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June 2004

COMMUNITY RELATIONS: CURRENT ISSUES (JUNE 2004)

Paramilitaries

  • Kevin McAlorum, believed to have been involved with the INLA was shot dead after leaving a child at Oakwood Integrated Primary School in Belfast. Mr McAlorum was allegedly paid £10,000 to kill INLA chief-of-staff Gino Gallagher, shot dead at the Falls Road Social Security Office in 1996.
  • A 21 year-old man was attacked in his home in Dungannon, Co Tyrone by a gang with hurling sticks. He was then dragged outside and shot in the leg and ankle. The man had to be transferred to the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast for emergency surgery. Mid Ulster assembly member Francie Molloy denied that the PIRA were behind the attack. Around the same period in South Armagh a 45-year old man was left in critical condition after being abducted while leaving his children off to school. The man was apparently beaten by a gang with wooden clubs studded with nails. Both of his arms and legs were broken and he was left with serious injuries to his head and face.
  • A man was shot in the legs in Portadown. Two men were shot in the legs in Belvoir Estate, South Belfast. A 28 year-old man had his skull fractured in a paramilitary attack in Newtownards and a man was shot in the Imperial Drive/Rosebery Road area of East Belfast.
  • In Belfast, a section of the city centre was closed off following a telephone warning. The Army had to deal with the incident by carrying out a number of controlled explosions. In the west of the city the army had to defuse what was described as a 'crude device' placed outside the offices of the Community Restorative Justice project in Andersonstown. Meanwhile, in North Belfast a security alert on the Cliftonville Road was declared a hoax and in Lurgan a suspicious object left in North Street was declared an 'elaborate hoax.'
  • Outside the city, a pipe bomb exploded under a van in Magherafelt, no one was injured. The local PSNI ruled out sectarianism, and said that they were keeping an open mind on the reason for the attack. In Killinchy, Co Down, a pipe bomb was thrown through the window of a house in New Line Crescent. PSNI also said that they were investigating reports that a number of shots were fired at the house. In Derry/Londonderry 70 families were evacuated from their homes when a gas bottle with wires attached was left outside the offices of Surestart community group in Ballymagroarty.
  • Loyalist paramilitaries were blamed for placing a hoax bomb under the car of senior North Belfast republican, Eddie Copeland. Mr Copeland was visited by the PSNI who warned him that he was under a loyalist death threat. Loyalists were also blamed for planting a bomb under a van belonging to a Sinn Fein member, Michael Agnew in Ballymena, attacking a house in Derry/Londonderry with gun fire when a mother a child were in the building, firing shots at a house in the Braniel Estate, East Belfast and forcing a mother and her three children to leave their home in Roslyn Street.
  • A number of loaded guns were seized from a house in the predominantly loyalist Ballybeen estate in East Belfast.
  • It emerged during this month, that Community Policing Representatives on local District Policing Partnerships (DDPs) were under a new threat from loyalists. In recent months the majority of attacks on DPP members has been attributed to republicans. However, members of the DPP in Cookstown, Tyrone, were warned by the PSNI that they faced harassment if controversial Protestant parades in the town are re-routed during the marching season.
  • The CIRA claimed responsibility for a bomb attack on Lurgan Golf Club. The device, around 50lbs in weight, exploded without warning, but no one was hurt.


Sectarianism

  • Loyalists have been accused of staking out territory in the south Belfast Suburb of Finaghy. Flags were placed the length of Finaghy Road South. SDLP MLA Carmel Hanna condemned the move, and said 'the action of the people who put up these flags is deeply intimidating and a blatant marking out of territory as we approach the marching season.'
  • A gang of up to 40 UDA supporters reportedly tried to break into the A & E Department of the Mater Hospital following a dispute with a rival loyalist faction waving UVF flags outside the hospital.
  • In South Belfast community workers appealed for calm after petrol bombs were thrown at Protestant homes in the Donegall Road area. UUP MLA Michael McGimpsey accused republicans of trying to escalate tensions in the area. Lower Ormeau Road community worker Gerard Rice condemned the attacks and blamed anti-social elements for the incidents.
  • Meanwhile, a delegation of loyalists met NIO security minister, Ian Pearson, to discuss fears of interface violence over the summer. The delegation was led by Ulster Political Research Group (UPRG) members Frank McCoubrey and Sammy Duddy. It was reported after the meeting, that the group had given the minister assurances that the UDA, UVF and RHC would work to maintain peace throughout the summer.
  • Protestant Interface Network representatives met NIO representatives in Derry/Londonderry to discuss ongoing attacks on the community in the Fountain estate.
  • For the first time the all-Ireland primate of the Catholic church, Archbishop Sean Brady attended the Presbyterian General Assembly. The incoming moderator the Rev Dr Ken Newell invited Archbishop Brady to attend his ordination. Dr Paisley and members of the Free Presbyterian church picketed the event.


Parades

  • The Orange Order appealed to loyalist paramilitaries to ensure a peaceful marching season. Belfast Grand Master, Dawson Ballie, said 'at this time of rising tensions within our communities and as we approach the summer season when many of our traditional parades take place, I appeal to all community, political and paramilitary leaders and their respective organizations to do all in their power to ensure a peaceful outcome to our parades and celebration of our culture and heritage.'
  • A loyalist parade passed off peacefully in the outskirts of West Belfast. The parade along Blacks Road in Suffolk passed of without incident and the calm situation was partly attributed to grass roots work with the interface communities in the area.
  • A nationalist protest against a loyalist band parade in Ballymena lead to unionists pledging that any attempt to re-route the parade would be opposed. A small group gathered near All Saints church as the parade took place in a part of the town were several Catholic families live. Sinn Fein representative, Michael Agnew said that they would not be pressing the Parades Commission to re-route such marches.
  • A loyalist flute band voluntarily re-routed its planned parade in north Belfast. The Whitewell Defenders announcement came after talks between community representatives. UPRG spokesman John Montgomery indicated that a similar decision may be taken in kind, next Easter when a republican parade will be re-routed away from Protestant areas.
  • The Tour of the North parade passed off peacefully in Belfast and in East Belfast a parade down the Springfield Road was banned by the Parades Commission.


Minority Ethnic Groups

  • A report issued by the Refugee Action Group (RAG) claimed that the number of asylum seekers being held in jails in Northern Ireland has doubled in 1 year, with three children even imprisoned. The report 'Measuring Misery' is part of an ongoing campaign by RAG, an umbrella organization set up to support asylum seekers. RAG said that it had commissioned the report to oust what it calls the 'criminalisation' of innocent people.
  • The Chinese population celebrated a Community Festival in NI on the river Lagan with Dragon and Lion dances and a Dragon boat race.
  • During this same period racist attacks continued to make the headlines. A Ukrainian man suffered severe head injuries when two men attacked him near the site of a loyalist bonfire on the Galgorm Road. Five men from East Timor escaped injury when their house was set on fire in Dungannon.


Victims and Survivors

  • The Secretary of State Paul Murphy announced consultation plans for a truth and reconciliation process. Mr Murphy announced that a pre-consultation will take place hearing from experts in the field and that he would be undertaking an investigative trip to South Africa to see how the TRC worked. The aim is to go to a full public consultation on possible ways forward next year.
  • Meanwhile UUP MP lady Sylvia Hermon voiced concerns in a House of Common debate, that while England and Wales has an appointed Victims Commissioner, no similar post had been created in NI. This, she suggested, was despite the fact that 'we have a substantial number of victims for a variety of reasons.'
  • A charity that helps victims of the Troubles living in England, called the Legacy Project was awarded £250,000 over three years. The money will be used to offer counseling services to people who have been bereaved or injured by terrorist attacks.
  • Church of Ireland Primate, Archbishop Robin Eames unveiled a memorial window to the RUC in St Mark's Parish Church, Portadown.


Equality and Human Rights

  • The flags issue continued in local councils with Ards Borough Council reversing an 18 month old decision not to fly the Union flag. In a complete turn around the unionist dominated council ruled that the flag will now fly 365 days a year.
  • The NI Human Rights Commission advertised for a new a Chief Commissioner and Commissioners. The current Chief Commissioner is due to leave the post in March 2005 after six years.


Crime and Policing

  • A Scottish man was convicted under the Terrorism Act 2000 for wearing a UVF ring on his finger. The ruling could have implications for the PSNI, as the same law applies in NI. The decision had gone to the Court of Appeal, but was upheld.
  • The PSNI Chief Constable, Hugh Orde signalled that more people will be brought before the courts for flying paramilitary flags over the marching season. At a meeting of the Policing Board, the Chief Constable confirmed that guidance documents had been drawn up, focusing upon 'community impact, negotiation and enforcement of the law.'
  • Crimes against people with disabilities are to be covered by new hate crime legislation to be passed in the Westminster Parliament. The draft legislation will require judges to treat racial and religious aggravation and hatred of sexual orientation or disability as an aggravating factor when sentencing.
  • Dungannon has finally decided to set up a new DPP following a 21 month delay. After a heated debate in the Council an amended motion brought forward by the SDLP's Vincent Currie was carried by eight votes to six, with eight Sinn Fein abstentions.
  • Mr Justice Girvan ruled that members of the Real IRA could not be charged with membership of a proscribed organization because the organization was not explicitly named on the UK government list of terrorist groups. The government immediately moved to challenge the ruling.


Public Policy

  • The security barriers that were a feature of daily life in many towns during the Troubles may be removed. Most gates were opened after the paramilitary ceasefires in the 1990's, but many may now be taken down. The NIO has contacted local councils for their views.
  • The Children's Commissioner and the Human Rights Commission expressed concern over the proposal to bring forward Anti-Social Behavior Orders (ASBO's) in NI. The Children's Commissioner has launched a legal bid to force further consultation. However, NIO minister John Speller accused the commissions of being out of step with other public bodies. 'Every local authority, i.e. democratically elected bodies in NI who have responded to us, all those have come out in favour', he said. 'I do not believe they (the two commissions) should have a veto on public policy.'
  • The NI Memorial Fund was given financial support to the tune of €1.25 million from Dublin's Department of Justice Equality and Law Reform.
  • The West Belfast Partnership Board held a public meeting, at Andersontown Leisure Centre to discuss the future plans for the Andersontown barracks.


Young People

  • Young people working with Beechmount Community Project in West Belfast have painted a mural that calls on people to stop attacking the emergency services. The mural highlights that between 2001 and 2003 there were 323 attacks on the Fire Service, while between 2001 and 2004, ambulance personnel were attacked 349 times and their vehicles 73 times.

 

 

 

 


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