Concern at RUC and Loyalist actions
Against a background of increasing violence against nationalists
carried out by both the crown forces and loyalists Sinn Fein
Chairperson Mitchel McLaughlin has called for ``real and tangible
change on the ground'' and called on the British government to
match ``the new situation created by the IRA cessation.''
In a statement Gerry Adams said, ``Nationalists throughout the Six
Counties are witnessing high levels of RUC and British Army
activity, especially in border areas like South Armagh. This
interruption of daily life and the attitude of these patrols is
at best provocative and is obvious evidence of the continued
security agenda being pursued by the British.'' He went on to warn
against,''those who still hold the mindset of war.'' Adams called
upon the British government to take responsibility and ``face down
the `securocrats' and end the intrusion, harassment and
militarisation of nationalists.''
South Armagh
The South Armagh Farmers and Residents Committee has hit out at
RUC Assistant Chief Constable Freddie Hall that security in South
Armagh had been scaled down.
``One only has to come and visit the area to appreciate the
upsurge of military/RUC presence, both in the air and on the
ground, together with the continuing refurbishment and expansion
of lookout posts at some 19 locations along the South Armagh
border overlooking counties Louth and Monaghan,'' a statement from
the Committee said.
Queen's University
In the early hours of Friday 14 November in Shaftesbury Square,
Belfast the RUC, using batons and with dogs, attacked Queen's
University students. The incident began after an RUC jeep crashed
into a taxi and as student revellers gathered around the
accident, a group of ten loyalists from Sandy Row, who were
standing with the RUC, started singing `The Sash' and taunting
students. A loyalist then lashed out at a student. The RUC drew
batons and attacked the students. Within minutes five more RUC
jeeps and a dog van arrived. The RUC herded the students towards
University Road and attempted to isolate small groups of
students, using the dogs, while continuing to beat them.
RUC dog handler was shouting, ``here's some dogs to bite your
balls off, you Fenian bastards.''
A Queen's student councillor told An Phoblacht that one young
woman was knocked to the ground then beaten around the head and
shoulders by an RUC man. The student councillor then approached
an RUC man and asked for the officer in charge in an attempt to
calm the situation. He was knocked to the ground and told to fuck
off. Up to 20 or 30 Queen's University students were battered by
the RUC and 15 arrested, he said. He added that increasing RUC
activity and a number of loyalist attacks in the area had led to
an increase in fear among students.
Belfast
In another incident in Belfast a man from the Oldpark area has
expressed his fear to An Phoblacht after he was threatened by a
telephone caller within a short period of attending a Saoirse
protest at Belfast's High Court. The man returned home and his
daughter, who took the call, explained that a caller had asked
for him by name. When she said her father wasn't home the caller
told her to tell him ``he'd be got''. The man asked BT how the
caller had been able to get his ex-directory number but they
refused to investigate the matter unless it went through the RUC.
Tyrone
Chairperson of Cookstown Council Sean Begley has called on people
to be wary after the movements of Sinn Fein councillors were
monitored entering and leaving a council meeting on Wednesday, 12
November. Sinn Fein councillor Finbar Conway was then stopped,
held and harassed by Paratroops as he returned home.
Also in Tyrone Dungannon man Anthony Fox and his family have been
the target of persistent harassment over the last three weeks. On
2 November he was stopped by Paras who used sniffer dogs to
search his car. A week later his wife, sister and another woman
were stopped by the RUC just after they had donated blood in the
Presbyterian Church on Scotch Street, Dungannon. They were held
for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile a 38-year old Tummery man was approached by the RUC at
Hannigan's Cross in the Dromore area of Tyrone on Tuesday 4
November. The man was stopped at noon by two uniformed RUC men
who knew details about his routine, lifestyle and business. They
menacingly said, ``you never know what is around the corner'', and
offered him money for information on the local community. The man
promptly contacted his local Sinn Fein councillor.
Dunloy
Reporting suspicious activity Martin O'Neill, Sinn Fein
councillor from Dunloy has told An Phoblacht of three separate
incidents which suggest that there are moves to set him up. On 4
November, his brother and a friend heard voices outside his back
door, which disappeared after O'Neill flashed his garden lights
on and off. A car was subsequently heard driving at speed from
the direction of Dunloy.
The previous week his brother had heard voices outside the house
during the night and in the week prior to that Martin's
sister-in-law heard the sound of people moving and talking in the
fir trees behind her mobile home, which is beside the O'Neill
family home. This was at about 5 am as she readied herself for
work. The voices disappeared when she went out to investigate.
In a separate statement Martin O'Neill, commenting on the Monday
evening arson attack on a Catholic church in Ballymoney, has
called on Ian Paisley to use his influence to end such attacks.
He asked for ``those directly responsible and those who fuel the
bigots by their public sectarianism and sabre rattling to realise
the consequence of their actions.''
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