Myth of tit-for-tat
By Laura Friel
Residents from the Lower Ormeau Road are challenging
media reports which have described the loyalist murder
of 52-year-old Larry Brennan as ``retaliation'' or
``tit-for-tat''.
The Catholic taxi driver was fatally wounded outside a
taxi depot on the Ormeau Road just hours after the
death of Jim Guiney, a prominent member of the UDA shot
dead by the INLA. However, in a statement released by
the Lower Ormeau Residents Action Group, local people
said the van believed to have been used in the murder
of Larry Brennan was seen on the Ormeau Road more than
15 hours prior to the UDA man's death.
Residents' spokesperson Gerard Rice said loyalist
paramilitaries had carried out a dummy run for the taxi
depot murder the night before Jim Guiney's death. ``A
van of the same colour and with the same registration
number was spotted outside the taxi depot and in the
Fitzroy Avenue area at around 7pm on Sunday evening,''
said Rice, ``It attracted the attention of several
people because the windows had been blacked out.'' A
local shopkeeper reported the suspicious vehicle to the
RUC.
Shortly after 7.30pm on Monday January 19, Larry
Brennan was sitting at the wheel of his taxi outside
the Enterprise taxi depot when he was fatally wounded
by a lone gunman. Witnesses said the gunman was wearing
a baseball cap, leather jacket, a white t-shirt and
jeans. The loyalist gunman stood at the side of the
road before firing four shots directly at Larry
Brennan. The Catholic father of two, died shortly after
being rushed to Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital.
According to a local report, after the shooting, the
killer turned the corner to walk along Haypark Avenue
to Haywood Avenue before entering a nearby pub. Local
people said the RUC, who had mounted a checkpoint on
the Ormeau Bridge on Monday evening, left the area at
7pm. At 7.30pm the loyalist death squad would have had
a clear run onto the Ormeau Road.
Larry Brennan, a Catholic engaged to a Protestant, knew
he might be targeted by loyalist killers. Dorothy
Creaney, Larry's fiancee, said that the couple had been
threatened by loyalist paramilitaries, but had been
determined to wed despite warnings to call it off.
Dorothy said the couple had stopped seeing each other
for six weeks after being threatened, but ``we just knew
then we couldn't be apart''. 72-year-old Mary Brennan,
the elderly mother of the murder man, described herself
as brokenhearted. ``This is the second member of our
family we've lost, ``said Mary, ``I lost a nephew in
1972, his father died of a broken heart. I'm sure I
will too.''
As in all recent sectarian killings, the family are
expected to establish the dead person's status through
the media. Like the victim of rape, Catholic victims of
sectarian attacks must prove their ``innocence''. It is
left to the family to dispell the victim's
`culpability'. The victim's clothes are significant. A
GAA shirt, a Celtic top, explains everything.
But most importantly, to be `innocent' a Catholic must
be apolitical. A Catholic with a political agenda is
treated by the media as an accomplice in their own
murder. Sectarian killings are ``provoked'', they are
``acts of revenge'' and if the victim is a Republican, in
any sense of the word, it becomes ``inevitable''.
In the current political vacuum, families of the
victims are also expected to take responsibilty for
future violence. When Elish O'Reilly, the sister of
Larry Brennan called for no retaliation, Tony Blair
simply reiterated her call. In doing so the British PM
unwittingly acknowleged his government's inability to
accept responsibilty for, and unwillingness to
challenge, the sectarian operation of British rule in
Ireland.
other nationalist shot dead
On Wednesday night another nationalist was shot dead. The man, in his fifties, was was working in the loyalist Sandy Row area when he was gunned down shortly after 5.00pm. He was the third nationalist to be killed by loyalist death squads in less than four days.
The man is understood to be from West Belfast and was active in the GAA.
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