Off the road, fenian bastards
BY LAURA FRIEL
A small boy stands quietly beside a buggy. Declan's eyes
are solemn. The photographer gently coaxes him but there is no
hope of a smile. The rain cover of his buggy is covered in flour
and eggs. In another situation we might all be smiling but this
is no laughing matter and the tears of the child's still shaking
mother stand testimony to that.
Arlene McDonnell has
sought refuge at Short Strand's community centre. She is being
comforted by members of staff. Her hair is matted and her clothes
are splattered. ``There were three of them, all men,'' says
Arlene. ``They shouted sectarian abuse and pelted us with eggs
and flour.''
``I've shopped on the Newtownards Road for 35 years,'' says
Arlene's mother. ``They told us to Ôstay off the road' and called
us Ôfenian bastards'.'' The two women ran with the child into a
nearby shop. ``The shopkeeper, who is a Protestant, was very
upset about what happened to us,'' says Arlene's mother. ``She
went straight to the local PUP office to complain.''
Sharon and Cathy McMullen were walking to the post office
along Albertbridge Road when they were attacked by six loyalists
and pelted with flour and eggs. The mother and daughter ran into
the post office, where other Catholics had already sought refuge.
``One of the men came into the post office after us,'' says
16-year-old Cathy, ``I thought we were going to be beaten.
Everyone was huddled into the corner.''
Within an hour, reports of nine more attacks were received by
the community centre. ``Just after 11am, we received a report
that a woman and her two children from the Short Strand had been
attacked while shopping by loyalists on the Newtownards Road,''
says local Sinn Féin representative Joe O'Donnell. ``The
woman and her children had bricks, flour and eggs thrown at them.
``Each of the victims were told not to enter these areas again
and were threatened with further violence. A 60-year-old woman
has since been taken to hospital after collapsing.''
Tension in the nationalist Short Strand is running high. In
the early hours of Sunday morning, over a hundred loyalists
pelted Catholic homes and residents with stones, golf balls and
petrol bombs.
``They started throwing stones around 4am,'' says one resident
of Bryson Street. ``Every window in my house was smashed.'' The
family's son, who is disabled, was in bed when a petrol bomb hit
his bedroom window and ignited, scorching the window frame. The
family spent the rest of the night in a back room.
``We pulled mattresses onto the floor but no one could sleep.
The house smelt of petrol and we were afraid of the house being
set alight.''
The family has lived here for 17 years and despite repeated
sectarian attacks, they don't want to move. ``We sit with the
lights off at night and the blinds open,'' says the householder.
``If anyone approaches the house, we're alerted straight away.''
Around 2am in the early hours of Monday morning, a gunman
appeared from the loyalist Tower Street and fired four shots at
nationalist residents who had gathered after stone throwing
loyalists had attempted an incursion into the estate. The
shooting took place in full view of the British Army and RUC,
said local people, but no attempt was made to detain the gunman.
The bullet casings were later removed from the scene by the RUC.
Joe O'Donnell said attacks in the area have been increasing
over a number of months, including two attempted killings and a
number of petrol and pipe bomb attacks and the situation wasn't
being helped by inflammatory statements by some local unionist
politicians.
Belfast Mayor and local DUP councillor Sammy Wilson accused
republicans of ``stoking up trouble in the run up to the council
elections''. The DUP councillor's comments were dismissed by
local residents as ``utter nonsense''. Bernie McConnell from the
Community Forum called for a cross community approach. ``People
need to get around the table and take a good look at what's going
on,'' she says.
Meanwhile nationalists living along the Springfield Road in
West Belfast came under repeated attack by loyalists throwing
petrol bombs and bombarding the area with bricks, stones and golf
balls over the weekend. On Sunday night, two petrol bombs were
thrown near Workman Avenue. Earlier, a pipe bomb exploded in the
grounds of the local Catholic primary school.
It was 11.30pm when a man walking home was targeted by a
loyalist gang travelling in a white car. The nationalist resident
was attacked by the six-man gang, who attempted to immobilise him
by wrapping a chain around his legs.
A second member of the gang, brandishing a long skewer,
attempted to stab the man as he was dragged towards the car. When
local people arrived at the scene, the gang abandoned their
abduction attempt and drove off. Francis McAuley of the
Springfield Residents' group described the incident as
``sinister'' and called on local people to be vigilant.
Lower Falls Sinn Féin councillor Tom Hartley said the
attacks were ``wholly reminiscent of the pattern of sectarian
assaults on the nationalist community of the Lower Springfield
area last summer. ``There is no doubt in my mind that all these
incidents were motivated by sectarianism and are in all
likelihood the work of the UDA.'' Sinn Féin has made
repeated calls for the peace wall to be heightened and gates at
Workman's Avenue to be closed on a permanent basis, said the
councillor. ``People should as a basic right feel safe in their
own homes and community.''
Sinn Féin's Martin Meehan has condemned a petrol bomb
attack on a family in Antrim on Monday night. The attack caused
substantial damage to the house and left the family fearful for
their lives.
In Portadown, a Catholic-owned pub in Woodhouse Street was
attacked by a gang of up to 40 loyalists shortly after 7pm on
Saturday night. The UVF mob arrived outside the bar armed with
bar stools and chairs and attempted to smash their way into the
premises.
Three young Catholic men, who had just left the pub, were also
attacked by the mob. All three required hospital treatment.
According to local witnesses, loyalists chanted slogans about
the killing of Portadown Catholic Robert Hamill while the most
seriously injured man was being treated at the scene. The attack
took place only yards away from where Hamill was fatally injured
by a loyalist mob four years ago. All three victims were treated
for serious head trauma. One required 18 staples for a head
wound, another 15 staples and the third was treated for a
suspected fractured scull.
A spokesperson for the Garvaghy Road Residents said questions
needed to be asked as to how a loyalist gang could carry out such
an attack in the town centre in broad daylight without RUC
intervention.
A blockade by loyalist supporters of the Orange Order, who
blocked the lower part of the Garvaghy Road on Monday night, has
been described as ``sheer intimidation''. Around 150 loyalists
moved into the lower Garvaghy Road shortly after 10.30pm. Several
cars were attacked.
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