Ervine gets it wrong
Nationalists in the Short Strand area of East Belfast have
rejected claims by the PUP's David Ervine that nationalists are
heightening tension in the area.
Ervine accused nationalists of attacking loyalists outside the
Laganside Inn on the Ravenhill Road on Saturday 28 July, saying
``this was a totally unprovoked attack at the heart of the
loyalist community, with a ferocious degree of violence''.
Ervine claimed a mob of nationalists from the Short Strand went
into the Laganside Inn in the early hours and carried out what he
called an unprovoked attack.
However, residents of the Short Strand told An Phoblacht that a
gang of loyalists, who were wrecking nationalist houses and cars
on the Albertbridge Road at around 4am, ``were caught red handed'',
and that some hand to hand fighting ensued. The nationalists then
chased the loyalists up the Ravenhill Road.
Mother of three Margaret Bennett said she heard banging and
discovered a man trying to smash her front window with a snooker
cue. ``There were about five men running through the gardens
smashing cars and breaking windows,'' she said. ``There was a man
in the middle of the street telling them to do the houses as they
were attacking the cars.'' She accused the PUP leader of inciting
further attacks on their homes - ``He has set up everybody in this
area as targets by what he said.''
``These people had to travel quite a distance to come into the
Short Strand and attack houses. The people here just want to live
in peace,'' said Sinn Féin Councillor Joe O'Donnell.