Republican News · Thursday 11 July 2002

Springfield Road homes attacked

The home and car of a young couple on the Springfield Road in West Belfast were attacked at around 5am on Sunday, 7 July, after a gang of six loyalists forced their way through the Lanark Way security gate.

The loyalists broke the windows of the car belonging to the couple and then threw a brick through the living room window of their home. A pregnant woman asleep on the sofa in the room escaped injury. A neighbour who heard the commotion ran on to the street only to be told by the gang that they would kill him.

Pauline Ewing told An Phoblacht, "I was shaking when I looked out the bedroom window and saw these loyalists breaking the car windows with a hammer and then the living room window. We were lucky it could have been a pipe or petrol bomb".

Windows of flats facing the couple's home were also broken in the early morning onslaught.

Newington Avenue targeted again

Sinn Féin has condemned a pipe bomb attack on a house in Newington Avenue at the weekend, saying the UDA was responsible.

The attack happened around 9.45pm on Saturday night, 6 July, when the bomb, which only partially exploded was thrown from the loyalist Tigers Bay. It landed in the back of the house and no one was injured.

Sinn Féin councillor Gerard Brophy hit out at loyalist spokesperson John White, who claimed that the UDA are keeping a lid on things and "exercising restraint" in the area.

This attack came just days after it was revealed that the RUC/PSNI had sought permission from the NIO to remove a security barrier from the bottom of Newington Street "for operational reasons".

One resident told An Phoblacht: "The idea of removing this barrier is sheer madness, especially as the attacks on this area by the UDA continue. There have been three people murdered and eight attempted murders by loyalists in this street and they are continuing to attack us."

Phoblacht has been told that the NIO refused to allow the RUC/PSNI to remove the barrier.

Bible from Paisley's church found with UVF arms

A UVF arms haul discovered during a search of a house in the Drumtara area of Ballymena on Wednesday 3 July also contained a Free Presbyterian bible and a typed oath of allegiance to the UVF.

Two sawn-off shotguns, a single barrelled shotgun, three handguns and components for pipe bombs were among the haul. The discovery comes amid increased activity by the UVF in the area as well as an increase in UVF attacks on nationalists in South and East Belfast.

Sources have also told An Phoblacht that renegade members of the UVF were behind the killing of Catholic teenager Ciaran Cummings, who was gunned down in Antrim town a year ago.

Sinn Féin councillor for North Antrim Philip McGuigan told An Phoblacht, "It is very disturbing to see a bible and an oath of allegiance for new recruits found among this arms haul. It proves the UVF are recruiting new members in the Ballymena area".

Petrol bombings in Magherafelt

Three Catholic families living in the Leckagh estate in Magherafelt South Derry had narrow escapes after their houses were attacked with petrol bombs by loyalists on Wednesday evening, 3 July.

A 37-year-old man arrested after the sectarian attacks, in which anti-Catholic slogans were daubed on one house, was charged with attempted intimidation and disorderly behaviour.

Two women were taken to hospital and treated for shock after a petrol bomb was hurled into their Leckagh Drive home. Two devices caused damage to the front door and the inside of a conservatory at a neighbouring house. A third house on the estate had sectarian slogans painted on it and a fifth petrol bomb exploded beside a tree.

The attacks signal an intensification of a long running loyalist campaign against Catholics in the Magherafelt area in recent weeks, said Sinn Féin's John Kelly, vice-chair of Magherafelt District Council.

"The UDA in South Derry are behind all these attacks and are intent in raising tensions in the area. A 50-year-old Catholic man was told to leave his Leckagh Drive home before he was burned out in June and the number of Catholic families on this estate has halved in the last few years. I would ask nationalists to be vigilant," said Kelly.

Pensioner's home firebombed

A 61-year-old Catholic woman escaped a loyalist petrol bomb attack on her home in North Parade off the Upper Ormeau Road in South Belfast last Thursday 4 July.

The woman was lying in bed watching television at around 11pm when she heard a loud bang and discovered a breeze block had been thrown through her front living room window. A petrol bomb had also been thrown but it landed in the garden after it hit the window frame.

The woman's son said that his mother had lived in the area for a long time was very shaken about the sectarian attack.

The Upper Ormeau area has been tense over the past week after the UDA put up loyalist flags and bunting along the road.

Belfast Mayor Alex Maskey has laid the blame for the attack at the feet of the UDA and said the attack was designed to kill.

Residents fearful of the Twelfth

Around 100 loyalists attacked the nationalist Rathenraw estate in Antrim at 11.30pm on Monday night, 8 July.

A number of residents were injured as the loyalists attacked them with sticks and batons, one suffering bruising over his entire body.

Residents were terrified as the loyalists ran amok, while there was only a sole RUC/PSNI Land Rover was in the area. A tense standoff commenced between local residents and the crowd of loyalists.

Sinn Féin South Antrim councillor Martin Meehan tried to reassure local residents by intervening in the situation.

The situation was eventually calmed at about midnight although later that night the same loyalists attacked Catholic houses on the Styles estate, breaking windows including those of a 79-year-old woman who has lived in the same house for 30 years. She had all the windows at the front of her home broken and has now decided to leave the area.

Speaking to An Phoblacht, Meehan said: "The UDA are determined to put nationalists out of the Antrim area, but I can tell them the people of Rathenraw are not for moving. The silence of Unionist politicians towards these attacks on Catholics is deafening, just the way they are not condemning the attacks on nationalist communities across the North."