Apprentice Boys, RUC spark riots
by Laura Friel
By mid-afternoon, the stage was set, as nationalists, coralled
into Shipquay Street, finally responded to Crown force
provocation. Vehicles, which had been thrown across the road to
thwart attempts by the RUC to ram the crowd with Land Rovers,
were set alight. For over twelve hours unarmed nationalists
battled with the RUC and British Army. For the first time since
the restoration of the IRA ceasefire, British soldiers were back
on the streets of Derry.
Over 160 plastic bullets were fired, with nationalists responding
with bottles, stones and petrol bombs. The most seriously injured
was a 11-year-old boy who was taken to Belfast's Royal Victoria
Hospital with head injuries.
A fire at a Derry department store raged unabated as fire chiefs
waited for staff to return from their annual Christmas outing to
Donegal. As dawn broke, the estimated cost of forcing an Orange
parade through a nationalist city was running into millions of
pounds.
Traders complained of lost revenue as the city came to a
standstill and shoppers were denied access. ``The Apprentice
Boys,'' said one leading businessman, Garvan O'Doherty, ``cannot
dominate the city centre as they have done for years with all the
detrimental effects this has on trade...This disruption of one of
the busiest days of the year cannot be allowed to go on.''
Sinn Fein's Gerry O'hEara described the RUC as a sectarian force.
``I can understand the frustration of young people of Derry who
were savagely attacked by baton wielding RUC who set Alsation
dogs on them.'' Martin McGuinness said that ``the reality of life
for nationalists in the North of Ireland is that we do not have
equal rights, we are certainly not treated either fairly or
equally.''
Meanwhile the Bogside Residents Group revealed they had offered a
last minute deal to the Apprentice Boys but it was rejected.''It
would have meant in practice that the Apprentice Boys would have
achieved 95% of what they wanted to do with general consensus.
Instead they choose 100% of what they wanted without consensus.''
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