Gun attack wounds three
Besieged for over a week the small nationalist enclave of
Ligoniel on the outskirts of North Belfast felt the full force of
Orangeism in the early hours of last Friday morning when three
local men were shot and wounded by a loyalist gunman.
The attack took place just after 3am after a loyalist mob, which
had been taunting nationalist residents, approached the first
Catholic houses on the Ligoniel Road shouting, ``come on you
Fenian bastards, get out before we burn you out''. A small group
of residents had gathered to protect the pensioners' houses and
the Catholic chapel. Three loyalists left the main group, around
40 in all, two came up one side of the road, while a third took
up a position beside thick hedges at St Mark's church and opened
fire with a handgun, hitting three Ligoniel men. The loyalists
fled back towards the upper Crumlin Road.
Two of those wounded were hit in the legs while a third was
grazed in the side. The men were treated on the spot by local
nurses before ambulances arrived and took them to hospital. Two
were subsequently released while the third remains in the Royal
Victoria hospital.
gry at the behaviour of the RUC who had just minutes before the
shooting been harassing the same groups of residents, locals
revealed that an RUC jeep and red Transit van had actually driven
down the Ligoniel Road and must have passed both the loyalist mob
and the gunman.
Local SF councillor Mick Conlon, meanwhile, hit out at the
continued loyalist blockade around Ligoniel and urged locals to
be cautious when confronted by loyalists.
``Given how this loyalist operated with ease we should take it
that any similar mob could contain gunmen. Every praise must go
to these three residents, who by their presence on the ground
prevented their neighbours homes being firebombed. We must remain
vigilant over the days and weeks ahead''.
Residents in the beleaguered Ligoniel estate had earlier that day
received food supplies, brought into the area by Sinn Fein North
Belfast Assembly representative Gerry Kelly and other community
relief workers.
Lucky escape
On Sunday afternoon North Belfast community activist Anthony
Barnes was visiting a sick relative in the casualty unit of the
Mater Hospital when he was chased by Orange Order marchers as
they walked down the Crumlin Road. After a frantic scramble
through the floors and corridors of the hospital Barnes
(spokesperson for the coalition of nationalist residents groups
opposed to the Orange `Tour of the North' march last month) only
escaped after getting assistance from hospital workers.
Speaking later Barnes hit out at the Orange invasion of a
hospital. ``These loyalists rushed away from their illegal march
when they spotted me as I waited for a taxi. Their behaviour in
the hospital shocked many, both patients and staff and I would
like to thank those who assisted me and got me away to safety''.
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