Republican News · Thursday 30 November 2001

North Belfast attacks

attack on workmen in a business centre in North Belfast was the work of the Tiger's Bay UDA, says Sinn Féin councillor Gerard Brophy.

A pipe bomb was thrown over the perimeter wall of the North City Business Centre on Duncairn Gardens at 8.30pm on Tuesday 27 November and exploded. No one was injured.

The attack followed another weekend of trouble in the North Queen Street and Duncairn Gardens interface area. Up to 50 drunken loyalists invaded the nationalist North Queen Street in the early hours of Sunday morning 25 November and attacked a row of Catholic owned houses.

A woman who lives along the row of houses and whose home has been targeted on numerous occasions by these UDA gangs said: "It was at about 4am in the morning and they bombarded the houses with bricks and stones. You would have thought someone came along with a bin full of bricks and tipped them at my front door there were so many thrown," said the woman.

Gerard Brophy who was on the scene, said the RUC/PSNI arrived but did nothing to protect the area. "I went to every one of the RUC/PSNI Land Rovers trying to find out who was in charge. Of course no one was in charge and they all said they had orders not to leave the vehicles," said Brophy.

As nationalists came out onto the streets to defend the area a shot was fired and a loyalist man was shot in the chest, although he was not thought to be seriously injured. A second loyalist was injured in an explosion at the same time but it is believed he may have been about to throw a bomb when it exploded.

UDA campaign ongoing

Despite the news from North Belfast heralding an end to the Holy Cross dispute the UDA has remained undeterred in its campaign against nationalists.

As reported in last week's An Phoblacht, the area around the peaceline at Oldpark, which was relatively quiet in the past number of months, has seen a renewed onslaught of loyalist bombings.

Then in a weekend attack a family, including a pregnant woman and two boys aged six and 11, was targeted when a bomb was thrown from the loyalist Oldpark district.

The bomb exploded in the back yard of the house, at about 11.45pm on Friday night 23 November, as the family slept. According to the householder shrapnel from the bomb ripped through the corrugated metal sheeting on the 'peaceline' wall.

A cast iron fire surround was blown across the garden and a concrete man-hole cover was torn in two. Pieces of the device were also lodged in a coal bunker.

Sinn Féin councillor O'Broin is now lending his support to calls by residents for the 'peaceline' to be raised and strengthened.

Last week, in a series of bomb attacks, a 64 year old woman and two schoolboys aged 7 and 8 escaped injury. Martha Hickey's house on Rosapenna Street was targeted twice on Sunday and Monday. Then on Monday night, at 8.30pm, seven-year-old Bernard Burns was hit on the leg by a device packed with nails. Luckily, the bomb didn't explode.

Belfast City Council criticised over security

A 14-year-old Catholic boy from the Cliftonville area of Belfast was subjected to a brutal sectarian attack as he attended a soccer match at City of Belfast playing fields in Mallusk on the northern outskirts of the city.

The teenager, Paul Hunter, was at the playing fields on Saturday 17 November with his uncle when the attack occurred. He suffered a black eye and bruising to his face. He was beaten when three youths spotted his Celtic top.

The boy's mother Paula is calling on Belfast City Council to improve security at its amenities. The City Council has been criticised for it's lack of investment in playing fields in nationalist areas of the city forcing teams based in nationalist areas to travel to play their matches in loyalist areas.

Teams forced to go to the Suffolk playing fields at the Black's Road have had to abandon their matches on more than one occasion after loyalists scattered nails and broken glass on the pitches before games.

South Belfast schoolchildren run gauntlet

Sinn Féin councillor for South Belfast, Alex Maskey, is accusing the UDA of being involved in a campaign of terror against Catholic schoolchildren on the Upper Ormeau Road.

In the latest attack, on Monday 26 November, a group of children were set upon by a group of men in their 20s as they returned home from St Joseph's Secondary school on the Ravenhill, Road.

According to Maskey the problem has arisen because children from St Joseph's, who live on the Ormeau Road, are not allowed free bus passes so have to walk home. He said that UDA people who were put out of the Shankill during the UDA/UVF feud last year are responsible for the upsurge in the sectarian violence along the Ormeau Road.

Derry attack foiled by crash

A planned loyalist attack in County Derry was foiled due to a car crash on the Ballyquin Road just outside Dungiven.

Just before midnight on Friday night, 23 November, two cars were involved in a crash on the Ballyquin Road between Dungiven and Limavady. The drivers of both cars sustained injuries and were taken to hospital.

In a search of one of the crashed vehicles, a gun was found, which fuelled speculation that loyalists were on their way to carry out an attack.

eyewitness who was on the scene immediately after the crash say that a second car came on the scene of the accident and the occupants were seen removing something from the back of the crashed car. Another person at the scene of the accident said a member of the emergency services claimed to have seen guns in one of the crashed cars.

Sinn Féin councillor Francie Brolly pointed out that the ongoing loyalist campaign in the East Derry area adds fuel to worries that a loyalist attacks was only thwarted by the accident.

Former British soldier on UDA charges

A former British soldier from Ballymena, County Antrim, has been accused of being a senior member of the UDA.

Michael Alexander Bradley from Ladysmith Terrace in Ballymena is in custody an firearms and explosives charges. He was refused bail at Belfast High Court on Wednesday 21 November. The bail court heard that Bradley is suspected of being a senior member of the UDA and of taking part in attacks on nationalists throughout the Six Counties.