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November 2004

COMMUNITY RELATIONS: CURRENT ISSUES (NOVEMBER 04)

Paramilitaries

  • The UDA has said it is prepared to move away from violence but insisted it would still retain the right to defend Loyalist communities.
  • The UDA have denied attacking a car belonging to the sister of a man it murdered last year.  The sister of Alan McCullough claimed they were being terrorised by the UDA into withdrawing legal statements about his death.
  • Telephoned bomb warnings sparked security alerts at both Belfast's Airports this month.  The alerts came after a hoax bomb was discovered near Belfast International Airport.
  • A security alert was sparked on the outskirts of south Belfast this month following the discovery of a suspicious object.
  • A woman accused of storing 10,000 rounds of ammunition at her home in west Belfast has been refused bail at the High Court.  Bernadette McKee from Glasgvey drive, Twinbrook was told by Mr Justice Morgan that he could not ignore the risk that she would further engage with the paramilitary organisation for which she was keeping the ammunition.
  • A teenager was beaten by seven men with iron bars in a paramilitary style attack, in the Rosemount area of Londonderry.
  • The CIRA last night expressed 'regret' that it had not killed a west Belfast man it kidnapped last month.  In a statement the paramilitary group admitted kidnapping John Devine from his Waterford Street home on October 23 and interrogating him about alleged treachery against its organisation.
  • The IMC's report on paramilitarism was published this month and showed a continuing downward trend in IRA activity.
  • CIRA were believed to be behind a gun attack this month on the west Belfast home of a man recently abducted by paramilitaries a police spokesperson confirmed.
  • A court suspended a Belfast nightclubs (the Network) entertainment licence after it came under the control of loyalist paramilitaries, police told councillors this month. 
  • Mr Paisley hit out at the IMC this month, calling it a “toothless tiger that was being ignored by the parties it is reporting about”.  Mr Paisley said “it can't offer sanctions, except the threat of what sanctions it would give if it could.  This lack of sanctions makes it a toothless tiger”.
  • The UDA pledged to end all violence and to work towards complete disarmament.  The announcement was made by Tommy Kirkham of the Ulster Political Research Group, the political representatives of the UDA.


Sectarianism

  • A disabled Catholic man has been forced from his East Belfast home of ten years because of loyalist death threats.  He has decided to move after police informed him earlier this month that they had received information that loyalist paramilitaries were threatening to kill him.
  • Police this month appealed to the public for information after a serious sectarian attack against two catholic schoolboys in the city.  The schoolboys were amongst a group of pupils getting off a bus when they were attacked by a gang of up to 15 youths.
  • A Portadown man was seriously injured in a sectarian assault on Remembrance Sunday as he sat in a bar on the towns High Street.  A crowd of men entered the premises, a short time later a disturbance broke out during which Mr Brown a Catholic from a mixed family was attacked.  Police believe the gang singled out Mr Brown and that the attack was sectarian.


Victims and Survivors

  • The father of a nine year old girl killed in the Claudy bomb has slammed a forthcoming civic Remembrance Day in Londonderry as a political ploy.
  • The Government appointed Remembrance Commission is to hold talks with victims of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings it was announced this month. It is charged with administering the Remembrance Fund in a bid to address the needs of the victims and victim's families who have suffered because of the Northern Ireland Troubles.
  • The families of people killed in controversial circumstances gave a guarded welcome to the establishment of inquiries into their killings this month.


Ethnic Minorities

  • A Polish man was treated for a facial injury following a racist attack in a nationalist area of Portadown.  Police were last night questioning one man.  A number of men, who were allegedly armed, had entered a house occupied by a group of Polish nationals at 4am.
  • The police this month reported a 60% rise in reported race hate crime.  In the six months to the end of September, a total of 299 racial incidents were reported to the police compared with 180 during the same period last year.  The number of homophobic incidents reported to police increased to 53, compared to 36 in the same period last year.  Police said it believed the figures were higher not just because race hate incidents were rising but because victims were now more prepared to come forward and report them.
  • Police are treating the stabbing of a Lithuanian man in Newry as attempted murder.  The man was one of three people who were assaulted during a house party at Quayside close at around 6.30am.
  • More than 1,500 people marched in Belfast this month to denounce the rise in racist attacks against members of ethnic communities.  The Anti-Racist network said there were at least 5 homophobic and racist attacks a week in Belfast.
  • Police refused to be drawn this month on allegations that a racist attack in which a petrol bomb was thrown at a Portuguese family was the latest in a loyalist campaign of intimidation.
  • A new group has been setup in Strabane to offer support for ethnic minorities.  Strabane Ethnic Support Assoc has been established at premises in Bridge St.
  • A new multi-million pound complex of sheltered flats specially designed for elderly Chinese people is to begin construction in South Belfast.  Hong Ling Gardens in the Markets area is the first of its kind in Northern Ireland and will accommodate 59 residents.
  • A South Belfast bar has defended its bouncer's decision to dress as Ku Klux Klan members for Halloween.  Door staff at Vaughan's bar on the Lisburn Road donned the white racist robes only hours after an anti-racist rally in Belfast for a fancy dress party on Saturday night. Vaughan's lies on the edge of the loyalist village area which has seen dozens of racist attacks on ethnic minorities in the last year.
  • Four Filipino nurses were this month subjected to a suspected racist attack in their home in west Belfast.  The house in Violet Street was rampaged through by vandals who broke the windows destroyed their furniture and then finally before leaving, set a fire in the hall.
  • Members of Belfast City Council have agreed in principle to sell land at Stranmillis Embankment to the Chinese Welfare association for a community Centre.
  • One man was arrested yesterday after a racist attack in Craigavon, taking the number of such incidents in the area to almost 40 since April.  Police were called to a nationalist area of Portadown at around 4am after reports that a number of armed men had forcibly entered a house where people from Poland lived.
  • Members of the Anti-Racism Network denied their campaign was losing momentum despite just a handful of people turning up at a protest in south Belfast. Michael Stone from ARN responded by saying that people were taking action and blamed short notice and the time of day for the low turnout.
  • An attack on a car in L/Derry is to be treated as racist, police said this month.  The vehicle belonged to a member of the Chinese Community.


Equality and Human Rights

  • A woman prisoner has launched a court action amid claims that conditions in a new detention centre are worse than at Maghaberry Prison which led to a damming report by the Human rights Commission.
  • The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission this month said that the Government has a duty to put in place measures which ensure there can be no recurrence of the alleged collusion between security forces and paramilitaries in past years.
  • The British Government has been urged to bring forward a strategy on racism and tackle the problem throughout society, Anna lo from the Chinese Welfare Association said this month.


Crime, Policing and Justice

  • A number of people escaped injury when shots were fired at a house in Co. Armagh.  There were 13 people in the living room of the house, in the Garvaghy Road area of Portadown.  It was thought that the attack was not racially motivated or sectarian.  It is thought that at least one bullet struck the living room window.
  • The Restorative Justice Working Group held a conference this month at the Glenava House Hotel in Newtownabbey.  International theories and experiences of restorative justice were discussed by a number of guest speakers. 
  • Police refused bail to a man charged with 6 counts of possession of explosives with intent to endanger life as there was a real risk of him absconding.  The explosives were found in a car parked alongside his house.  The vehicle does not belong to the accused.
  • Three men were arrested in North Belfast this month following a security alert in Kildare Street. One man was arrested in connection with the device.  A man and a woman were also arrested for possession of a gun.
  • Relatives of two men shot dead by loyalist paramilitaries have met Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan.  The family met Mrs. O'Loan to discuss what campaign group Relatives for Justice called a number of concerns regarding both the murder of Gerard Cairns and his brother Rory and the subsequent RUC investigation.
  • Two youths have been cautioned by Larne police in connection with an attack on an Orange church parade in the town.  Bottles were hurled from flats as they left First Larne Presbyterian Church.
  • A police investigation is continuing to establish how intruders gained access to a heavily fortified Co. Derry police station and erected a tri-colour on a communications mast.
  • The PSNI was not to blame for the violence which erupted following an Orange Order parade in North Belfast on July 12th according to an independent report.  In the report by Human Rights experts appointed by the policing board, the PSNI's handling of the situation in Ardoyne on the evening of July 12th was vindicated.  The report went onto criticize the Parades Commission for “adding confusion”.
  • The peace report was dealt a blow this month when the independent Monitoring Commission Report said the IRA had shown no signs of winding down its organization.  The republican terror group continues to recruit “in small amounts” and is still gathering intelligence.
  • The number of Catholics joining the PSNI has almost doubled since the new policing arrangements came into force, new figures show.  The proportion of  Catholics among 'regulars' has risen from 8.5 percent to 16.34 percent.


Public Policy

  • A call has been made for a ban on all national flags when Derry FC takes on Linfield.  Mr Crossan said Linfield fans waving union flags inside the Brandywell would be like waving a red rag at a bull and similar with the tri-colour to Linfield fans.
  • Almost 50 applications for band parades were made in Limavady this year the Parades commission revealed this month at a private meeting of Limavady District Council.  During the meeting it was revealed that the general behaviour of marchers has improved over the last year.
  • Anti-Social Behaviour and drugs topped the agenda at a meeting of Limavady District Policing Partnership this month.  There has been an increase in reported criminal damage in the borough up from 375 last year to 396.
  • 'Prods out in the Cold' (Headline from Newsletter) An inquiry has been demanded into employment procedures at the Royal Group of Hospitals, where over 90% of staff in some departments are Roman Catholic.
  • Lord Laird of Artigavan has been told that £67 million has been spent on the administration of cross-border agencies over the past four years. Lord Laird was told of the costs in answer to a question he asked in the House of Lords.


Community Relations

  • A Co. Antrim man is hoping to scoop up profits by using a genuine British Army vehicle to tour Belfast's Peace line areas.
  • Controversy surrounds a memorial to IRA volunteers which has been erected in a Tyrone village in the run up to remembrance Sunday.  The monument is situated at Lucy Street in Pomeroy.  Cookstown Council Chairman Trevor Wilson of the UUP said he had received many phone calls from angry locals.
  • Protestant communities and victims groups in Ulster have been given less European Peace funding than Catholics, MEP's were told yesterday.  DUP Jim Allister presented statistics to the European Parliament's regional development committee as he called for a fairer slice of European funds for Protestant areas.


Youth

  • Truancy in Northern Ireland is twice as high as in England, figures revealed this month in a report by the NI Audit Office.  The report found as many as one pupil in every ten missing each day at two schools in the Belfast Education Board area.
  • Schoolchildren have become embroiled in a knife culture in north Belfast which could spiral out of control it was claimed this month.  Community workers from republican and loyalist areas have held meetings in a bid to stamp out growing tensions before a life is lost.
  • More than 30,000 children in Northern Ireland are living in severe poverty, with 8 percent of youngsters being deprived of basic necessities such as proper food clothing and housing new research by Save the Children revealed this month.


 


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