Republican News · Thursday 3 October 2002

Lisnaskea schoolboy injured

Sixteen-year-old Michael Shine, who suffers from cerebral palsy, was in his parents' car returning from the All-Ireland football final on September 22 when he was struck by a bottle hurled by loyalists through the window of the vehicle. The Fermanagh teenager suffered serious facial injuries.

Michael was taken through an RUC/PSNI checkpoint where his parents asked for some help only to be told that the Land Rovers didn't have first aid kits. However, an unmarked car then stopped and the parents say two RUC/PSNI members took a first aid kit from a Land Rover and administered help to the boy.

The boy's parents have lodged a complaint with the Police Ombudsman's Office against the RUC/PSNI for allegedly refusing to give their son medical assistance at the scene.

The youngster was admitted to Craigavon Area Hospital before being rushed to the Ulster Hospital at Dundonald for emergency surgery, where he received 100 stitches to his face.

His mother Anne said that despite the best efforts of surgeons at the Ulster Hospital, they fear Michael may have suffered some nerve damage, which could result in localised paralysis. He will have a five-inch scar on the side of his face.

Loyalists rampage in Lurgan

Up to 30 cars, mostly belonging to Armagh GAA fans, were damaged in Lurgan after loyalists went on a wrecking spree in the early hours of Sunday 29 September. Local residents said that a UVF parade was held in Lurgan an Saturday night and that people who attended this parade were responsible for the sectarian attacks on the cars.

Loyalists drove around with baseball bats smashing car windows in the Victoria Street, Lough Road, North Circular Street and Brownlow Terrace areas of the town. Residents say the loyalists also paint bombed republican murals.

The previous weekend, three women in their seventies were surrounded by a loyalist mob who wrecked their car as members of the RUC/PSNI looked on.

The pensioners were travelling home through Market Street, Lurgan, at around 8pm on Sunday 22 September after the All-Ireland Final when their way was blocked by a crowd of loyalists and RUC\PSNI Land Rovers. The loyalists surrounded the car and attacked it with stones and some sort of sharp instrument.

"We were completely hemmed in and I was scared they were going to pull us out or turn the car over," said one of the women. She said it was only after they started screaming that the RUC/PSNI moved a Land Rover and let their car through the block.

The woman questioned why the RUC/PSNI allowed Armagh fans to drive into the middle of a loyalist mob in the town centre instead of redirecting them away.

Taxi driver escapes sectarian gun attack

A taxi driver had a lucky escape when loyalists fired an air gun at his cab as he drove along the Stewartstown Road past loyalist Blacks Road estate last weekend. The attack happened within sight of the massive RUC/PSNI Woodbourne barracks.

The driver who does not want to be named said that he saw two loyalist youths wearing baseball caps looking at his taxi and then he heard a thump, which he thought had been caused by a brick. It was only the next morning that he discovered the bullet hole in the door of his vehicle.

West Belfast Taxi manager Jim Neeson told An Phoblacht that loyalist attacks on taxis at Blacks Road are a daily occurrence.

Three year old escapes death in bomb drama

A North Belfast woman says she and her three-year-old son had a lucky escape after a loyalist pipe bomb exploded in her car just as she was about to put her child in his car seat.

The bomb was thrown over the roof of her Alliance Avenue home from the Glenbryn area at 6:15pm on Saturday 28 September.

According to the woman, the device went through a rear passenger window and exploded in the vehicle.

The woman, who didn't want to be named, was taken to the Mater Hospital, where she was treated for shock.

She explained that her brother in law phoned just as she was about to go out, otherwise she would have been sitting in the car when the bomb exploded.

The woman said that in recent weeks she had to seal up an attic window after air pellets were fired through it. She said her home has been attacked with bottles, stones, golf balls and bolts, all thrown over from Glenbryn estate in recent weeks and even her dog was injured, after being hit on the back with a slate.

Sinn Féin councillor for Ardoyne, Margaret McClenaghan, told An Phoblacht that the UDA were behind the latest attack.

Families attacked in Belfast city centre

Catholic children and their parents queuing outside the Virgin Megastore in Royal Avenue, Belfast City Centre for tickets for a Westlife concert were attacked by a drunken thug who claimed to be a member of the Shankill Road UFF.

Kitty McKeaveney was kicked and punched by the thug who threw bottles at the women and children, all from the Whiterock area of West Belfast, as they queued outside the store last Thursday, 26 September.

"I thought he was going to kill me," said Kitty. "My daughter Marie was in hysterics, he was kicking me, he said he was from the UFF and at one point put his hand into his pocket as if he had a gun."

Care worker beaten by RUC/PSNI

A community care worker was viciously beaten by members of the RUC/PSNI at Antrim Road barracks in North Belfast on Thursday night, 26 September. Tony Doran suffered serious injuries and had to be taken to the Mater Hospital. There he received treatment for severe bruising to his face and body.

Doran said the incident began when he was arrested with his brother on the Mallusk Road after witnessing a car crash involving a stolen car. "We were looking into the car when the RUC/PSNI came along and said they suspected us of stealing the car, but we didn't know it was stolen," said Doran.

The unprovoked assault began when they reached the Antrim Road barracks. Doran asked the RUC/PSNI to bring him to the hospital but they refused until his solicitor demanded that he go to hospital.

No charges have been brought against Doran who has since lodged an official complaint about his assault to the Police Ombudsman's Office.

Massgoers injured after bandsmen attack church

Catholic parishioners from Saint Mary's chapel in Killyleagh, County Down had a bottle thrown at them by loyalists wearing band uniform as they came out of Mass last Saturday evening 28 September.

A number of members of a loyalist flute band were hanging around the chapel as Mass was getting out when the bottle was thrown. The bottle smashed a stained glass window above the entrance to the church and one person was injured by falling glass.