With the besieged people
By Fern Lane
Looking at the huge barricades and miles of razor wire erected by
the British army on Thursday and Friday, which sealed the estate
off from the outside world, one began to wonder if the Siege of
Drumcree ought properly to be referred to as the Siege of
Garvaghy Road.
Orangemen who, along with their hangers-on, have vowed to bully
and intimidate at the denial of their traditional `right' to deny
other people's rights, were allowed to come in their thousands,
whereas the residents of Garvaghy Road and anybody trying to
support them were stopped, questioned and often turned back as
they approached the barricades, from both inside and out.
Inside the community centre, Gerard Rice of the Lower Ormeau Road
said, ``My community feels a real sense of identity with this
one''.
The mood of residents was determined but unsure about the
willingness of the British to see the ban through: ``There's no
way they can force it through now is there?'' someone would
venture; ``That's what we thought last year,'' would come the
response, and as Brendan MacCionnaith pointed out, assurances
mean little to a community ``used to having promises broken and
its trust betrayed.''
SF Assembly member Dara O'Hagan reflected on some of the other
issues raised by the looming crisis: ``Something which has never
been properly explored is the racism which lies at the heart of
unionist ideology. We can't explore it - it has to be worked out
within the unionist community itself. Drumcree is all part of
that, of making them face up to their sectarian nature. There are
much deeper issues at stake here than a ten minute march.''
Brendan MacCionnaith, in dealing with media, much of which has
with varying degrees of subtlety tried to undermine him,
responded with careful patience to repeated questions about why
the community could not just `compromise' and allow the march
through.
``With respect,'' he told one journalist who at the press
conference on Saturday afternoon asked him, yet again, why the
residents could not take the `moral high ground' and stop
opposing the march, ``you're missing the point. This is about
upholding the law. This community has been on the moral high
ground for several years. The British have to take the moral high
ground now. This was meant to be a legally binding decision; will
the Government ensure that the politics of the bully boy and
cudgel are not allowed to succeed?''
``All 32 lodges in Portadown rejected the Good Friday Agreement
and now they have set themselves on a collision course with all
the people in the six counties who voted for peace.''
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