SAOIRSE32

Belfast Telegraph

McCartney court fury
Man is charged with murder

By Lisa Smyth
newsdesk@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
04 June 2005

There were angry scenes today outside the court where a man was charged with the murder of Robert McCartney.

Families and friends of the accused, Terence Davison (49), and of 36-year-old James McCormick, who was charged with the attempted murder of Mr McCartney’s friend Brendan Devine, were outraged after it emerged there was not enough room inside the courtroom at Belfast’s Magistrate’s Court.

Davison was remanded in custody until July 1, charged with the killing on January 30.

McCormick was charged with the attempted murder of Mr Devine on the same night. He was also remanded in custody until July 1.

The unrest erupted after police at the court door refused entry to over 20 supporters of the accused, saying the court was filled to capacity.

However, the family members were outraged to learn that members of the media were going to be allowed in. A tense stand-off followed, with family members of the accused blocking the entrance so the Press could not go into the court.

The Resident Magistrate ruled that only a handful of Press members could cover the arraignment, to allow six more members of the defendants’ supporters to take the six remaining seats in the court.

Earlier, the huge crowd assembled outside Court No 6 watched as the sisters and partner of Robert McCartney filed into the courtroom to see the two men being charged.

Mr McCartney (33) was beaten and stabbed after he was dragged out of Magennis’s Bar in Belfast city centre on January 30.

Police have said they believe that members of the Provisional IRA were involved in the murder, which has attracted world-wide attention.

One of Mr McCartney’s sisters, Catherine, said earlier: “We hope it will lead to further arrests because there were more than two people involved.”

BBC

Appeal after cars are set on fire

Two cars were burned out in the attack

Two cars have been set on fire and a house targeted in an incident in east Belfast.

Sectarian slogans were painted on the house in the Whincroft Road area of Castlereagh.

The incident took place shortly after 0300 BST on Saturday, according to a PSNI spokeswoman.

Police have appealed for any witnesses to contact detectives at Castlereagh or to phone the Crimestoppers number on 0800 555111.

An Phoblacht

Observers slam PSNI and Commission over parades

As we face into another unionist marching season, a report released on Wednesday by two international observer organisations on the 2004 marching season finds that contested Orange parades in the North continue to promote unionist paramilitary groups.

The report’s publication comes just days after a unionist paramilitary display of force on a contested parade through Lurgan town centre.

Law and Lawlessness: Orange Parades in Northern Ireland, the fourth report issued by the US-based Brehon Law Society and the Irish Parades Emergency Committee (IPEC), criticises “systematic violations” of Parades Commission determinations in several contested marches through nationalist communities in 2004. It also cites the failure of the PSNI to enforce the Commission’s restrictions. These systematic violations include:

–A sash-wearing Orangeman at last year’s 12 July evening march through Ardoyne waving a Ulster Defence Association (UDA) bannerette.

–William Borland, a leading member of the UDA, and hundreds of other rowdy ‘hangers on’ marching through Ardoyne on 12 July 2004 for the second year in a row, escorted by as many as 1,500 PSNI and soldiers in riot gear.

–Displays of unfurled Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) flags and emblems at several parades past the Short Strand neighbourhood in June and July 2004.

–Displays of furled UVF flags at the Whiterock parade through the Springfield Road community on 26 June 2004.

Loyalist paramilitary displays have been repeatedly documented at contested parades in Ardoyne, Springfield Road, and Short Strand for the past several years, the report finds.

Members of the 2004 Brehon and IPEC delegation, which included observers from the US, Italy and France, criticised the “hypocrisy” of mainstream unionists and Orangemen for participating in the North and West Belfast Parades Forum, which includes loyalist paramilitaries, while refusing to serve in government with Sinn Féin.

The observer report also faulted the massive military and police deployments throughout Belfast in June and July, particularly the decision to deploy the paratrooper unit inside the Ardoyne community on 12 July 2004. This deployment “reflected either gross negligence or an intention to trigger violent confrontation”, the report states.

“We are disappointed that the Orange Order, the Parades Commission, and the PSNI failed to prevent the promotion of loyalist paramilitaries in parades through communities that have borne the brunt of their sectarian attacks,” said Seán Cahill, a spokesman for the Brehon Law Society and IPEC observers.

Irish Parades Emergency Committee (IPEC) and Brehon Law Society observers have monitored contested loyal order parades in Northern Ireland each summer since 1996. Copies of the report will be sent to government officials and human rights groups in the US, Ireland, and Britain.

Parade tensions mount

Nationalist representatives in County Derry are calling on the Parades Commission to ban a planned loyalist band parade through the mainly nationalist Kilrea village, citing last year’s trouble, when the PSNI fired live rounds into the air.

Tensions are set to rise after nationalists lodged objections to the parade, which will bring up to 30 loyalist bands and 1,500 marchers to Kilrea on 17 June for the parade, organised by the Boveedy Flute Band.

Coleraine Sinn Féin Councillor Billy Leonard told An Phoblacht that the ball is firmly in the Parades Commission court.

“Local people are angry at what they say is unfair PSNI and British government actions, particularly over last year’s parade, when only one person faced charges resulting from the violence,” he said.

Leonard criticised the PSNI’s handling of last year’s disturbances and added that he was unhappy with the Police Ombudsman’s Office, which “took no action against several PSNI members who were involved in confrontations with nationalist residents”.

Leonard said, “there cannot be a bias which results in loyalist and PSNI thuggery going unpunished when a young nationalist was arrested and charged with possession of an offensive weapon, a baseball bat, which he took off a loyalist who was attacking him.

“We put the case for banning the parade and we will be watching the Parades Commission and the PSNI carefully to see if local people are listened to.”

Meanwhile ,Sinn Féin in County Down have called for a loyalist march in Ballynahinch next month to be banned after last year’s march deliberately flouted a Parades Commission determination and carried unionist paramilitary flags.

Local Councillor Michael Coogan said last year’s march was extremely provocative with many of the participating bands displaying flags representing the UVF and Red Hand Commando organisations.

And Sinn Féin MLA John O Dowd has severely criticised the Parades Commission over last Saturday night’s loyalist parade through Lurgan town centre. He called on the new DUP MP David Simpson to explain what a DUP band was doing in the middle of what could only be described as UVF display.

“What we witnessed in Lurgan on Saturday night was a show of strength by the UVF in their ongoing cold war with the LVF, over 30 loyalist bands marched through Lurgan, with the majority of them displaying UVF and YCV colours. It was a clear message on behalf of the unionist paramilitary grouping to us all that they were stamping their authority on Lurgan.

“On a Saturday summer’s evening, bar and restaurant owners in the town centre would normally expect a busy evening; instead, the town was practically deserted apart from loyalist bands and their supporters.

“The Parades Commission granted permission for this menacing, loyalist macho display and they have serious questions to answer. I doubt if any section of the community would want a repeat of Saturday night’s events, it is about time the organisers of the parade and the Parades Commission realised that.

Daily Ireland

DUP ‘did a deal’ with SDLP

by Ciarán Barnes

A former SDLP mayor of Belfast has claimed his party struck a deal with the Democratic Unionist Party to ensure every other party on Belfast City Council is excluded from holding the position of lord mayor until 2007.
Martin Morgan’s comments came just days after the DUP’s Wallace Browne was elected to serve as Belfast’s new lord mayor.
Mr Browne needed the support of the SDLP’s eight City Hall councillors to secure the top civic post.
This was the first time in the SDLP’s history that it had supported a DUP candidate for mayor. In return, the DUP backed the SDLP’s Pat Convery for deputy mayor.
Mr Morgan predicted that the DUP will support a bid by SDLP councillors Carmel Hanna or Pat McCarthy to become lord mayor of Belfast during the 2006-07 council term.
He said: “Last week saw politics in City Hall take yet another strange political turn.
“The SDLP supported the DUP’s Wallace Browne in becoming lord mayor of Belfast and, in turn, the ever tolerant, inclusive and forward-thinking and looking DUP supped with the SDLP and made Pat Convery Deputy Dawg.
“I will make this prediction. Either my old friend Pat McCarthy or Carmel Hanna MLA, councillor and former minister, will become the future SDLP lord mayor.”
Mr Morgan added: “It will be interesting if the deal between the DUP and the SDLP for the two largest gold chains in Belfast will see them further co-operate on matters that really count.”
Speaking to Daily Ireland yesterday, Mrs Hanna said there had been “no agreement” with the DUP but admitted she was happy that the city’s two top civic positions were now held by a unionist and nationalist.
The SDLP’s denial of a deal failed to convince Sinn Féin.
West Belfast councillor Tom Hartley said: “Martin Morgan’s comments confirm our suspicions that the SDLP did a deal with the DUP to secure the top positions on a number of councils in the greater Belfast area.
“When you look at how council positions have been spread around the SDLP and DUP in Lisburn and Castlereagh, it suggests the agreement was not only confined to Belfast.”

Telegraph

Tens of thousands remember Tiananmen massacre

(Filed: 04/06/2005)

Tens of thousands of people have gathered in Hong Kong to remember those killed in Beijing 16 years ago by Chinese troops as they crushed the Tiananmen Square uprising.

Thousands took part in a candlelit vigil to remember those who died

A crowd that organisers estimated at 45,000 chanted “Vindicate the 1989 democracy movement”, “Release all political dissidents” and “End one party rule,” at the annual rally in in the former British colony, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

Lee Cheuk-yan, a pro-democracy politician and key organiser of the rally, said the event was a success, despite the estimated attendance figures being 50 per cent down on last year.

He said: “There are lots of young people and they are all very critical of what Beijing did in 1989. We are sure this will never be forgotten.”

Hundreds were killed on the night of June 3-4, 1989, when troops and tanks rolled into Beijing and seized control of the square that had been occupied by student demonstrators.

Victor Yeung, who brought his two sons aged four and eight to the rally, said: “Last night I took out some materials on the massacre and told them what happened. I hope they remember this.

“This tragedy is not over because there are people who are still in prison because of this.”

In Beijing, the communist Chinese leadership was on alert for any protest that could threaten its grip on power. Uniformed and plainclothes police fanned out around Tiananmen square, and dissenters were kept under guard in their homes.

This year’s anniversary was made more sensitive by the death earlier this year of Zhao Ziyang, a top leader ousted in 1989 for sympathising with the student demonstrators.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman indicated this week that the government would not consider changing its verdict on the wave of activism that marked the spring of 1989, which it has dubbed a counter-revolutionary rebellion.

“China’s development in various areas, the advance of reforms, the expansion of the opening up and the strengthening of democracy and rule by law, have all proved the decision made at that time was right,” Kong Quan told a news briefing.

Daily Ireland

Orange Order rejects talks offer

By Connla Young

The Orange Order has rejected an offer of face-to-face talks with the Parades Commission ahead of this year’s marching season.
Commission chief Anthony Holland wrote to grand master of the Orange Order, Robert Saulters, earlier this week asking for a face-to-face sit-down meeting to discuss issues surrounding parades.
Parades Commission chiefs are anxious to open up a formal line of communication ahead of a what many observers fear will be a long, hot summer on the marching front.
Plans by the Orange Order to hold a massive July 12 demonstration in Derry city are already causing concern.
Although details have yet to be finalised, it is understood Orangemen in the city are keen to bring the County Derry demonstration to the city for the first time in 13 years.
A spokesman for the Orange Order last night refused to confirm the parade plans and was also unable to confirm if the Orange Order will follow the Apprentice Boys’ lead and engage with the nationalist Bogside Residents’ Group (BRG).
However, the spokesman was definite that there would be no talks with the Parades Commission.
He explained that members of the Orange Order were angry that the Parades Commission chief had made details of his request for a meeting public.
“We see this as a very crude attempt to blackmail us into a meeting. It has enraged members of the institution, including senior officers, and what little chance he had of a meeting has been completely scuppered by his actions. We do not engage with the Parades Commission.”
A spokesperson for the Mr Holland said it was normal for the commission boss to issue pre-marching season statements.
“It’s rational that the chairman of the Parades Commission would make a statement at the start of the marching season. Our reason for existing is to promote and facilitate dialogue and that is what we do at all levels and we wish we could do it with the loyal orders.”
Meanwhile PSNI chief constable, Hugh Orde, yesterday said the policing of marches and protests against them will be professional and impartial.
“We are hoping for a season like last year – a largely peaceful marching season – where everyone worked together to achieve the objective, which was the right to march and the right to protest equally.”

BBC

PSNI victim named

Forensic teams have carried out an examination of the area

A 29-year-old man has died after he was hit by a police Land Rover in west Belfast.

It is understood the police were responding to an emergency call when the man was knocked down on the Springfield Road at about 0100 BST.

Jim McMenamin, who was 29 and is believed to have lived nearby, was given first aid by police officers but died at the scene.

The Police Ombudsman’s office is investigating the incident.

Forensic teams have carried out an examination of the area.

A spokesman for the ombudsman said that a family liaison officer has been appointed to support the man’s family.

“The area has been videoed and photographed and any exhibits have been removed.

“The police vehicle has also been removed for further forensic analysis,” the spokesman said.

‘High speed operation’

The ombudsman’s office has asked anyone who saw what happened to contact them on 02890 828627.

They also want to hear from anyone who has information about the man’s movements earlier in the night.

Sinn Fein assembly member Michael Ferguson said the community was shocked and angered by the incident.

“What has been established is that the PSNI were involved in some sort of high speed operation and have ended up knocking down a completely innocent pedestrian,” he said.

SDLP councillor Tim Attwood said it was a terrible tragedy.

“All sympathy must go to the family of the young man killed,” Mr Attwood said.

Daily Ireland

Gunshot boy goes home

by Zoe Tunney

Darragh Somers, the five-year-old shot in the head as he played in his school yard six weeks ago, was allowed out of hospital for the first time yesterday.
Doctors say he has made a miraculous recovery from the shooting, which almost cost him his life.
He was allowed to leave the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast for the weekend.
He left hospital in a wheelchair yesterday to visit his primary one classmates at St Patrick’s Primary School in Mullanaskea, Co Fermanagh.
He is still undergoing intense physiotherapy treatment and must return to hospital on Sunday. However, his spirits were high yesterday and he was delighted to be back among his friends.
On April 22, Darragh was playing in the yard of his school, a few kilometres from Enniskillen, when he was hit by a stray .22-calibre bullet.
He underwent surgery to remove the bullet and spent more than two weeks in intensive care. Darragh’s parents Gerald and Janine kept a 24-hour vigil by their son’s bedside.
A spokeswoman for the Royal Victoria Hospital yesterday said: “We at the hospital and Darragh’s family are delighted with the very good progress he has made. We are very pleased.”
No one has yet come forward to admit responsibility for the shooting incident, although both the PSNI and Darragh’s family have said from the outset they believe it was an accident.
Ballistics tests carried out on legally held weapons seized from the locality by police have proved inconclusive.
Investigating officers will now turn their attention to illegally held firearms in the area. They say they are still centring their inquiries on the immediate area around Darragh’s school.
It is understood that Darragh’s parents and the doctors treating him did not tell the five-year-old that he had been shot until a few days ago.
His visit to school yesterday was a pleasant surprise for his friends and teachers.
Bernie O’Connor, the headmaster of St Patrick’s, said: “It was fantastic. Darragh seems to be in very good form. But it was emotional for some of us.”

BreakingNews.ie

Thousands demand end to world poverty

04/06/2005 - 15:56:01

photo: BBC

Celebrities and politicians were among thousands of people at a rally in Belfast today to call for an end to world poverty.

The MakePovertyHistory event was part of the campaign to put pressure on the governments of the richest countries to address the issue of debt when they meet next month in Scotland for the G8 summit.

Gary Lightbody, lead singer of Snow Patrol, and Belfast singer Brian Houston entertained the crowd at the event, while Natasha Bedingfield, Ronan Keating and Graham Norton have all endorsed the gathering.

Ahead of the rally, Lightbody said: “We were told about the poverty still happening – you can’t believe that it’s still the same situation 20 years later.”

“The reason is these countries are being crushed under the weight of debt.”

He said the solution was for people and governments in the developed world to take responsibility.

“As a generation, we have to stand up and say “no more”.

“When our leaders go into the G8 summit, they have to know the whole world is demanding they pay attention to Africa and all the Third World countries,” he said.

Lawrence McBride, spokesman for the MakePovertyHistory NI campaign, said the focus of today’s rally was debt cancellation.

He said between 2,000 and 3,000 people had turned up, including politicians Mark Durkan, SDLP leader and Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams, church leaders and special guest Binnie Mwakasungula, from the Presbyterian church of Central Africa, who addressed the crowd about poverty in Malawi.

Mr McBride said the event gave people in the province – many of whom would not be able to make it to the huge demonstration planned in Edinburgh – a chance to add their voices to the campaign.

Supporters were given the opportunity to write messages which were being stuck on a giant ‘E’, which will be taken to Edinburgh along with the other letters spelling out ‘poverty’, which are coming from cities around the UK.

“Essentially what MakePovertyHistory wants is debt to the poorest countries in the world cancelled without any conditions, and that the money used to cancel debt is not taken out of aid budgets,” Mr McBride said.

He said the G8 leaders had the opportunity to make an unprecedented decision to cancel the debts of the world’s poorest countries.

MakePovertyHistory is a broad coalition of charities, trade unions, and community and church groups including Concern, Trocaire, Oxfam, Street Seen, Save the Children and Christian Aid.

It is demanding debt cancellation, trade justice and more and better aid to the world’s poorest countries to end global poverty.

Later in the year, the MakePovertyHistory campaign will be targeting the UN conference on the Millennium Goals in September to demand more and better aid.

In December, the anti-poverty coalition will be lobbying to secure trade justice at the World Trade Organisation meeting in Hong Kong.

BBC

Two remanded in McCartney killing

Two men have been remanded in custody charged in connection with the murder of Belfast man Robert McCartney.

Terence Davison, 49, of Stanfield Place in the Markets area of the city was charged with murder.

Mr McCartney, 33, was stabbed outside a Belfast pub on 30 January. He died in hospital the following day.

James McCormick, 36, of Victoria Road in Birmingham was charged with the attempted murder of Brendan Devine on the same night. Both deny the charges.

Both were remanded in custody when they appeared at Belfast Magistrates Court.

Relatives of the accused packed the courtroom for their appearance and officials restricted the number of reporters allowed inside the courtroom.

Mr McCartney’s sister and partner sat on one side of the public benches, separated by police in riot gear from relatives and friends of the two accused.

Campaign

A senior detective said he believed he could connect the defendants to the charges.

The court heard the prosecution case is based on witness statements, ID evidence and, in the case of James McCormick, forensic evidence.

The defendants are expected to appear in court again by video link on 1 July.

Mr McCartney’s sisters and partner have held a number of meetings with high profile politicians in their campaign for justice over the killing.

In March, they met US President George Bush at the White House in Washington.

They have also held separate meetings with US special envoy to Northern Ireland, Mitchell Reiss and the Irish Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern.

BBC

Primary gets integrated go-ahead

One of the oldest primary schools in Derry has been granted integrated status.

Groarty Primary School on Coshquin Road was established in 1865 and has a current enrolment of 47 pupils.

Education Minister Angela Smith said it was a “long established” school and added that she wished it well for the future.

The integrated education movement wants to have Protestant and Catholic children educated together.

Integrated education has been promoted as a way to break down Northern Ireland’s sectarian divisions.

In a report in 2004, Queen’s University in Belfast and the University of Ulster, said there was a demand for integrated education among young people.

The Voices Behind the Statistics report studied young people’s views of sectarianism.

The first integrated school in Northern Ireland, Lagan College, was established in Belfast in 1981.

There are more than 57 integrated schools in the province.

BBC

Man hit by police vehicle dies

A 29-year-old man has died after he was hit by a police Land Rover in west Belfast.

It is understood the police were responding to an emergency call when the man was knocked down on the Springfield Road at about 0100 BST.

He was given first aid by police officers but he died at the scene.

The Police Ombudsman’s office is investigating the incident. The victim’s name has not yet been released.

Forensic teams have carried out an examination of the area.

A spokesman for the ombudsman said that a family liaison officer has been appointed to support the man’s family.

“The area has been videoed and photographed and any exhibits have been removed.

“The police vehicle has also been removed for further forensic analysis,” the spokesman said.

The ombudsman’s office has asked anyone who saw what happened to contact them on 02890 828627.

They also want to hear from anyone who has information about the man’s movements earlier in the night .

Guardian

Man on McCartney murder charge today

Angelique Chrisafis, Ireland correspondent
Saturday June 4, 2005
The Guardian

Robert McCartney

Police will today charge a man with the murder of Robert McCartney, who was stabbed and beaten to death outside a Belfast bar in January.

Terry Davison, 49, from Belfast, will appear in court in Belfast this morning to be charged with the murder of the 33-year-old father of two.

Jim McCormick, from the Markets area of Belfast, will be charged with the attempted murder of Brendan Devine, a friend of Mr McCartney’s who was left critically injured from stab wounds on the night of the attack.

Both men were arrested in dawn raids in Birmingham and Belfast on Wednesday. Mr McCormick was escorted from a Birmingham bedsit wearing only boxer shorts after the raid by armed police.

Mr McCartney, a forklift truck driver from the Catholic enclave of Short Strand in east Belfast, died after he was stabbed and beaten outside Magennis’s Bar in Belfast on January 30 following an argument.

His partner, Bridgeen Hagans, and his five sisters staged a high-profile campaign to bring his killers to justice, visiting the White House at the invitation of President George Bush and securing the backing of the European parliament to donate funds for a civil case if a criminal case never reached court.

Mr McCartney and Mr Devine had been drinking together in the bar near Belfast’s law courts when a row broke out. He was then taken outside where he was beaten and stabbed in an alleyway.

CCTV footage was allegedly removed later as part of an attempt by the killers to clean the pub of all forensic evidence.

Under pressure from the family and in the aftermath of the £26.5m Christmas raid on the Northern Bank, Belfast, which police blamed on republicans, the IRA said it expelled three men over what it termed the “brutal” killing. It also said it offered to shoot those responsible for the killing, but the McCartney family had declined.

Sinn Fein also suspended a number of party members who were in the bar at the time and who allegedly failed to act on president Gerry Adams’ demands to disclose what they knew or saw on the night of the killing. Martin McGuinness, the party’s chief negotiator, used a party conference speech to express his outrage by the involvement of “a small number of IRA volunteers” in the “grievous crime”.

Police revealed this week that they had taken statements from more than 150 witnesses. Ten people provided signed statements through the offices of the Northern Ireland police ombudsman Nuala O’Loan - an avenue suggested by Sinn Fein, which has not endorsed the police service.

Mr McCartney’s sister Catherine said she was pleased with the breakthrough in the police investigation.

She said: “We are happy this has happened, but we know it is by no means over.

“We hope it will lead to further arrests because there were more than two people involved. We still have a long way to go in terms of a trial and convictions.”

Another sister, Claire McCartney, said: “The family’s campaign was paramount to people coming forward with information.”