Republican News · Thursday 31 January 2002

Loyalists hospitalise shopkeeper

A middle-aged man suffered severe facial and head injuries after two loyalists attacked him in his Paradise Sports shop in Scotch Street, Downpatrick on Tuesday afternoon January 15.

Seamus Kelly was in the shop on his own when the loyalists entered and asked if he had a Glasgow Rangers catalogue. Kelly was making a phone call to try and track a catalogue down when one of the assailants grabbed the phone and then hit him across the head with a bottle of Buckfast wine. As the shopkeeper fell to the ground, the loyalists laid into him, kicking about the head and face. He suffered a broken nose, damaged teeth and was treated in hospital for problems with his eyesight.

Some £1,500 of damage was caused to the shop, which mainly stocks Celtic goods but also the kit of other Scottish and English Premiership clubs, after the attackers pulled down displays and kicked in a plate glass window.

Local Sinn Féin councillor Eamon McConvey said that the attack was just the latest in a series in the area and that one of the loyalists involved has a history of sectarian activity. McConvey explained that the recent increase in sectarian tension in the town was down to a loyalist who is also involved in drug dealing in the area.

Craigavon RUC memorial slammed

Sinn Féin councillor John O'Dowd has criticised Craigavon council over plans to build a memorial to dead RUC members using public money.

"The decision to use ratepayers' money to commemorate the RUC is an insult to the nationalist community", said O'Dowd.

He also criticised the council over the way it passed the proposal to build the monument. He says the proposal was on the agenda for a meeting at 6 o'clock on Monday 28 January but when he arrived for the meeting the decision had already been taken.

"Craigavon is currently bidding for city status under the banner of 'Born to be a City'. Unionists have to prove that the city will mature into a city for all," said O'Dowd.

Ballymoney Leisure Centre "a no go area"

Sinn Féin councillor Philip McGuigan says that Ballymoney Leisure Centre is fast becoming a no go area for nationalists after an incident on Saturday 26 January when a nine-year-old boy was injured by a loyalist thug.

McGuigan said that he has been in touch with the council's head of Leisure and Amenities Services about the incident but so far has had no satisfaction.