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::: u.tv :::

Police stoned again in the Markets

Police investigating a brutal murder in Belfast came under stoning attack by republicans for the second night running tonight.

TUESDAY 01/02/2005 18:07:00
By:Press Association

The trouble flared again as houses in the Markets area were searched by officers investigating the killing of a man who died in hospital yesterday after being stabbed outside a nearby bar on Sunday night, said a PSNI spokesman.

Bricks, bottles and other missiles rained down on officers during sporadic outbreaks of trouble.

A senior republican was one of two men still being questioned by murder squad detectives after being arrested during similar searches in the area last night.

Other searches carried out just across the River Lagan in the nationalist Short Strand area earlier today passed off without incident.

Robert McCartney, 33, from the Short Strand, died of stab wounds after being found unconscious in Cromac Street on Sunday night after a fight broke out in Magennis`s Bar in the neighbouring May Street.

Sinn Fein former Belfast Lord Major Alex Maskey blamed the street disturbances and attacks on police on “heavy-handed” police tactics.

He said police had been in the area from early morning but there had been no trouble until they started to “kick down doors of known republican homes”.

He added: “It is very regrettable that what appears to have been a very tragic incident at a bar has been turned into a serious political situation.”

Police dismissed the accusation and said searches were being conducted in a “proportionate and appropriate manor”.

A spokesman added: “A young man has lost his life in horrific circumstances and police are carrying out a murder investigation.

As part of the investigation a number of searches have been carried out and are ongoing in relation to the murder.

“The searches are being conducted in a proportionate and appropriate manor and it is regrettable that police officers involved in the search in the Markets were subjected to attack.”

However, the PSNI said it wished to thank those who had assisted the investigation and urged anyone with information to contact them.

BreakingNews.ie

‘British govt considering scrutiny role for Assembly’

01/02/2005 - 16:12:12

The British government could consider giving the Northern Ireland Assembly a role which just falls short of full blown devolution, a former Stormont minister suggested today.

After a meeting in London with Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy, Democratic Unionist deputy leader Peter Robinson said the British government was considering interim measures for the Assembly.

However the East Belfast MP also called for a series of sanctions to be applied against Sinn Féin, including freezing it out of a restored power sharing executive, following police claims that the IRA carried out the £26.5m (€38m) Northern Bank raid in December.

“We told the Secretary of State that there is massive disillusionment in the unionist community that after all this time, when both governments acknowledge the IRA carried out the robbery and Sinn Féin was aware of it, no measures against that party have come forward,” the former Stormont Regional Development Minister said.

“The DUP is also adamant that genuine democrats should not be penalised for what others have done.

“My clear impression from today’s meeting is that the (British) government is looking at interim measures which fall short of devolving powers.

“That could mean some role where the Assembly scrutinise and advise.

“You could have a legislative Assembly, where in the absence of the executive and in the absence of a partner, namely the SDLP, to exclude Sinn Féin, Northern Ireland Office ministers would bring legislation to the Assembly for approval and there would be some form of scrutiny.

“Assembly members would also be able to initiate legislation on their own.”

Mr Robinson was commenting as British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern received a Downing Street briefing from senior police from both sides of the border.

Northern Ireland Chief Constable Hugh Orde and the commissioner of the Irish Republic’s police force Noel Conroy were expected to take both leaders through the intelligence which informed their assessment that the IRA carried out the heist on the Northern Bank’s Belfast headquarters.

Mr Blair was also due to meet nationalist SDLP leader Mark Durkan afterwards.

Sinn Féin

Unionists have not demonstrated commitment to power sharing

Published: 1 February, 2005

Sinn Féin national chairperson, Foyle MLA Mitchel McLaughlin commenting on the remarks of Tony Blair today has said that unionists have not demonstrated their commitment to power sharing.

Mr McLaughlin said:

“There is nothing new in what Tony Blair is saying today.

“But the events of last December when the DUP walked away from power sharing deal that would have seen the political institutions established show us that unionism has not accepted power sharing as Mr Blair alleged today.

“Mr Blair is well aware of Sinn Féin‚s commitment to peaceful and democratic means.

“Sinn Féin has been the engine driving the peace Process for the last decade. Sinn Féin’s commitment is to make this process work. But as the Taoiseach and the British Prime Minister know we cannot do this on our own.” ENDS

::: u.tv :::

Blair preparing Conlon statement

British Prime Minister Tony Blair is preparing a public statement on the wrongful imprisonment of a Belfast father and son for IRA bombings, he confirmed tonight.

TUESDAY 01/02/2005 17:48:17
By:Press Association

During a meeting with Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern in Downing Street, Mr Blair discussed the case of Gerry Conlon of the Guildford Four and his father Guiseppe.

The family has received a private acknowledgement of the miscarriage of justice which was highlighted in the Oscar nominated film In the Name of the Father, starring Daniel Day-Lewis.

They have been pressing for a public apology.
When asked after today`s meeting about the Conlons` case, the Prime Minister would only say: “I will be saying something about it shortly.”

Five people died when the IRA planted a bomb in the Horse and Groom pub in Guildford in October 1974.

Gerry Conlon was one of four people initially detained after the Guildford attack, which claimed the lives of four soldiers and a civilian.

His father Guiseppe was one of seven people also detained in connection with the attack.

The Guildford Four and the Maguire Seven were jailed in connection with the attack and other bombings in Woolwich, south-east London.

Guiseppe Conlon, who had a history of bronchial problems, died in prison in 1980 while serving his sentence.

After a number of MPs, church leaders, journalists and legal figures raised concerns about the convictions, the Court of Appeal in October 1989 quashed the sentences of the Guildford Four.

In June 1991 it overturned the sentences on the Maguire Seven, although all of them had served their full terms.

The Conlons` case came to international attention in Jim Sheridan`s movie In The Name Of The Father, in which Day-Lewis played Gerry and Pete Postlethwaite played Guiseppe.

Last week, Gerry Conlon and nationalist SDLP leader Mark Durkan met Mr Ahern to urge him to lobby Mr Blair for a public apology.

A petition has also been drawn up and signed by more than 10,000 people, including Jim Sheridan.

Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Muprhy said at the weekend he believed Mr Blair would issue a public apology on behalf of the Government.

The issue was also raised at a meeting in Downing Street between Mark Durkan of the SDLP and the Prime Minister.

Following his talks with the Prime Minister, Mr Durkan said that Mr Blair had indicated that he was ready to issue a public apology to the Conlon family.

“What we want to see is a public apology, unambiguous, clearly addressed to the family and the Prime Minister has indicated that he is minded to do that and will be doing that at an opportunity soon. He will also be writing to the family,” he said.

BBC

BELB votes to keep libraries open

The Belfast Education and Library Board has voted to reverse a decision which could have led to the closure of up to seven branch libraries.

The board said the basic problem was caused by underfunding and that they were reluctant to close any libraries.

It said the decision was reversed because a new policy on libraries in Northern Ireland is to be introduced.

News of the policy was given to the board by the Department of Culture in a last minute message.

The libraries earmarked for closure are Old Park, Whitewell, Ligoniel, Ballygomartin, Sandy Row and Ballymacarrat.

Ballyhackamore was also named as a potential closure.

The Belfast and the South Eastern Boards are currently the subject of a statutory inquiry into why they have overspent their budgets.

Belfast Telegraph

Travellers told to move on again

01 February 2005

Members of the travelling community have been ordered to move on again for the third time in as many weeks.

In the High Court today Mr Justice Weir said the occupants of eight caravans must vacate an industrial park at Mallusk, outside Belfast.

The application was made on behalf of the park’s owners, Grange Ltd, against unnamed people described in the court list as “the occupiers”.

A similar court order was granted last week forcing a much larger number of caravan owners to leave property at Kilroot, near Carrickfergus, and the previous week travellers were put off land at Templepatrick.

Belfast Telegraph

Board to rule on future of Belfast libraries

By Claire Regan
cregan@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
01 February 2005

A special meeting of the beleaguered Belfast Education and Library Board (BELB) was due to be held today to rule on the future of seven libraries ear-marked for closure because of financial pressures.

A delegation from trade union Nipsa was expected to address members at the board’s Academy Street headquarters this afternoon with a case supporting the libraries remaining open.

Board members will then consider whether to endorse a proposal from their Library Committee to close the establishments as part of cutbacks to claw back a massive £5.4m deficit.

It is understood that the feeling among a large number of board members is against closing the libraries and a majority may vote against axing them.

The seven libraries ear-marked for closure are Oldpark, Whitewell, Ligoneil, Ballygomartin, Sandy Row, Ballymacarratt and Ballyhackamore.

The controversial decision on the future of the libraries was due to have been taken in December but was postponed to allow trade unions to argue their case.

Belfast Telegraph

Leading loyalist found guilty of careless driving

By Maureen Coleman
01 February 2005

East Belfast loyalist Jim Gray has been fined £150 for careless driving.

Gray (46), from Cherryvalley, had denied that the car he was driving struck a police officer on the hand as he directed traffic on the Newtownards Road.

But a guilty verdict was delivered yesterday by an RM.

The police officer, who has since left the force, told the court that the incident occurred in the evening of October 25, 2003.

The former policeman said he was at the scene of a collision between two cars at the Newtownards Road/Bloomfield Road junction when Gray’s red BMW approached.

He said he signalled for the car to stop, but its speed did not fluctuate and Gray did not obey his signal.

He also claimed that he stepped out of the way to avoid a collision with the car, but that the driver’s wing mirror struck him on the right hand.

The car then continued on, where it stopped at traffic lights at the junction with the Albertbridge Road.

The incident was reported to a second police officer at the scene and the duty controller.

The officer later went to the Ulster Hospital, to be treated for bruising to the hand.

Gray’s defence counsel said that if there had been any impact, it was a “simple accident without the other party being aware”.

He said that if there had been such an impact, Gray would have heard it and would have stopped.

A second police officer told the court that he saw his colleague being struck. He said he recognised the driver of the car as Gray.

However, under cross-examination he admitted that he had made no mention of Gray in an earlier statement.

Gray had difficulty speaking due to a mouth injury he suffered when he was shot by the LVF in 2002.

The leading loyalist told the court that he was returning from a Chinese restaurant on the Holywood Road when the incident took place.

He denied that a police officer attempted to stop his car.

He said he did not see any police officers as he was concentrating on the traffic in front.

Defence counsel said that the case was a border-line situation as far as careless driving was concerned and that if there was impact, it had not been noticed.

However Resident Magistrate Ken Nixon found Gray guilty, fining him £150 and giving him three penalty points.

Belfast Telegraph

Sir John to tell more of inquiry into Stakeknifeis Thornton
01 February 2005

Retired Met chief Sir John Stevens turned back to his Ulster collusion investigation today - revealing that he is close to announcing new details of his Stakeknife probe.

Sir John, who was elevated to the House of Lords yesterday as he spent his last day as Metropolitan Police Commissioner, told the Belfast Telegraph he is preparing to disclose which murders are being linked to the Army agent at the heart of the IRA.

Retirement from the Met after five years as Britain’s most senior police officer means Sir John can devote more time to the collusion investigation and his inquiry into Princess Diana’s death. He is also preparing material for the forthcoming inquiry into the murder of Pat Finucane, the investigation that led him to Stakeknife.

“I am spending more time on it,” he said. “Essentially I had kept a watching brief because the Met has been the main job, to say the least. Now I can get more involved in the direction of the inquiry.”

The agent known as Stakeknife is alleged to have carried out murders in order to maintain his cover as a senior IRA member. A Belfast republican, Freddie Scappaticci, has denied being the Army agent.

Sir John first began investigating links between the security forces and loyalist paramilitaries in 1989. He conducted a further probe in the early 1990s that led to the conviction of Army spy Brian Nelson.

He was called back in 1999 to launch Stevens 3, the inquiry re-investigating the Finucane murder. Last year they secured the conviction of Ken Barrett, one of two UDA gunmen who murdered the solicitor in 1989.

He said he will be bringing the squads investigating Stakeknife and the death of Diana “together under one roof” in the Greater London area.

The 62-year-old policeman said the direction of the Stakeknife inquiry will be clear in a few weeks.

“Right now we’re assessing where we are with the allegations concerning Stakeknife, specifically what we will continue with and what might be handed back to the PSNI,” he said.

“In the next month or two we will be looking at which murders we will be investigating and his activities. We will have a good look at the allegations we will investigate and which ones we can ask the PSNI to carry on with.

“I’m loathe to put a time frame on an investigation of this kind because, when I first came to Northern Ireland 16 years ago, I thought I’d be there six weeks,” he said.

Sir John said he is also preparing to hand over a lot of material evidence to the Finucane inquiry.

As well as continuing to conduct the high profile investigations, he will sit in the Lords as a crossbencher.

He said he was “grateful to the Queen and Prime Minister for conferring this great honour on me.

“While I am the recipient,” he said, “I believe this reflects on the support of my family, friends and all those in the Met police and other forces with whom I had the pleasure of working over the last 43 years.”

Belfast Telegraph

SF MLA Ruane fined over road tax

By Maureen Coleman
01 February 2005

South Down Assembly member and prominent Colombia Three campaigner Catriona Ruane was today fined £1,000 for having no road tax.

Ms Ruane, a Sinn Fein MLA and spokeswoman for the Cambodian Three Bring Them Home Campaign, was also ordered to pay £125 in costs at Belfast’s Laganside Magistrates Court.

The MLA, whose address was given as Stockman’s Court, Belfast was not in court today to face the charge of having a vehicle unlicensed on April 1, 2004.

The Sinn Fein Assembly member was also the former organiser of the annual West Belfast Feile.

But she rose to prominence when she was appointed spokeswoman for the campaign to release the three Irishmen held in Colombia.

Belfast Telegraph

Tragic migrant speaks of ordeal

By Nigel Gould
01 February 2005

The young migrant worker who had her legs amputated after suffering frostbite sleeping rough on Ulster’s streets today revealed how she came here to escape poverty in Ukraine.

In her first interview Oksana Sukhanova also said that she wanted a fresh start in Northern Ireland after a divorce back home.

“My life was okay in general until I got divorced and after that I decided to start afresh,” she said.

“Because the quality of life is so poor in Ukraine I found an agency who said they would provide me with a job.

“They charged me $$3,000 dollars. The minimum monthly wage in Ukraine is $$50 so that’s a lot of money.

“I wanted to change my environment and make some money for myself.”

The 27-year-old has been treated at Belfast City Hospital since the beginning of January after being taken initially to the Causeway Hospital in Coleraine.

She had been sleeping rough in temperatures which, with a wind chill factor, dipped to minus 10 before being taken to hospital on New Year’s Day.

At that stage her feet were effectively dead. Doctors were forced to amputate.

Ms Sukhanova told the BBC’s Spotlight programme, to be broadcast tonight, that she is a qualified book-keeper who has worked in a bank and as a secretary.

She broke down when she talked about her feelings as she went for the operation at the City.

“I was thinking about my family,” she said.

And she said she wanted to send a message to her mum, dad and brother back home telling them she loves them very much.

But she said she does not want her family to see her in a wheelchair.

Ms Sukhanova left the City yesterday for Musgrave Park Hospital - Europe’s largest limb-fitting service.

Within the next few weeks she will be fitted and get used to new prosthetic legs.

And, in an interview with the Belfast Telegraph, surgeon Ray Hannon revealed that she will be walking again within three months.

Sinn Féin

Anger at PSNI raids in Markets area

Published: 1 February, 2005

South Belfast Sinn Féin Assembly member Alex Maskey has reacted furiously to an ongoing PSNI operation in the Markets area tonight.

Speaking from the Markets area Mr Maskey said:

” For the past number of hours the PSNI have been raiding homes in the Markets area. This is a heavy handed operation involving up to 20 PSNI land rovers. It appears that the PSNI is using last night’s tragic stabbing incident as an excuse to disrupt life within this community and the scale and approach of their operation is completely unacceptable and unjustifiable.

” This sort of heavy handed policing belongs in the past. However in recent months it seems that the PSNI are increasingly adopting the tactics employed for decades by the RUC in their approach to republican and nationalist communities.” ENDS

BreakingNews.ie

Fitzgerald ‘unaware of collusion in Republic bombings’

01/02/2005 - 12:01:09

Former Taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald has told an Oireachtas committee that he does not know whether the British army helped loyalist paramilitaries carry out bomb attacks in the Republic.

Mr Fitzgerald said the possibility of such collusion could not be excluded, but there was no concrete evidence to suggest that it took place.

The former Taoiseach was speaking before the Oireachtas committee set up to look into a series of loyalist bomb attacks in the Republic in the 1970s.

The committee is currently examining a report from the Barron Inquiry dealing with two bomb attacks in Dublin in 1972 and 1973.

There have long been claims that the British army helped the loyalists who planted the devices, though no evidence has been uncovered to support these suspicions.

BreakingNews.ie

Daily Ireland will be inclusive, claim backers

01/02/2005 - 15:52:11

Backers of Ireland’s newest newspaper, Daily Ireland, claimed today it would be nationalist but inclusive.

Businessman Peter Quinn, of the Quinn Group, one of the publication’s biggest supporters, pledged that it would not be a mouthpiece for any one political party.

The Belfast-based daily, part of the Andersonstown News Group, is expecting to have an initial circulation of 20,000 copies across the nine counties of Ulster and neighbouring areas, as well as Dublin.

Supporters, including Mr Quinn, have ploughed around £5m (€7.2m) into starting up the new tabloid.

“Through our research we found that there was a market for a nationalist paper but not one that would be a mouthpiece for a particular national party,” Mr Quinn said.

He said the paper was being run by a young dynamic and energetic team.

“That’s what gives us an edge and that’s what will make us successful,” he said.

“Those that believe we can be categorised in one way are wrong, it will allow everyone to have a voice.”

The tabloid paper will focus on news from Northern Ireland and the Republic and also cover international events.

BBC

More searches in murder inquiry

A search linked to the murder took place in Short Strand on Tuesday

A number of homes have been searched by police investigating the fatal stabbing of a man outside a bar in Belfast.

Residents said police went to premises around Madrid Street and Perry Court in the Short Strand area of east Belfast at about 0730 GMT on Tuesday.

A team of forensic scientists examined the rear of a property and a white car was taken away for further inquiries.

A senior republican is one of two men being questioned about the murder of Robert McCartney.

Stab wounds

The 33-year-old from the Short Strand area died from stab wounds following an incident at about 2300 GMT on Sunday.

Mr McCartney was found unconscious in Cromac Street. It is understood police are treating the incident as a pub fight.

A clean-up operation has begun after officers were attacked with bricks, bottles and stones during searches linked to the investigation on Monday night.

The attacks happened as police attempted to search properties in the Markets area.

At one stage officers dressed in riot gear pushed the crowd back.

Pensioners living in Upper Stanfield Street were caught up in the middle of the violence, and some said it was the worst street fighting they had seen for some time.

The stabbing happened outside a bar in Belfast

Former mayor Alex Maskey of Sinn Fein said “heavy handed” police tactics had caused the trouble.

He said police were in the area from early morning but there was no attack on them until they “started to kick down doors of known republican homes”.

“The death of that man was an excuse for the PSNI to come into that area, reminiscent of what the RUC would have done years ago,” he said.

“It is very regrettable that what appears to have been a very tragic incident at a bar has been turned into a serious political situation.”

Sinn Fein has refused to comment on claims that a senior republican is one of two men who have been arrested.

The police said the attacks on them were regrettable and have appealed for anyone with information to contact them.

Meanwhile, Magennis’s Bar in May Street has been cordoned off for more than 24 hours while forensic scientists search the area where the stabbing took place.