Republican News · Thursday 29 August 2002

False claims as Short Strand attacked again

Short Strand Sinn Féin councillor Joe O'Donnell has dismissed claims by loyalist and unionist representatives that nationalists launched an acid bomb attack on the loyalist Cluan Place area on Tuesday night 27 August.

According to loyalists, backed up by the RUC/PSNI, two women were injured when an acid bomb was lobbed from Clandeboye Drive into Cluan Place.

However, Joe O'Donnell insisted that no acid bombs were thrown from Clandeboye. "If there were people injured in an acid bomb attack in Cluan Place, it did not come Clandeboye," he insisted. "No provocation came from here. No stones came from here."

O'Donnell went on to point out that in the past week, over 20 litres of acid were stolen in a loyalist area of East Belfast, "and this acid is not in the hands of nationalists".

During the trouble that erupted on Tuesday night, loyalists threw a pipe bomb into Clandeboye Drive. The bomb exploded in the garden of a house at about 11pm, and no one was injured.

At about this time, according to local people, up to 150 loyalists gathered at Cluan Place and bombarded houses in Clandeboye, at times using fireworks. This bombardment went on until 2.30am.

While this was continuing, a large force of RUC/PSNI moved into Clandeboye, on the nationalist side of the 'peace wall', and confronted nationalist residents.

Said Joe O'Donnell: "This RUC/PSNI attitude is totally in keeping with the role they are playing in the Siege of the Short Strand."

The Sinn Féin man explained that early on Tuesday morning, up to six RUC/PSNI Land Rovers came into Clandeboye Gardens and carried out a raid on the home of a local man, who was arrested and subsequently charged with riotous behaviour.

The raid was the second series of raids carried out in the district over the past week.

Ironically the RUC/PSNI also raided the area on Friday 23 August, after what Joe O'Donnell described as the first relatively quiet night the district experienced in almost three months.

But since last Wednesday, 21 August, loyalists have continued their onslaught of the area. On Wednesday, a house in Clandeboye was targeted in a pipe and petrol bomb attack. A Second World War hand grenade, thrown from Cluan Place, was defused by the British Army. Later on Wednesday, a number of blast bombs were thrown at homes in Bryson Street.

Loyalists also went on a rampage of rioting in their own districts and engaged the British Army and RUC/PSNI. Blast, pipe and petrol bombs as well as shots directed at the Crown forces.

A number of children were lucky to escape injury when loyalists threw large fireworks from Cluan Place into Clandeboye on Sunday 25 August.

The children were playing on the street, taking advantage of the good weather, when the fireworks exploded. An 18-month infant was among the group of children targeted.

Sinn Féin's Joe O'Donnell has called for a multi-agency approach to deal with the emergency situation facing Short Strand residents. He was speaking after a Sinn Féin delegation met senior Housing Executive officials to discuss the situation. The meeting comes in light of the news that loyalists are deliberately targeting builders involved in repair work on houses in the Clandeboye area damaged in the loyalist pogrom.

One building contractor, who has been trying to carry out repair work since July, has disclosed that he has been targeted by various missiles, including blast bombs, as he attempts to carry out repairs.