Loyalists target Belfast nationalists
Loyalist warnings that the UDA's ceasefire is on ``tenterhooks'' are being ``underscored by an increase in loyalist activity in Belfast'', Sinn Féin councillor Tom Hartley has told An Phoblacht.
Hartley said that in the week from 31 July 31 through 5 August, known loyalists had been sighted on three separate occasions at the homes of republicans, some of them ex-POWs, in the Lower Springfield area of Belfast.
The loyalist threat came through UDP man John White, who said he had been approached by members of the UDA and told that the recent arrests of two men, charged with in connection with the killing of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane, were putting the UDA ceasefire in jeopardy''.
The UDA made the warning to White as 30-year-old Mark Barr from Silvio Street in the Shankill area, was appearing in court, on Friday 30 July on charges related to the Finucane killing.
It was in the early hours of Friday morning that the first incident involving the loyalists was recorded.
A republican ex-POW told An Phoblacht that a neighbour awoke at 2.30am to feed his young baby and while in the kitchen he heard voices in the communal entry behind the houses.
The ex-POW, who doesn't wish to be identified, said there were a number of male voices and the neighbour heard them whispering and whistling to each other. All the communal entries in the area are sealed off with steel gates, so access to them is not easy.
The next incident occurred on Tuesday 3 August. The former prisoner told us that he was walking down a side street off the Springfield Road going towards his house when he was followed by loyalists.
``I didn't know anything about this situation, but a friend who lives in the street had spotted a man acting suspiciously, walking up and down the street and looking like he was trying to identify houses''.
When the suspiciously acting man spotted the former prisoner he followed him, got into a new silver car with two other men and drove after him.
The friend who was watching followed the loyalists in his own car and saw them pointing at John. He followed them until they drove up the Springfield Road and crossed Lanark Way into the Shankill.
We have been told that the driver of the loyalist car is a well known UDA man who has been involved in killings carried out in the immediate area in 1991 and 1992. This loyalist was also involved in the third incident, which happened at 3pm on Wednesday, 4 August in the Fort Street, Little Fort Street and Forfar Street area.
People in the area heard a red Fiesta driving on its wheel rim as one tire was burst.
Initially, locals thought it was joyriders, but it seems that the car was being chased by the RUC, who fired a `stringer' immobiliser to stop it. The car drove around the streets to the end of Fort Street where it drove into an entry.
We are not sure if the loyalists drove into the entry to hide from the RUC or couldn't drive the car any further on its flat wheel. In any event, the RUC did catch up with the car and took the occupants out.
A witness has told us the driver was the loyalist in the previous incident and that when he complained about his handcuffs being too tight, the RUC opened them then gave him a cigarette when he asked for one.
The witness said the RUC laughed and joked with the loyalists.
At one point there were six RUC vehicles, including undercover cars, in the area and dogs were brought in to search the entry.
The witness who overheard the conversation said that the loyalists told the RUC the car wasn't stolen and that the RUC said they were aware that it wasn't.
According to what we've been told, the loyalists were taken into RUC custody but there is no indication they were ever held and questioned about their intentions.
Warning people to be vigilant, Tom Hartley said: ``it is obvious that the growing vacuum in the political process is once again being filled by loyalist violence''.
Hartley also called on people to be wary of undercover operations being carried out by the crown forces as ``this has preceded loyalist attacks in the past''.
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