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http://www.independent.ie/national-news/loyalist-killing-strikes-new-blow-for-norths-extremists-1756662.html
The peace process faces into a long, hot summer as sectarian tensions show signs of boiling over, writes
Jim Cusack
Sunday May 31 2009
The words "escalate" and possibly "spiral" are likely to appear in news reports from the North in the coming months, especially if the weather is good. Sectarian tensions are the norm in many parts of the North, and erupted in the savagery witnessed in The Heights estate in Coleraine after Rangers won the Scottish Premier League and innocent Catholic Kevin McDaid was killed.
There was a serious outbreak of violence in the same area last August when local Catholic youths built a huge "internment" anniversary bonfire, which was set alight a few days early by youths from the predominantly Protestant estates nearby.
The flying of flags is used by both sides as a form of provocation. Last August, the local newspaper Coleraine Chronicle ran a picture of a Union Jack-bedecked street, Somerset Drive, at the end of which -- on the edge of the predominantly Catholic Heights area -- was a large Tricolour. When the bonfire was lit by the Protestant youths, vicious fighting erupted and several people suffered serious injuries.
Low-level sectarian violence is the norm in many parts of Northern Ireland, and following McDaid's death last weekend, the tiny Protestant enclave of the Diamond on the Cityside of Derry was attacked by Catholic youths for two nights.
Only about 200 Protestants remain in the enclave, and a 30ft security fence protects them from the regular stone and petrol bomb attacks from the Catholic youths from the adjoining Bogside.
The sectarian tensions around the north-west area to a large degree derive from the effective ethnic cleansing of Protestants from the Cityside of Derry/Londonderry. In the early Seventies, about 40 per cent of the population on the Cityside was Protestant. It is now put at less than 4 per cent. Foyle College, the last "Protestant" secondary on the Cityside, is set to move to the Waterside in the next year or so, meaning only one Protestant, or "state", primary school will remain.
When the Protestant population was forced out of the Cityside of Derry, many moved to "safe" areas such as Limavady, New Buildings and Coleraine. Some brought with them the resentments at what had happened to them in Derry, and this bitterness has been exacerbated by the increasingly provocative behaviour of working-class Catholic youths, particularly over the summer when the Orange marching season takes place.
Major efforts by former terror group members on both sides of the sectarian divide have been successful in preventing serious trouble in recent years. But sources on the Catholic side say that they are concerned at the rise in dissident republican activity, and that the former Provisional IRA members who played a key role in keeping a lid on the violence on the Catholic side are less able to do so now.
The dissidents are being blamed for deliberately fomenting trouble. They know that retaliatory violence from the Protestant side will feed their cause by provoking more violence from young Catholics.
Former loyalist terror group members have been playing a very active role, so far, in minimising violence in their areas, frequently co-ordinating their actions by keeping in contact with the former "Provos" on the Catholic side. The loyalists are generally still able to control their areas, but this failed last weekend when they were taken by surprise by the apparently spontaneous decision of a mob to invade the Catholic Heights area.
The big concern remains in Belfast. If sectarian vio-
lence were to break out in a meaningful way, particularly in the north of the city, this could affect the great advances that have been made in cross-community relations in the period since the ceasefires of 1994 and 1997.
This, in turn, could lead to the advancement of the dissident republicans' cause and bring large numbers on to the streets. More injuries, and even deaths, could create the "spiral" situation that was experienced in the early days of the Troubles. One of the key incidents in the outset of the Troubles in 1969 was the sectarian murder of a Protestant man, Billy King, who was kicked to death by Catholic rioters outside his home in the Fountain area of Derry.
Billy King, who was killed in September 1969, and Kevin McDaid, who was kicked to death last Sunday, were both aged 49 and both the fathers of four children. Neither was involved in any form of militancy and both were killed merely because of their religious backgrounds.
The killing of Billy King and several other Protestants by Catholics prompted the retaliatory violence by Protestants, who invaded Catholic areas of Belfast, leading to the British government's decision to call in the British army as the then under-strength Royal Ulster Constabulary was on the verge of collapse.
http://www.anphoblacht.com/news/detail/38289
Loyalist murder – No excuses, no denial
BY LAURA FRIEL
ONE MAN was beaten to death, another was fighting for his life in hospital and a pregnant woman was mercilessly battered with baseball bats by a unionist mob in Coleraine celebrating Glasgow Rangers winning the Scottish Premiership on Sunday. The attackers ignored the woman’s pleas that she was pregnant and continued to beat her.
The onslaught came on Sunday evening when several cars, carrying 40 men and youths, many chanting UDA slogans, swept into the nationalist Heights neighbourhood.
Shortly after 9pm, the 40 loyalists, armed with baseball bats and cudgels, left a car park in New Market Lane and drove into the Pates Lane area of The Heights. Once inside the Catholic area, the mob attacked anyone unfortunate enough to cross their path.
During the attack the mob shouted “We are the UDA!” and chanted “UDA! UDA!” Families were subjected to sectarian and racist abuse.
Hearing the commotion, Kevin and Evelyn McDaid, a married couple with four children, left their Somerset Drive home, fearful that either of their two sons might become caught up in the loyalist attack. A well-known and well-respected member of the local community, 49-year-old Kevin McDaid had been a voluntary cross-community youth worker and was most probably known by those who attacked him.
According to eyewitnesses, Kevin was surrounded by up to 15 loyalists and beaten to the ground. Another man, 46-year-old Damian Fleming, was also beaten by the mob and remains in a critical condition as we go to press.
Evelyn McDaid and another woman who came to her assistance were also beaten. The woman was targeted by the mob despite shouting that she was pregnant.
A witness told of a girl pleading with the mob to stop beating Kevin McDaid. “He’s an old man,” she had said. “He’s only a Taig,” one of the assailants had replied.
The murderous intent of the mob can be ascertained by the nature of injuries they inflicted, almost entirely head injuries. As in the cases of Ballymena sectarian victim Michael McIlveen and Robert Hamill of Portadown, murder by mob invariably involves the systematic targeting of the victim’s head.
Kevin McDaid was helped away by his son but collapsed and died moments later. It was the second time he had been attacked by loyalists in two years.
Damian Fleming, who has not regained consciousness, remains critically ill in intensive care. Fears have been raised about the serious nature of Damian’s injuries and the PSNI have already raised the prospect of a possible second murder inquiry.
The likelihood of a loyalist incursion into the Catholic area following the Rangers match had been raised with the PSNI prior to Sunday night’s attack. In light of a possible sectarian attack, the PSNI had organised a number of stand-by units.
In the immediate run-up to the loyalist incursion, the PSNI had been in contact by telephone with a number of people in both communities. During those conversations it was clear that the PNSI were aware of a heightened loyalist threat.
There have been a number of recent loyalist mob and paramilitary incursions into this Catholic area. During one incursion, armed and masked loyalists and their supporters paraded through the area in a paramilitary show of strength. At that time the PSNI said they did not have the resources readily available to intervene.
On Sunday night the PSNI did have available resources. But, despite having units on standby, once again they failed to intervene. Instead, PSNI inaction allowed the loyalist mob to drive in, carry out their murderous attack, and drive out of the area without being challenged.
Local Sinn Féin Councillor Billy Leonard said that sectarian hatred fuelled the murder of Kevin McDaid
“There is no room for denial or excuses,” Billy Leonard said.
In the wake of the killing, Leonard has called on unionist politicians and community workers to acknowledge the prevalence of anti-Catholic, anti-Irish hatred within their communities and engage fully in the task to eradicate sectarianism and racism wherever it occurs.
“The notion that the flying of a Tricolour or a flag supporting a rival football team can be a quasi ‘explanation’ for murder has to be challenged,” the Sinn Féin councillor said.
“Political unionism must face down paramilitary unionism and stop pandering to a sectarian ideology which sees any manifestation of an Irish identity as an excuse for violence.”
There are serious questions to be asked of PSNI chiefs about the strategy, tactics and responses on Sunday, he added.
“Serious questions must be asked. The PSNI knew there was likely to be an attack; they knew where that attack would take place. They had the personnel, PSNI units were ready and waiting but they failed to intervene.”
Serious questions must also be asked about the PSNI decision to act as quasi-negotiators for the UDA just prior to the mob’s incursion.
During telephone contact, local people were warned of loyalists demanding the removal of two flags, a Tricolour and a Celtic flag, flying in the Catholic enclave.
It is an objection which is best judged by the fact that hundreds of unionist flags, including paramilitary flags routinely fly in other areas of Coleraine.
Despite the shameful nonsense of the UDA’s excuse for murder, it was a factor later reiterated by a senior DUP politician.
Commenting on the loyalist incursion and sectarian killing, joint First Minister Martin McGuinness said politicians must demonstrate that sectarianism and bigotry had no place in society.
“Politicians must lead by example. Despite the enormous progress we have made over the recent past, sectarian hatred continues to blight many areas and loyalist paramilitaries continue to orchestrate sectarian violence.
“We need to see clear and unequivocal condemnation of this sectarian murder from the political leaders of unionism across the spectrum.”
It has now transpired that Coleraine loyalists have threatened “some form of action” against one of murdered Kevin McDaid’s sons.
Police notified the young man late on Tuesday night as the threat was to take effect from midnight that night.
Coleraine Sinn Féin councillor Billy Leonard has described the threat as the “ultimate insult” to the McDaid family and added:
“These sectarian loyalists have murdered Kevin, badly beaten his wife Evelyn and now deliver the ultimate insult by threatening one of the sons.
“All loyalist and unionist politicians and community leaders, including the UPRG, must now stand up and be counted by publicly and privately working to rid this community of such low level activity.
“The world is sickened by Kevin’s murder yet cancerous Coleraine still spews out its loyalist sectarian bile and hatred.”
This family have suffered enough: they must be able to grieve without further pressure. Those loyalists responsible must now publicly withdraw the threat and close down forever and the Police need to confirm which loyalist group the threat emanates from.”
Meanwhile, as An Phoblacht goes to press Billy Leonard and Sinn Féin MLA John O’Dowd were meeting with the North’s Parades Commission in relation to a propsed loyalist march in Coleraine this weekend.
http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0531/abuse.html
Sunday, 31 May 2009 10:12
One of the leaders of the Christian Brothers in Ireland has called for more resources to be made available to provide compensation to victims of abuse.
Brother Edmund Garvey made the comments in an interview on BBC Radio Ulster.
An agreement was reached between the religious orders and the Government in 2002 which limited the amount of money they would have to pay victims of abuse.
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Under the deal, the contribution of the religious orders to the Redress Scheme was capped at €127m - it is estimated that the State will end up paying around ten times that amount.
In an interview with the Sunday Sequence programme , Brother Garvey also said criminal prosecutions should be brought against those guilty of abusing children.
The Ryan Report, which runs to almost 3,000 pages, detailed how thousands of children in residential institutions run by religious congregations lived in a climate of fear.
The inquiry found that sexual abuse was endemic in boys' institutions and a chronic problem in some residential institutions.
More educational support
A leading nun has said the 18 congregations are willing to provide more educational support for survivors and their families.
Sister Elizabeth Maxwell said that if the congregations had known in 2002 what they know now about how children in their care had been abused, the agreement it struck with Government would have been different.
The Presentation Sister who led negotiations on the 2002 deal capping the contributions to the State's compensation fund said the deal was not a mistake but added that it may be inadequate in light of what the report revealed 11 days ago.
The Congregations are to meet the Taoiseach on Thursday a day after he consults Survivors' Groups.
http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0531/election.html
Sunday, 31 May 2009 09:19
With less than a week to go before Friday's elections a poll in this morning's Sunday Business Post indicates a further fall in support for Fianna Fáil.
The poll carried out by Red C shows the party down three points to 21% - half the level of support recorded for the party ahead of the 2007 general election
Fine Gael and Labour are unchanged at 34% and 18% respectively.
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The slide in support for the Green Party suggested in the last RED C poll has continued, with 4€ of those surveyed saying they would give the party a first preference vote, a decline of 1%.
Sinn Féin is up three at 10% and Independents and others are up one at 13%.
The poll, which was taken on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday asked 1,000 voters what their preferences would be in a general election.
Voters go to the polls on Friday to cast ballots in European elections, local elections, and two bye-elections - in Dublin Central and Dublin South.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/ireland/article6395340.ece
It is too early to tell whether the murder of Kevin McDaid will lead to increased tension or greater accord between the communities
Liam Clarke
Atrocities can go either way in Northern Ireland. Sometimes they increase bitterness and tension, while at other times they bring people together and mark a turning point. It is still unclear which way the sectarian murder of Kevin McDaid in Coleraine will play out.
Since the IRA ceasefire, killings in the north have tended to bring people together against violence. The net political effect of the Omagh bombing was a backlash against the Real IRA. When Michael McIlveen, a Catholic teenager, was beaten to death in Ballymena in 2006, it led to acts of reconciliation, as did the three security forces murders this year.
In the case of McDaid’s murder, the signs are mixed and tension is still high. On the positive side, his wife and son both appealed for no retaliatory violence, despite being beaten and threatened themselves. Gregory Campbell, the local DUP MP, joined other civic leaders in condemning the attack.
McDaid was murdered when he went to the aid of Damien Fleming, who was targeted by people celebrating Glasgow Rangers’ victory in the Scottish football league.
The mob killing was carried out on a day when McDaid had been involved in talks with loyalists and police in an attempt to defuse tension. His death will undermine trust between the communities and his family has claimed, in a complaint to the policing ombudsman, that the PSNI ignored threats of violence made during the talks.
Worst of all was the knee-jerk reaction of Adrian McQuillan, a DUP councillor, who drew attention to the fact Irish tricolours had been flown by nationalists in the Heights estate where the murder took place. “What reason can you see for there being tricolours up \ a Sunday afternoon? None other than to get a reaction from the loyalist community, and they certainly got a reaction this time, which is very sad,” he said.
McQuillan later said he had been unaware that anyone had died when he made this comment, and he “never meant to hurt anyone”. No doubt he is sincere and the fact that he thought it over and retracted is to his credit. But his initial comments expressed the tribal thinking which can lead to the escalation of tension. The unspoken equation is that one offence paves the way for another and retaliation, though “sad”, is only to be expected.
That sort of thinking was common during the Troubles when communal rivalry and suspicion was high. It has since died down, as parties representing the two communities work together. However, it is still the case that a district of religiously mixed housing, such as the Heights area where the attack occurred, can be seen as a potential flashpoint rather than a sign of hope.
It doesn’t take much for violence to erupt; in this case a football match and a few flags erected in the run-up to an election and the marching season. There may be power-sharing at Stormont but the DUP and Sinn Fein still feel the need to bring out a tribal vote at election time and, to some extent, depend on heightening the feeling of competition with the other community.
It is likely that nationalism will get a boost in this week’s European elections, and that prospect is already raising tensions. The DUP manifesto quotes several commentators, including myself, to the effect that the DUP has had the better of Sinn Fein in the Assembly.
“On the big issues the DUP win five nil,” Eamon Mallie has said, while Sunday Times columns of mine are quoted to the effect that the DUP “has played a blinder on the big issues” and “Sinn Fein is floundering” like “a lumbering flightless dodo”. Fionnuala O’Connor, Denis Bradley and Fergus Finlay are also in there. Diane Dodds, the DUP candidate, who has been surprisingly effective in some recent debates, is driving home the message that only her party can keep Sinn Fein in check and therefore only it deserves unionist votes. Sinn Fein is arguing, a little less convincingly, that only it can cajole unionists into a united Ireland.
Both are focusing on the possibility, now the likelihood, that Sinn Fein’s Bairbre de Brun could top the poll in the three-seat Northern Ireland constituency. “I want unionism to win the election,” is how Dodds puts it, ignoring the fact that every candidate elected will have equal weight in Europe. Her message is that a first-preference vote for other unionists is a vote for Sinn Fein.
The mathematics favour de Brun. If she tops the poll it will be the first time a nationalist has done so. It is also possible, but less likely, that the SDLP’s Alban Maginness could take a seat, knocking out Jim Nicholson of the Conservatives and Unionists. Two nationalist seats would be another first.
A factor in nationalists’ favour in this tribal headcount is the fact that there are three unionist candidates. The third, Jim Allister, who topped the poll for the DUP last time out, has formed his own anti-powersharing party. “There is a huge reservoir of resentment against the DUP for bringing Sinn Fein into government; people have been waiting for the opportunity to express themselves on that,” he says.
Allister also believes the issue of MPs’ expenses is playing in his favour against the DUP. He was recently praised for his financial transparency by the Open Europe think tank. Allister is unlikely to win, but he won’t get much less than 50,000 votes. At the last European election in 2004, the DUP was about 31,000 ahead of Sinn Fein. A good showing for Allister will close the gap.
Another factor favouring nationalists is turnout. In 2004, the highest turnout was in nationalist constituencies and this time unionists are disgusted by the expenses issue, so even more may stay at home. Five years ago, Sinn Fein Westminster constituencies such as Fermanagh and South Tyrone (held by Michelle Gildernew) and Gerry Adams’ West Belfast stronghold had a turnout of 67%.
In safe unionist seats, such as East Belfast and Strangford, which are represented by Peter Robinson and his wife Iris, the European turnout was only 44% and 39% respectively. The picture is the same elsewhere; nationalists are more motivated to vote in Europe and, under the proportional representation system that is used, Sinn Fein votes transfer fairly smoothly to the SDLP.
If the SDLP can get all its vote out, it might, just, edge out Nicholson. “We’re telling people that if Sinn Fein is asking for your vote to top the poll they don’t need it to get elected, so vote for us and get two nationalists in,” an SDLP strategist said. The party also claims to be attracting some UUP voters disenchanted with the Conservative link-up.
If de Brun does top the poll, the DUP will, in the words of Dodds, see it as a defeat and humiliation for unionism, which they will blame on Allister and Nicholson. They will argue that if Sinn Fein manages to outpoll the DUP in the next Assembly election it will, under the deal they negotiated at St Andrews, mean Martin McGuinness emerging as First Minister. The message will be that a vote for any other unionist is a vote for McGuinness.
It may well work, but only if it is accompanied in the Assembly by a series of victories over Sinn Fein on such issues as blocking the Irish Language Act and pruning cross-border bodies.
You could say that this is a viable policy, and shows what a pragmatic, efficient outfit the DUP is. But an emphasis on competition by political leaders builds instability into society by validating sectarian rivalry. It creates opportunities for violent minorities, such as the thugs who attacked the McDaids, and this in turn can be exploited by republican dissidents.
http://u.tv/News/UDA-rebels-decommission-and-condemn-McDaid-killing/9b4c89b2-9419-4f99-9ce0-5f9018413968
One of the most dangerous factions of the Ulster Defence Association has said it will decommission its arms
Sunday, 31 May 2009
Amid fears of resurgent sectarian tensions this summer, following the murder of a Catholic youth worker last week, one of the most dangerous factions of the Ulster Defence Association has revealed it is about to decommission its arms.
The UDA's rebel South East Antrim Brigade confirmed this weekend that it is preparing to hand over guns, ammunition and explosives before the British government's decommissioning deadline in August. In an exclusive interview with the Observer, the leader of the UDA brigade said the weaponry will be surrendered to Canadian General John de Chastelain and his team of international arms decommissioning experts.
While the UDA's South East Antrim Brigade refuses to recognise the authority of the mainstream UDA leadership based in Belfast, the faction said loyalist disarmament was inevitable and desired by the entire Northern Irish community. The area controlled by the faction has been home to some of the most hardline and notorious loyalist terrorists of the Troubles. They included John "Grugg" Gregg, the UDA gunman who shot and wounded Gerry Adams during anassassination attempt on the Sinn Féin leadership in 1984. Gregg was shot dead in 2003 during an internal UDA feud by members of Johnny "Mad Dog" Adair's C-Company faction.
South East Antrim stretches from the northern suburbs of Belfast up to Larne and across to Ballymena and Antrim town. Although the "Brigade" area does not include Coleraine, the town where Catholic youth worker Kevin McDaid was murdered last Sunday night, the UDA leader condemned the killing, as well as the attempted murder of Damien Fleming, who remains on a life support.
McDaid was set upon by a gang of up to 15 loyalists after the climax of the Scottish Premier League football season. "No one should lose their life because of a football match. There should be full co-operation with the police investigation into this murder," the UDA man said.
On disarmament, he said: "Everybody wants to do this, everybody is now on board. Something has to be done by August, so it's better we take the initiative and do it before then. It's right, not only inevitable, to do it now." He added that handing over the illegal arsenal to General de Chastelain's commission was part of the "going-away exercise" aimed at ending loyalist paramilitarism.
"The last report by the Independent Monitoring Commission noted that the South East Antrim Brigade was moving in the right direction. That ends with the arms given up and the group becoming an old ex-comrades' association and nothing more. You have to remember that in this brigade area a lot of our former members are now in their 60s and 70s. They want all the trappings of paramilitarism gone, including the guns. No one needs them.
"The pace of change in this area will not be dictated by what other loyalist groups do or don't do, although we think the other UDA brigades and the UVF and Red Hand Commando are probably moving in the same direction. The weapons, like the conflict, are a thing of the past."
The recent upsurge in dissident republican terrorism and the murders in March of two British soldiers and the first PSNI officer would not deflect his brigade from decommissioning, he said.
"We can't allow the republican dissidents to dictate our political agenda any more. They don't want us to decommission; rather they want to portray us as a threat to the nationalist community and they can then paint themselves as their defenders. We are not falling into that trap."
He would not give an inventory of how many weapons the UDA in South East Antrim still controls. However he said De Chastelain would be given enough proof to convince the public that their arms were put beyond use. "The whole community will be put at ease by what is going to happen with the arms and our wholly peaceful intent," he said.
He added that some outstanding issues, such as a welfare programme for "ex-combatants", would have to be worked out with the British government in the run-up to the arms handover: "There could be up to 2,000 ex-UDA members living in this area, many of whom need jobs, have health problems related to time in jail or other issues connected to the conflict, who all have to be looked after."
Updated: 10/4/2009
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