Republican News · Thursday 3 June 1999

Loyalist mobs in vicious assault

Last weekend, a Larne man and his wife and cousin became the latest Catholics from the East Antrim town to be targeted in a sectarian attack by a loyalist mob.

The couple and their two children have now been rehoused further up the Antrim coast, the 13th Catholic family to be driven out of the town, which has become synonymous with bigotry, in recent months.

The trio had gone to a bar in the town for a meal on Saturday 29 May when they were spotted by a 15-strong loyalist mob. Known members of mainstream loyalist groups were among the crowd and assaulted the man, who had gone to the bar for a drink when one of the gang hit him with a bar stool, knocking him to the ground. When his wife and cousin went to his aid both were assaulted then all three were dragged outside.

At this point, the crowd had grown to 30. One of the women, who passed out, said she came to at home in the early hours of the morning. She was vomiting and had a severe headache and went to Antrim hospital where she was kept for observation until 7.30am.

The couple have complained that the RUC didn't take the assault on them seriously and that their investigation is inadequate.

The RUC accepted the version of the attack given them by the loyalists at the scene and refused to demand video tapes from the bar owners, tapes that could have revealed exactly what happened.

Phoblacht has been told that the bar owners blatantly refused to hand over the tapes.

We were also told that the Catholic man told the RUC he could identify some of his assailants but the officers showed no interest in taking the information from him.

Only last week in Larne's Craigyhill estate, a bomb factory, the possible source of the bombs used in the numerous attacks on Catholics in Larne, was uncovered by the RUC.

So far, the RUC have refused to disclose information about the bomb factory, neither confirming nor denying that the bombs were similar to those used in the East Antrim area over recent months.

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