Republican News · Thursday 31 January 2002

Larne Catholics under siege

BY SEAN MacEACHAIDH

With the first month of the new year just weeks old, loyalists in the County Antrim town of Larne have already opened hostilities against the property of their Catholic neighbours. St Anthony's Primary school in the predominantly loyalist Craigyhill estate as well a number of homes and cars of Catholics have been attacked. An Phoblacht's Sean MacEachaidh visited the area and talked to local people who say that nothing has changed for Larne Catholics.

So far this month, in two series of attacks, a Catholic school and at least six Catholic homes have been targeted by loyalist thugs. On Thursday 10 and Friday 11 January, as North Belfast erupted after loyalists attacked parents collecting their children from Holy Cross school, vulnerable Catholics in Larne also came under attack, incidents that largely went unreported in the media.

Loyalists damaged or bombed several cars and homes and paint bombed St Anthony's primary school. Fourteen windows were broken including some in the dining hall. The series of attacks commenced when an improvised bomb, packed with metal bolts and nails, exploded close to the window of a child's bedroom in the Craigyhill area. Other unexploded UDA pipe bombs were discovered in the gardens of Catholic homes throughout the day. The UDA onslaught included an attack on the home of a local nationalist politician and also on homes and cars of his family circle.

A second series of attacks began before midnight on Thursday 24 January when the living room window of a house in Cairngorm Walk in the town was broken. In a separate incident, two windows of a house at Ballycraigy Ring and a car windscreen were smashed. In a third attack, the door window of a property in Torr Gardens was broken.

For Catholics in Larne, being attacked is literally a way of life.