Republican News · Thursday 15 August 2002

One week of terror in the Short Strand

BY FERN LANE

Ferocious loyalist attacks on the Short Strand area and its nationalist residents have continued almost without interruption during the past week. Many originated from Cluan Place, a gathering point for loyalists which abuts the so-called peace wall, supposedly protecting the 3,000 nationalist inhabitants of Short Strand from the 90,000 loyalist residents of the area surrounding the beleaguered enclave.

Cluan Place itself is a small cul-de-sac with one road in and out, which consists of around 20 houses, of which all but two are empty. Loyalists appear to have commandeered one or more of the empty houses and have installed a PA system from which they routinely direct deafening music in the direction of nationalist homes throughout the night.

At Cluan Place, the top ten feet or so the 'peace wall' actually consists of flimsy wire fencing held in place with scaffolding. The scaffolding facilitates attacks on Clandeboye and beyond by providing a vantage point from which loyalists are able throw missiles down into Short Strand, and by providing additional ammunition in the form of large scaffolding bolts.

The catalogue of attacks, from Thursday last week, is as follows.

Thursday 8 August

A number of missiles; that is, large rocks, bricks and bottles, together with three hoax pipe bombs, were thrown from Cluan Place into Clandeboye at about teatime. During the day, the RUC entered the area to remove hose pipes which Short Strand residents had installed so that they had some means of tackling the fires caused by pipe and petrol bombs thrown into the area. The hoses were returned later that day, but on Saturday evening, the RUC returned and sliced through some of them.

Friday 9 August

Missiles and fireworks were thrown over the wall all day.

Saturday 10 August

Missiles were thrown sporadically throughout the day. At around 6.30pm a large number of loyalists returning from the Apprentice Boys march in Derry gathered in the nearby Orange Hall before descending on Cluan Place and launching missiles over the wall. A number of youths in Clandeboye responded by throwing them back. At 7.30pm, as the intensity of the attack increased, nationalist residents approached the RUC/PSNI to ask for assistance. The RUC/PSNI reacted by sending a large contingent of officers into Clandeboye Gardens, in full riot gear, where they attacked the residents. Nine people were injured, including one woman who needed six stitches in a head wound after being struck by a police baton.

The RUC initially placed reports in the media claiming they had gone into Clandeboye Gardens after petrol bombs had been thrown into Cluan Place. They said that the residents had mounted "a sustained and orchestrated attack" involving "at least 200 people" on its officers and causing 13 injuries. They were obliged later to retreat from this position when local Sinn Fein councillor, Joe O'Donnell, revealed that nationalist residents had photographic and video evidence of the attacks coming from Cluan Place.

It then emerged that the crowd of "rioters" referred to by the RUC/PSNI was, in fact, a group of mostly women and children. They had been clearing up after a day painting coloured flowers on the wooden hoarding which most of the residents whose houses face the wall have been obliged to place over their windows to stop them being continually broken and to stop petrol and pipe bombs being thrown through them.

During the raid, which lasted for around an hour, the RUC/PSNI also sealed off Mount Pottinger Road, preventing residents from getting in and out of Clandeboye and preventing many of them from getting into their homes. Those who attempted to get through the police lines were beaten. Attacks from Cluan Place continued throughout, although not one arrest was made in the area and police did not make any effort to disperse the crowd gathered there.

When challenged about this failure, one a senior officer claimed that police had not prevented loyalists congregating in Cluan Place immediately prior to the attack on Clandeboyes because "they were not causing any trouble at that point" and because "we don't have the right to move people from where they want to be".

Sunday 11 August

Nationalist residents of Short Strand held a street party in an effort to provide some relief for the increasingly traumatised children of the area. During the day, there was sporadic stone throwing from Cluan Place. At about 8pm, loyalists began to play loud rave music over the PA system and to throw stones and fireworks over the wall. The music was played at deafening volume for most of the night. At 10.45pm, two pipe bombs were thrown into Strand Walk, one of which exploded. At 11.20pm, another pipe exploded bomb in Clandeboye Drive. Once again, the RUC/PSNI came into the area, again in riot gear, but were persuaded to leave by residents. An Army bomb disposal crew disposed of the remaining, unexploded pipe bomb. Stone throwing continued most of the night.

Monday 12 August

From the early afternoon and for the rest of the day, bolts taken from scaffolding on the wall were thrown by loyalists positioned on the scaffolding at residents in Clandeboye. At 8pm, well over a thousand loyalists, many of them well-known UDA men, gathered along Mount Pottinger Road, Newtownards Road, Albertbridge Road in what seems to have been a crude attempt at the sectarian intimidation of nationalist residents. No effort was made to disperse the crowd or to ensure that they did not mount an invasion of the Short Strand. The crowd was still there at midnight, when the British Army moved into the area. Again, however, no attempt was made to clear the area.

Wednesday 14 August

At the time of going to press, Short Strand residents learned that an, apparently hastily organised, march by the Black Perceptory will take place in the area on Wednesday evening. According to the RUC, it will include something like 20 bands. So far as anyone can tell, there is no precedent for this march; certainly nationalist residents do not recall any similar march taking place in previous years, nor does the march appear to be commemorating any particular event.

Speaking to An Phoblacht about the situation in the Short Strand, Sinn Féin Councillor Joe O'Donnell said: "Quite clearly, this catalogue of events and the nature and severity of the attacks indicate that this is far from being a sectarian turf war, but in reality is the persecution of a small Catholic community daily and nightly, physically, psychologically and socially. People no longer live in Short Strand; they exist." The RUC/PSNI response to the situation in east Belfast, he added, "stretches from incompetence to collusion".