Knife victim confronts Ervine
By Fern Lane
PUP negotiator David Ervine had an uncomfortable time when he met
the victim of a sectarian knife attack at a public meeting in
London on Thursday 20 November.
Young Celtic supporter, Sean O'Connor, narrowly escaped death
after he was attacked just yards from the spot in Glasgow where
loyalist Jason Campbell murdered 16-year-old Catholic Mark Scott
in 1995. O'Connor confronted Ervine about the PUP's support for
Campbell when Ervine addressed a public meeting at the University
of North London.
The attack, which left Sean with a gaping six inch wound to his
neck which needed fifteen stitches, took place on 15 November as
he left the Celtic v Motherwell match at Celtic Park. The
assailant had been waiting in the doorway of a betting shop and,
as a crowd of supporters passed by, he ran out and slashed the
18-year-old student with a Stanley knife, attempting to cut this
throat in what was clearly a copycat attack - like Campbell's
victim, Sean was wearing a Celtic shirt.
According to Glasgow police, there have been 38 similar assaults
in the area since the Scott murder, all of them directed at
Catholics.
Sean had left the football ground with a large number of other
Irish supporters. Police and stewards directed them down the
loyalist London Road, a practice which has become common in
recent months. However, there were no police present on London
Road itself, despite the frequency of attacks on Celtic
supporters in the area and the prevalence of graffiti glorifying
sectarian murderer Jason Campbell.
Sean said: ``As I was walking with the crowd... suddenly I heard a
move behind me and out of the corner of my eye I saw this guy
come running up to me. I thought he had come to punch me and I
just managed to get my arm up to block him. He ran off down an
alleyway and the people with me said he was still shouting
sectarian abuse as he went... It was only when I felt my shirt
was soaking wet and saw the blood that I realised what had
happened. Then I felt a huge hole in my neck.
``When I was in the ambulance the paramedic said to me `you do
realise that this is attempted murder, there's no doubt about
that'. But when the CID interviewed me in hospital they basically
admitted that they are not really interested in investigating
these kind of sectarian attacks''.
``The doctor who treated me told me that if the blade had gone one
millimetre deeper it would have severed a major artery. She said
that when that happens you lose consciousness in 40 seconds and
will die within minutes. She told me I was extremely lucky to be
alive. As it was, I lost three pints of blood anyway.''
A number of the crowd chased the attacker, but he was driven away
in a car which was waiting a short distance away, lending support
to the claim that the incident was premeditated.
This attack and others like it can be linked to the fact that
Jason Campbell has become a loyalist hero. David Ervine and the
PUP recently pressed for Campbell's transfer from prison in
Scotland to the Six Counties as a `confidence building measure'
saying that he was ``well got'' within loyalist circles.
The PUP only withdrew their request when Scottish Secretary
Donald Dewar refused to authorise the transfer and when the
public outrage at support for someone who had committed such a
nakedly sectarian murder became increasingly embarrassing.
During the question-and-answer session after David Ervine's
speech in London, Sean O'Connor asked whether he acknowledged
that this support for Campbell had significantly contributed to
the number of similar attacks on Celtic supporters in Glasgow,
including himself, carried out on the assumption that such
supporters were Catholics.
Ervine replied, ``At the time I asked for his transfer I didn't
know what Jason Campbell's crime was''. This was met with a chorus
of disbelieving jeers from the audience. Sean asked what sort of
politican Ervine thought he was and what sort of political party
he was running if he did not make even the most basic enquiries
about a prisoner to whom he was offering public support. He
suggested that by supporting Campbell, the PUP was giving its
implicit approval to others who committed similarly sectarian
attacks.
At this point Ervine appeared to become somewhat unnerved. He
denied he or his party could in any way be responsible for the
increased sectarian attacks on Catholics in Glasgow, adding, ``I
dont' give a damn about Jason Campbell''. The only explanation he
could offer Sean was that the killer's father and uncle were past
member of the UVF, and for this reason he had given his support
to Cambpell. Nevertheless, he also told Sean ``I am very, very
sorry for what has happened to you''.
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