Harryville nightmare ends
The loyalist mob which has been picketing the Catholic Church of
Our Lady in Harryville, Ballymena have called off their protest
after almost two years.
Pickets by the loyalist crowds started in September 1996 with
hundreds of protesters gathering to bay obscenities at
churchgoers. There were also attacks on nationalists in Bushmills
and Dervock by the loyalist communities there which included
members of the UVF.
At Christmas 1996, loyalists went on the rampage through the small
nationalist area, petrol bombing homes, burning vehicles and
singing loyalist hate songs outside the church during the
service. Parishioners were regularly verbally abused and beaten
in the streets going to and from their place of worship.
All of this was able to happen despite a large RUC presence.
The cost of the loyalist aggression is well over £2m, money which
would have been better spent tackling the area's soaring drugs
problem, a trade which has also been linked to the local UVF.
The loyalist crowd voted last Saturday night 23 May to call off
their protest but ominously added that they ``reserved the right''
to recommence their action.
Canon Sean Donnelly, who held mass at the church last Saturday,
said he was ``delighted'' that the intimidation was over and that
his parishioners would be ``pleased''.
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