``No dogs or fenians''
A report on sectarianism in East Antrim
AS THE IRA CESSATION came into force at noon on Sunday 20 July An
Phoblacht talked with Catholics from the East Antrim town of
Larne about their experiences over the past numbers of years at
the hands of loyalist paramilitaries. The test of a new peace
process will be how such communities fare in the future.
The IRA cessation of August 1994 coincided with a campaign of
terror against Larne Catholics that was orchestrated by known
members of the UVF, some of whom had moved to Larne from
Rathcoole in Belfast.
Because of their fear of loyalist retaliation, and their
vulnerability, the people we spoke to chose to remain anonymous.
They spoke of their distrust of the RUC and their lack of
willingness to protect Catholics in the town, turning a blind
eye, rather than challenging loyalist paramilitary power.
Centred mainly on the Craigyhill and Antiville areas of Larne the
attacks have seen groups of men armed with baseball bats with
nails in them and iron bars break their way into the homes of
Catholics and beat the occupants severely.
The homes of many Catholics have had their windows broken and
their cars damaged, but the most serious of the recent attacks
has seen a bomb planted under the van of a local man. The bomb
exploded under the passenger seat where the man's partner and
their child were seated; they were lucky to escape injury in the
attack on January 20 this year.
Two months later in March a young nationalist was wounded in a
shooting carried out by loyalists at Bawnmore in Belfast. It
turned out that the car used in the attack, a silver Ford Sierra,
was seen three days before the attempted murder in Carnlough
which is ten miles from Larne, being driven by two known loyalist
gunmen from Rathcoole. Although the RUC were aware of the
presence of the gunmen they took no action.
Since the first Drumcree crisis in 1995 when the port of Larne
was blocked for two days by Orangemen the marching season has,
especially at the Drumcree period, seen an increase in tension.
In the past couple of months the tension in Larne has again
increased, leading to an intensification of the campaign against
Catholics.
Bars and night clubs in the town have been put under pressure by
loyalists to employ their members as security and door staff.
This, according to one source, has seen Catholics being ordered
out of these premises or else the bouncers just refuse them
entry. In another instance a poster saying, ``no dogs or Fenians''
was put up in a bar. ``Those Catholics who have not heeded these
warnings have been beaten'', said our sorce.
Of the people we spoke to one was speaking from abroad where he
emigrated after a series of attacks by loyalists. Despite living
away from Ireland the man was afraid for his family and asked
that we ensure his identity be kept secret and said the the RUC
had told him specifically that loyalists, connected to the UVF,
tried on at least one occasion to kill him with a bomb.
Just prior to the attempt on his life he had been hospitalised in
an attack the previous Christmas and it was these attacks that
finally left the man in his thirties with no option but to
emigrate.
Emigration, however, has not given the Larne man the security he
would have hoped for. One night he received a phone call from
someone who asked for him by name. ``A man's voice said, `we know
you are there' and then hung up. The number is ex-directory so I
would be worried about this.''
Since May of this year there have been nine seperate attacks on
Catholics in Larne, most of these have been physical attacks on
people in their homes. However, one man who lives close to the
local RUC station was awakened one night by the sound of two men
climbing over his back wall. He noticed that one of the intruders
was carrying a gun, but when he turned on a light the pair fled.
The man is now living in England; like many of his neighbours he
chose the emigration boat rather than live with the threat of
loyalism in a town that embodies the bigotry and anti-Catholicism
on which this statelet was built.
JOHN'S STORY
John is the fictitious name of a young man who was born in
Craigyhill in the 1970s although his family moved out when he was
seven.
``Around that time they called it Taigyhill because there were a
lot of Catholics in the estate then, but over the years as a lot
of loyalists moved out from Rathcoole they targeted Catholics'',
said John.
``The Catholics were always isolated, they could be easily
attacked. They never really got the chance to pull together and
defend themselves. I moved back in to Craigyhill four years ago
and lived in a flat. I always got verbal abuse from the local
loyalists but then last year, about March, a gang of about ten
tried to break their way in. They were at the door for an hour
and we called the RUC who came out but didn't actually do
anything. When the RUC left, the loyalists who had just walked
away, returned and warned me that they wouldn't come in that
night as my girlfriend and child was there, but they would get me
again.''
Before they left the loyalists pushed pieces of lighted paper
through his letter box.
John moved to another flat shortly after this incident but ended
up in hospital when in February of this year six men broke into
this flat and beat him severely.
``I was in bed when they arrived. There was six of them and they
had baseball bats with nails through them and an iron bar. I
jammed myself between the wall and the wardrobe so they could not
really get at me. I still ended up in hospital with multiple
puncture wounds and severe bruising. They were from the UVF.''
John was ordered out of Larne and now lives in a town further up
the coast.
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