles, bricks and stones from loyalists while they were going to Mass. The barrage went on for 20 minutes with the attackers unimpeded, apparently, either by the presence of CCTV cameras or by the arrival of PSNI personnel. (CW)
September 22, Sunday. Loyalists from the Hallidays Road area in north Belfast attacked Catholic homes in the Newington area, forcing one family to move out. Local sources blamed the UDA for the violence. (IN, CW)
In Keady, south Armagh, nationalist youths attacked three Protestant churches and an Orange Hall, causing extensive damage. Canon Bill Neely of the Second Presbyterian Church said: "This is very upsetting, we represent a minority community in the area and incidents such as this obviously make us feel unwelcome." (IN, NL, PSNI)
Loyalists attacked five cars as they drove through Newbuildings, on the outskirts of Derry. (DJ)
In the Short Strand, loyalists again attacked mass-goers. St Matthews Church was paintbombed. (CW)
September 23, Monday. Just after midnight, teenage Armagh fan Michael Shine, who suffers from cerebral palsy, was hit in the face by a bottle thrown through the window of the car he was travelling home in with his parents after the All-Ireland Gaelic football final. The attack happened in Lurgan, where loyalists armed with baseball bats and paint bombs had gone on a "rampage", according to local sources, attacking GAA fans and up to 30 of their cars. Michael, 16, was taken to the Ulster Hospital in Dundonald where he received 100 stitches. His parents complained that some of the first PSNI officers on the scene had refused first aid to the youth, saying that they had no first aid kit. The PSNI at first declined to say whether they were treating the incident as sectarian. Meanwhile, local Sinn Fein representatives denied allegations that Armagh supporters had attacked either the PSNI barracks in the town, or loyalists in the town centre. (IN, UTV)
Loyalists again paint-bombed St Matthews Catholic Church, which serves the tiny Short Strand enclave in the otherwise loyalist east Belfast. It was the latest in a series of attacks on the church. Residents of Clandeboye Drive and Clandeboye Gardens were also attacked with stones and a petrol bomb. (IN, CW, SBN)
The PSNI found a small loyalist arms cache, believed to be connected to the UDA, in Utility Street in south Belfast, leading to fears that the UDA intend a new pipe bombing campaign against Catholics in south Belfast. (SBN)
In the evening a gang of 40 loyalist youths who had come from the West Circular Road direction "ran amok" among Catholic homes in the Springfield Road area, throwing missiles at houses and forcing residents to stay indoors. (AN)
September 25, Wednesday. Fire brigade chiefs ordered the removal of a banner, applauding County Armagh for winning the All Ireland Gaelic Football championship, from the Armagh City fire station. The move followed "consultations with the Equality Commission" and a complaint from the DUP that the GAA was "exclusively one-sided" and that such displays were "deeply offensive" to one side of the community. (IN)
As the UVF is becoming increasingly linked to sectarian violence in east Belfast, two of its members in Scotland were jailed for attempting to ship 5kg of high explosive - enough, according to the media, to detonate 10 car bombs - from Troon to Belfast. The two men, Robert Baird (46) from Kirkintilloch and Donald Reid (28) from Kilsyth, were each sentenced to 11 years in prison. (IN)
In east Belfast stone throwing loyalists attacked a Catholic woman leaving the pharmacy on the Newtownards Road. (CW)
September 26, Thursday. The Andersonstown News reported that loyalists using air rifles powerful enough to pierce car doors had fired on Catholic residents and taxi drivers in the Blacks Road area. (AN)
September 28, Saturday. Stormont Regional Development Minister Peter Robinson of the DUP and his party colleague Ruth Patterson were cautioned by the PSNI for blocking traffic on the Albertbridge Road, close to the Short Strand area in support of a "street party" being held by loyalists in Cluan Place. Residents of the small Short Strand Catholic enclave said that Mr Robinson's actions had contributed to tensions in the area. Later that night, loyalists threw stones, bottles and fireworks at people going to mass at St Matthews Church. St Matthews was later paint bombed. (NL, IN, CW)
A loyalist pipe bomb shattered the rear window of a car and then exploded just as its Catholic owner was about to put her three-year-old son in it. The incident happened in Alliance Avenue in Ardoyne. The pipe bomb had been thrown over the roof of the woman's house from the loyalist Glenbryn area. (IN, CW, NL)
September 29, Sunday. In north Belfast, nationalists in the Alliance Avenue area petrol bombed two Protestant homes in Glenbryn. (IN)
A gang of loyalists attacked cars and property belonging to Armagh GAA fans on Lough Road, Victoria Street and in the Kilwilke estate in north Lurgan. A PSNI spokesman told the Newsletter that " no motive for the attacks has yet been established". (NL)
In east Belfast, loyalists threw petrol bombs, stones and other missiles at people going to mass in St Matthews Church. (IN)
September 30, Monday. A gang of loyalists attacked Catholic homes in Parkend Street and Newington Street in north Belfast. The attacks, which happened at about 8:30pm, were carried out with paint bombs, ball bearings and stones. Local sources said that the attacks followed a weekend of violence in the area. (CW, IN, NBN).
In east Belfast loyalists once again attacked St Matthews Catholic Church and grounds with fireworks and stones. The attackers were apparently undeterred by the presence of CCTV cameras. (CW)
Sources:
AF: Anti-fascist watchdog AFA.
BT: The Belfast Telegraph
BBC: BBC radio and television news, BBC online, Radio Foyle (Derry)
CW: Local community workers
DJ: Derry Journal
DN Derry News
G: The Guardian (Manchester, London)
Ind: The Independent (London)
IE: Irish Examiner (Cork)
IN: Irish News (Belfast)
IT: Irish Times (Dublin)
ITN: Independent Television News
LS: Londonderry Sentinel
NBN: North Belfast News
NL: Newsletter (Belfast)
Obs: The Observer (London)
PFC: Pat Finucane Centre
RM: RM Distribution
PSNI: Police Service of Northern Ireland press office.
SBP: Sunday Business Post (Dublin)
SBN: South Belfast News
ST: Sunday Tribune (Dublin)
UTV: Ulster Television
September 1, Sunday. Masked and boiler-suited loyalists carrying a holdall bag were seen in the vicinity of the home of SDLP Assembly member John Dallat in Kilrea, Co Derry. Mr Dallat, who last year was the first Catholic to be elected Mayor of Coleraine, has been the subject of numerous death threats by loyalist paramilitaries. (IN, NL)
In north Belfast, nationalists and loyalists exchanged petrol bombs and stones between Alliance Avenue and the Glenbryn estate. Loyalists threw "flammable liquid" at one of the buildings at the Mercy Primary School on the Crumlin Road. (IN, BBC, CW)
In east Belfast, loyalists threw petrol bombs from Cluan Place into Clandeboye Gardens. At the same time ball bearings were thrown into the Short Strand estate from the Albertbridge Road. (CW)
Loyalists in Portadown attempted to barricade the railway line and attacked two trains carrying Armagh fans home from the Gaelic Football semi-final against Dublin. Loyalists also attacked busloads of fans in Markethill, Co Armagh. (IN, NL, BBC)
Loyalist gunmen tried to kill two Catholic men in Winston Way, Coleraine, Co Derry, amid claims that loyalist paramilitaries were carrying out a series of orchestrated attacks against Catholics in north Antrim and east Derry. The gun jammed and no one was injured. Nationalist leaders appealed for Protestant church and community leaders to make unequivocal calls for the violence to stop. (IN, BBC)
Loyalists attacked St Patrick's Catholic Church in Lisburn. (IN, BBC)
September 2, Monday. In Derry's Clooney estate, loyalists attacked cars belonging to nine Catholic families. (DN, IN, DJ)
A hatchet attack on a 15-year-old Catholic youth in Antrim town is thought to have been motivated by sectarian hatred. The PSNI detained a number of youths. The 15-year-old was described as being in 'critical' condition in hospital. (IN, NL)
The "Loyalist Commission", made up of members of the UDA/UFF and UVF/RHC (Red Hand Commando) announced that loyalist paramilitaries would enter into a "period of calm" in order to facilitate an easing in community relations. The statement called for "republican reciprocation". The announcement was greeted with scepticism by nationalist leaders who recalled the Commission's "no first strike policy" announced in June that they said was found to be "completely worthless". (IN, BBC, NL)
Hugh Orde, Chief Constable of the PSNI announced that the force would take new measures to tackle sectarian violence. (IN, BBC, NL)
Loyalists in Cluan Place attacked workmen fixing roofs in Clandeboye Drive in the Short Strand, East Belfast. The attack was followed by a barrage of bricks, bottles and fireworks thrown into Clandeboye Drive from Cluan Place. During the attack, a suspect device, later declared to be a hoax, was also thrown into Clandeboye Drive. (CW)
September 3, Tuesday. Loyalists attacked Holy Cross Monastery in north Belfast with paintbombs and other missiles. Protestant residents of Woodvale said that the Monastery had in the past been used as cover for nationalist youths to throw missiles at Protestant homes. Loyalists shouting sectarian slogans from a car tried to run over a teenage Catholic girl at a zebra crossing in North Queen Street. In Alliance Avenue, Catholic homes were attacked from Glenbryn with bricks, bolts and petrol bombs. A blast bomb was thrown into a Catholic home in Wyndham Street. (NBN, CW)
Loyalists threw ball bearings into the mainly Catholic Beechfield Street in east Belfast. (CW)
September 4, Wednesday. The UDA was blamed for pipe bombing the home of a Catholic family on Cliftonville Road, north Belfast. The PUP's Billy Hutchinson denied that loyalists had thrown it from the Torrens area. The attack came just over a day after the Loyalist Commission's "period of calm" pledge. In east Belfast, loyalists stoned Catholic homes in Beechfield Street and Madrid Street. At the Alliance Avenue/Glenbryn interface, loyalists threw bolts, stones, marbles, and later fired up to six shots, at Catholic homes. At Ballygomartin Bridge, loyalists attempted to drag a Catholic man from his car. (NBN, IN, CW)
Catholic residents blamed loyalists for planting an electronically triggered homemade explosive device that was left in a holdall bag draped over a diesel pump at a Catholic-owned filling station in Obins Street in Portadown. The device exploded causing damage to the nearby pump and property. The PSNI, who denied accusations from nationalists that they were too slow to respond to reports of the explosion, said they were keeping an "open mind" about who was to blame for the device. (IN)
The UDA/UFF's southeast Antrim brigade was blamed for a pipe bomb attack on the home of Mark Langhammer, an independent Labour councillor in Newtownabbey, north of Belfast. Mr Langhammer, who is from a Protestant background, has been outspoken about the UDA murders of Gavin Brett and Daniel McColgan. The same brigade of the UDA is thought to be behind attacks on Catholic graves in Carnmoney Cemetery. (IN, Obs)
September 5, Thursday. As loyalists in north Belfast attacked Alliance Avenue homes with bottles, bolts and bricks, PSNI Assistant Chief Constable for Greater Belfast, Alan McQuillan, told the Policing Board that loyalist groupings were responsible for the "significant majority" of violence in Belfast. At the same time, loyalists in east Belfast attacked Catholic homes with stones and fireworks. (IN, RTE, BBC, CW)
September 6, Friday. The three men accused of murdering 20-year-old Catholic Chris Whitson, who died as a result of injuries sustained during a sectarian attack outside Kelly's nightclub in Portrush on August 4, were granted bail by the High Court in Belfast. (See August 2002)(IN, NL, BBC)
At Belfast Crown Court judgement was reserved in the case of 37-year-old Philip Joseph Blaney who is charged with manslaughter. The court had heard that Blaney was part of a four-man loyalist paramilitary team that threw pipe bombs into two Catholic homes in Portadown in 1999. One of the pipe bombs killed Mrs Elizabeth O'Neill. (BBC, IN)
In east Belfast, local sources alleged that RIR soldiers posted in the Short Strand used the entrance to Clandeboye Drive as "an open toilet" area while others hurled sectarian abuse at residents. Others made sexual remarks to women, some of them as young as 13. (CW)
September 7, Saturday. The North Belfast News reported that Gusty Spence, the former leader of the UVF, had told the self-styled Yorkshire Loyalist fascist group in England that he had no wish to be honoured on their website as a "loyalist legend". The same website calls for "action" against Muslims and Jews living in Britain. (NBN, PFC)
Billy Hutchinson of the UVF-aligned PUP offered to mediate between a loyalist family and Catholic residents of the Glandore area in Skegoniel, north Belfast, where members of the family are accused of attacking Catholic homes. Eight Catholic homes were damaged in the latest incidents in which a gang of 10 men used petrol bombs, paintbombs and bricks to attack houses in Skegoniel Avenue. Sinn Fein claimed that the attacks were being organised by the UDA to force Catholics out of the area. (NBN, IN, G, PSNI)
In east Belfast, for the second day running, RIR soldiers posted in the Short Strand used the entrance to Clandeboye Drive as "an open toilet" while others hurled sectarian abuse at residents. (CW)
September 8, Sunday. The body of 30-year-old civil servant Ian Flanagan from Keady, Co Armagh, was found in the upper Malone Area of Belfast where he had been stabbed and battered to death. It is thought the motive for the attack was homophobic. A number of youths would later be charged with his murder. (IN, BBC, PSNI)
Mark Pilling, a Derry "community activist" and member of the UDA-aligned Ulster Political Research Group (UPRG), was arrested by the PSNI and charged with having information likely to be of use to terrorists, including a list of details of republicans. A number of republicans, including Sinn Fein MLA Mitchell McLaughlin, were warned that their personal details had been found. (IN, DN, G, CW, IE)
It was reported that Sinn Fein had video evidence to prove that the PSNI were failing to prevent loyalist attacks on Catholics in east Belfast. The footage apparently shows PSNI land rovers standing by as loyalists attack Catholic homes, and members of the PSNI assaulting nationalists. (SBP)
In east Belfast, local residents reported that for the third day running RIR soldiers posted in the Short Strand used the entrance to Clandeboye Drive as "an open toilet", hurled sectarian abuse at residents, and made sexual remarks to women and children. (CW)
September 9, Monday. The Irish News and BBC reported that graffiti had appeared in north Belfast, taunting the family of 16-year-old Thomas McDonald, the Protestant teenager killed when he was knocked off his bicycle on the Whitewell Road by a car driven by a nationalist during sectarian clashes in September 2001. (IN, BBC)
In Derry, nationalist youths threw petrol bombs and paint bombs into the mainly Protestant Fountain estate from Nailor's Row. (DN, IN)
September 10, Tuesday. One of four self-confessed loyalist gunmen sentenced to 12 years for possession of weapons including a shotgun and a loaded and cocked 9mm pistol in a car in Coleraine on November 21 last year shouted the republican slogan "tiocfaidh ár lá" as he was taken away from Belfast's Crown Court. (IN)
Nationalists threw more petrol and paint bombs into Derry's mainly Protestant Fountain estate. Loyalists in the Fountain also attacked Catholic homes in Upper Bennet Street. (IN, DN)
September 11, Wednesday. North Belfast republican Eddie Copeland was warned by the PSNI that loyalist paramilitaries had been monitoring his girlfriend's movements. However the couple complained that a Sunday newspaper had the information three days before the PSNI informed them and demanded to know why it had taken the PSNI so long to inform them. (NBN, CW, IN)
In north Belfast, loyalist youths from the Torrens area attacked Catholic homes in Wyndham street. Later, masked and armed loyalists were seen coming and going from a hiding place in some bushes nearby. (CW)
September 12, Thursday. A 14-year-old boy appeared in court charged with the murder of Ian Flanagan. See above, 8 September. (IN, PSNI)
September 13, Friday. In north Belfast, a pipe bomb, thrown from the mainly Protestant Glenbryn estate into the mainly Catholic Alliance Avenue, exploded at around 9:45pm. (IN, CW)
The NIO announced that more security cameras would be installed in interface areas of east Belfast. (RTE)
September 14, Saturday. In north Belfast, loyalists travelling in a car opened fire on a crowd of shoppers on Atlantic Avenue injuring three men, one of them in the back and stomach. The injured man, still recovering in hospital, told the North Belfast News that he could not believe that people would fire indiscriminately into a crowd that included children. The car used in the attack was later found burned out in the Tiger's Bay area, regarded as a UDA stronghold. Earlier, a man described locally as a "known loyalist" from Torrens, attempted to abduct a 13-year-old Catholic boy on Wyndham Street. (NBN, CW, IN)
The PSNI informed two Larne men, described by the Irish News as 'prominent nationalists' that their personal details were in the hands of loyalist paramilitaries. (IN)
In east Belfast, loyalists stoned Short Strand residents going to Mass. (CW)
September 15, Sunday. In north Belfast, Glenbryn loyalists attacked Catholic homes in Alliance Avenue with stones. Residents complained of PSNI inaction. (CW)
In east Belfast loyalists again stoned people going to mass before attacking the chapel with fireworks. The firework attacks continued throughout the day. (CW)
September 16, Monday. Loyalists pipe bombed the Antrim Road home of a seven months pregnant Catholic woman. The woman was alone in her home when the attack occurred at around 10.40pm. She was uninjured, but detained in hospital for observation. The British army earlier defused a device found in bushes beside Catholic homes in Duncairn Gardens. (NBN, CW, IN, PSNI)
September 17, Tuesday. Loyalists in north Belfast attacked the Wyndham Street home of a Catholic woman and her four children with three petrol bombs. The woman vowed to leave, saying that this was the latest in a series of attacks over two weeks, including a pipe bombing. Local sources say there has been an upsurge in attacks on Catholic homes in Wyndham Street. Glenbryn loyalists attacked Alliance Avenue and Etna Drive homes with stones and fireworks. (NBN, CW)
September 18, Wednesday. Loyalists in Glenbryn threw stones, a pipe bomb and a petrol bomb at Catholic homes in the Alliance Avenue area. (CW)
September 19, Thursday. Former British agent Willie Carlin told the Derry News that Torrens Knight, one of the UDA gang that carried out the massacre of eight people in Greysteel in 1993, and the killing of four Catholic workmen in Castlerock in March 1993, had been a FRU agent who regularly visited Ebrington Barracks, the British Army's HQ in Derry. It is also known that Knight has had links with British neo-fascist group Combat 18. (DN, PFC)
Loyalists in Glenbryn threw stones and fireworks at Catholic homes in Alliance Avenue/Etna Drive, north Belfast. (CW)
September 20, Friday. In east Belfast, loyalists stoned Catholic women from the Short Strand district who were using the pharmacy on the Newtownards Road. (CW)
September 21, Saturday. A loyalist gang, circling in a car, fired a shotgun at three Catholic homes in Longlands Court and two in Bawnmore, north Belfast. The PSNI initially denied that shotguns had caused the damage done to the houses, saying that it had been caused by fireworks or bricks. They later admitted that the damage was caused by shotgun blasts. One of the victims, an 84-year-old widow, rubbished claims by White City residents' spokesman Brian Dunn that the attacks were the result of a feud between nationalists in the area. The attack came hours before the loyalist Whitewell Defenders flute band was due to parade through the area. The parade, in memory of Thomas McDonald, the 16-year-old Protestant who was killed in a hit-and-run in September 2001 (see attacks, September 2001), was allowed to go ahead if it was devoid of paramilitary regalia, said the Parade's Commission. However nationalists complained that there were UFF banners carried on the parade. (IN, NBN)
Two north Belfast loyalists, including 25-year-old Andre Shoukri, the UDA's north Belfast brigadier and close associate of Johnny Adair, were arrested by the PSNI in Rathcoole, north of Belfast. The two were arrested after the car they were travelling in was found to contain a Walther semi-automatic pistol and 30 rounds of ammunition. (IN, NBN)
Sinn Féin Councillor Joe O'Donnell told the South Belfast News that 29 pages from a loyalist website, set up in support of Cluan Place residents by far right groups Swansea Loyal and the British Ulster Alliance, which contain racist and sectarian messages were printed out and pinned to a wall in Cluan Place community house. "That's a lie, " said UUP east Belfast Councillor Michael Copeland, "the messages are kept in a folder and are only shown to interested parties... I won't condone some of the language used in the messages". (SBN, CW, AF)
The same paper reported that Cluan place loyalists would be attending a far right march in London on October 5, organised by the British Ulster Alliance and made up of "hardcore members of Combat 18 and the National Front". The BUA's website features pieces glorifying the murders of Moslems, Jews and Irish. The connection between Ulster loyalism and British fascism is well documented. (SBN, CW, AF)
Short Strand residents, many of them elderly or very young, were subjected to a barrage of bottles, bricks and stones from loyalists while they were going to Mass. The barrage went on for 20 minutes with the attackers unimpeded, apparently, either by the presence of CCTV cameras or by the arrival of PSNI personnel. (CW)
September 22, Sunday. Loyalists from the Hallidays Road area in north Belfast attacked Catholic homes in the Newington area, forcing one family to move out. Local sources blamed the UDA for the violence. (IN, CW)
In Keady, south Armagh, nationalist youths attacked three Protestant churches and an Orange Hall, causing extensive damage. Canon Bill Neely of the Second Presbyterian Church said: "This is very upsetting, we represent a minority community in the area and incidents such as this obviously make us feel unwelcome." (IN, NL, PSNI)
Loyalists attacked five cars as they drove through Newbuildings, on the outskirts of Derry. (DJ)
In the Short Strand, loyalists again attacked mass-goers. St Matthews Church was paintbombed. (CW)
September 23, Monday. Just after midnight, teenage Armagh fan Michael Shine, who suffers from cerebral palsy, was hit in the face by a bottle thrown through the window of the car he was travelling home in with his parents after the All-Ireland Gaelic football final. The attack happened in Lurgan, where loyalists armed with baseball bats and paint bombs had gone on a "rampage", according to local sources, attacking GAA fans and up to 30 of their cars. Michael, 16, was taken to the Ulster Hospital in Dundonald where he received 100 stitches. His parents complained that some of the first PSNI officers on the scene had refused first aid to the youth, saying that they had no first aid kit. The PSNI at first declined to say whether they were treating the incident as sectarian. Meanwhile, local Sinn Fein representatives denied allegations that Armagh supporters had attacked either the PSNI barracks in the town, or loyalists in the town centre. (IN, UTV)
Loyalists again paint-bombed St Matthews Catholic Church, which serves the tiny Short Strand enclave in the otherwise loyalist east Belfast. It was the latest in a series of attacks on the church. Residents of Clandeboye Drive and Clandeboye Gardens were also attacked with stones and a petrol bomb. (IN, CW, SBN)
The PSNI found a small loyalist arms cache, believed to be connected to the UDA, in Utility Street in south Belfast, leading to fears that the UDA intend a new pipe bombing campaign against Catholics in south Belfast. (SBN)
In the evening a gang of 40 loyalist youths who had come from the West Circular Road direction "ran amok" among Catholic homes in the Springfield Road area, throwing missiles at houses and forcing residents to stay indoors. (AN)
September 25, Wednesday. Fire brigade chiefs ordered the removal of a banner, applauding County Armagh for winning the All Ireland Gaelic Football championship, from the Armagh City fire station. The move followed "consultations with the Equality Commission" and a complaint from the DUP that the GAA was "exclusively one-sided" and that such displays were "deeply offensive" to one side of the community. (IN)
As the UVF is becoming increasingly linked to sectarian violence in east Belfast, two of its members in Scotland were jailed for attempting to ship 5kg of high explosive - enough, according to the media, to detonate 10 car bombs - from Troon to Belfast. The two men, Robert Baird (46) from Kirkintilloch and Donald Reid (28) from Kilsyth, were each sentenced to 11 years in prison. (IN)
In east Belfast stone throwing loyalists attacked a Catholic woman leaving the pharmacy on the Newtownards Road. (CW)
September 26, Thursday. The Andersonstown News reported that loyalists using air rifles powerful enough to pierce car doors had fired on Catholic residents and taxi drivers in the Blacks Road area. (AN)
September 28, Saturday. Stormont Regional Development Minister Peter Robinson of the DUP and his party colleague Ruth Patterson were cautioned by the PSNI for blocking traffic on the Albertbridge Road, close to the Short Strand area in support of a "street party" being held by loyalists in Cluan Place. Residents of the small Short Strand Catholic enclave said that Mr Robinson's actions had contributed to tensions in the area. Later that night, loyalists threw stones, bottles and fireworks at people going to mass at St Matthews Church. St Matthews was later paint bombed. (NL, IN, CW)
A loyalist pipe bomb shattered the rear window of a car and then exploded just as its Catholic owner was about to put her three-year-old son in it. The incident happened in Alliance Avenue in Ardoyne. The pipe bomb had been thrown over the roof of the woman's house from the loyalist Glenbryn area. (IN, CW, NL)
September 29, Sunday. In north Belfast, nationalists in the Alliance Avenue area petrol bombed two Protestant homes in Glenbryn. (IN)
A gang of loyalists attacked cars and property belonging to Armagh GAA fans on Lough Road, Victoria Street and in the Kilwilke estate in north Lurgan. A PSNI spokesman told the Newsletter that " no motive for the attacks has yet been established". (NL)
In east Belfast, loyalists threw petrol bombs, stones and other missiles at people going to mass in St Matthews Church. (IN)
September 30, Monday. A gang of loyalists attacked Catholic homes in Parkend Street and Newington Street in north Belfast. The attacks, which happened at about 8:30pm, were carried out with paint bombs, ball bearings and stones. Local sources said that the attacks followed a weekend of violence in the area. (CW, IN, NBN).
In east Belfast loyalists once again attacked St Matthews Catholic Church and grounds with fireworks and stones. The attackers were apparently undeterred by the presence of CCTV cameras. (CW)
Sources:
AF: Anti-fascist watchdog AFA.
BT: The Belfast Telegraph
BBC: BBC radio and television news, BBC online, Radio Foyle (Derry)
CW: Local community workers
DJ: Derry Journal
DN Derry News
G: The Guardian (Manchester, London)
Ind: The Independent (London)
IE: Irish Examiner (Cork)
IN: Irish News (Belfast)
IT: Irish Times (Dublin)
ITN: Independent Television News
LS: Londonderry Sentinel
NBN: North Belfast News
NL: Newsletter (Belfast)
Obs: The Observer (London)
PFC: Pat Finucane Centre
RM: RM Distribution
PSNI: Police Service of Northern Ireland press office.
SBP: Sunday Business Post (Dublin)
SBN: South Belfast News
ST: Sunday Tribune (Dublin)
UTV: Ulster Television
Pat Finucane Centre
e-mail:
pfc@iol.ie
Homepage:
www.serve.com/pfc
