SAOIRSE32

Irelandclick.com

By Laura McDaid

Residents of Norglen Drive awoke to a terrifying scene on Monday morning as a stolen car was set alight at the top of their estate and rolled down the sloping road outside their homes engulfed by flames.

The burning car freewheeled past a number of houses at 6.30 in the morning before crashing into the back of another vehicle which was parked on the slope.

The Fire Brigade was immediately called in to extinguish the blaze, which they managed to do before the second car caught fire.

A resident of the street, Maureen Tully, described her horror as she saw the burning vehicle rolling down the road.

“I just looked out the window and couldn’t believe my eyes. There was this burning car with no driver rolling past my house towards the houses down the hill. It was like a scene from a Hollywood film.

“I ran out of the house screaming to everyone to get out of the way, and then saw it crash into my neighbour’s car.

“Thank God it stopped there, but we were all still terrified that the second car would catch fire and maybe explode. It was absolute mayhem here.”

The owner of the second car, Mary Morgan, said, “I came running out of the house, and all I could see was black smoke belting out of this car. I was just waiting for my own to go up in flames. My children were petrified. I sent them out the back for safety.”

Mary’s car, which had to be taken away for repairs over the bank holiday, is essential to the family, whose disabled teenage son had a major heart operation earlier in the year.

“We need that car so badly, it’s our lifeline. My son has learning difficulties and we were planning to bring him to Ballycastle for the bank holiday. We can’t do that now, which is sad, especially after the scare he got when he saw the scene outside this morning. We were in Ballycastle on Sunday night and we thought about staying, but we came home in the end. To be honest, I’m glad we came back and that our car was parked there, because if it hadn’t been, that burning car would have rolled the rest of the way down the hill and into someone’s house.

“Our car can be fixed, but people would have been killed or seriously injured if that had gone any further.”

Maureen added: “It was an absolute miracle that no one was killed this morning. I just can’t understand why anyone would want to do that to the people in this street. What was going through their minds?

“We shouldn’t have to live like this. This area is getting out of control with joyriders and anti-social behaviour, and we all know it’s only going to get worse over the summer months.

“The funny thing is, years ago, when there was no money around, things were better here. Now these thugs are running around making life hard for everyone. When is it going to stop?”

Journalist:: Laura McDaid

::: u.tv :::

THURSDAY 14/07/2005 16:52:42

Children walked past a primed bomb that would have caused a deadly fireball had it exploded, it was claimed tonight.

Gas cylinders packed with explosives and a timer power unit were left in a green Hyundai car parked on a roadside between Milford village and Armagh city in Northern Ireland.

Military explosives experts who defused the device last night also found two containers of petrol in the boot.
Political representatives in the area were horrified by the discovery.

SDLP Councillor Gerald Mallon said: “Whatever organisation was responsible, they have no respect for the local people or for local businesses.

“What is more frightening is the reality that local children and mothers with prams have been walking up and down this road during the holiday period.

“Little did they know they were walking past a live bomb.”
Police Superintendent Kenny Maclean also hit out at the terrorists involved.

He said: “The resultant explosion would have taken the form of a large fireball and shrapnel.

“It would have caused indiscriminate injury to members of the public who passed along the busy Monaghan Road.”

The bomb was found after searches across Northern Ireland.

In a coded warning issued to a Belfast media outlet earlier, 15 locations were mentioned, half of them in the Armagh area.

All other areas were declared bomb-free and safe.

Two controlled explosions were carried out on the car, fitted with false number plates, parked on a bridge later on Tuesday night or early on Wednesday.

Detectives urged any witnesses to contact them.

Mr Maclean added: “Where the device was placed was on a road bridge over the River Callan, a place popular with anglers who often leave their own vehicles at the same spot to access the riverbank.”

::: u.tv :::

THURSDAY 14/07/2005 17:06:27

The British government was tonight urged to review the Ulster Volunteer Force ceasefire after a man was shot dead in his home earlier this week.

By:Press Associaiton

SDLP leader Mark Durkan said the murder of Craig McCausland, 20, in north Belfast proved the loyalist paramilitary group was not prepared to put down their weapons.

The Foyle MP has written to Secretary of State Peter Hain and urged him to crack down on loyalist paramilitary activity.

Mr Durkan said: “The UVF murdered Craig McCausland in cold blood at his family home on Monday - in front of his wife and her children.

“No paramilitary group should be allowed to think that it can murder with impunity.

“Nor should any paramilitary group imagine that the rest of us will turn a blind eye and ignore this carnage.”

Calling for a reassessment of the ceasefire, Mr Durkan said: “The facts are stark. The murder of Craig McCausland is but the latest.

“The UVF has already murdered three people in the last two years - and attempted to murder another in January.

“Meanwhile, loyalists are still responsible for most violence.

“They are up to their necks in attacking vulnerable communities - and poisoning their own with drugs.

“That is why the two governments must bring real pressure on the UVF and other loyalists to wind up all their activity - now and for good.”

The SDLP leader said, despite some notable coups for the Assets Recovery Agency, the political process had failed to tackle the issue of loyalist terror.

Last night it was claimed Mr McCausland was not a member of one of the organisations involved in the loyalist power struggle.

Police said at the time Mr McCausland was killed by the UVF who believed he was a member of the rival Loyalist Volunteer Force.

But detectives investigating the murder were not convinced he was a member of the LVF and the organisation said he was not.

The Press Association was told by an intermediary: “The LVF want to make it clear he did not belong to that group.

“He was not connected or linked and never has been.

“They cannot understand why someone kill him and link him to them. There were no links, no association, nothing.”

Mr McCausland, who was shot several times in his Dhu Varren Park home, lived with his girlfriend, who is in her mid-20s, her nine-year-old son and six-year-old daughter.

Police branded the killing a “ruthless execution” which was believed to have been carried out after a man was shot and seriously injured while he was out walking his dogs.

The LVF was said to be behind that attack.

Earlier this month loyalist paramilitaries were blamed for the murder of Jameson Lockhart, also from north Belfast, who was shot as he drove a lorry in east Belfast.

The UVF was also linked to that killing.

BBC

Craig McCausland died after being shot in Dhu Varren Park

A 20-year-old Protestant man shot dead this week is the second member of his family to have been murdered by loyalists, his aunt has said.

Craig McCausland died after being shot in Dhu Varren Park in north Belfast early on Monday.

The killing was blamed on tensions within loyalism by police, sparking rumours of an LVF/UVF feud.

His aunt Kathy McIlvenny denied he was in the LVF and said loyalists killed Craig’s mother when he was aged two.

The LVF have said the murder victim was not known to them.

Three men burst into the home Craig shared with his partner and her children and fatally wounded him.

Earlier that night, another man, David Hanley, was shot several times as he walked two dogs on the Crumlin Road near Glenbank.

“She was beaten to death in a loyalist club and he has now left a son at the same age - the loyalists have now left another child without a parent.”
Kathy McIlvenny

A short time after the killing of Mr McCausland, in nearby Woodvale Pass, a man escaped another apparent murder bid by jumping out the window of a house as a number of masked men were attempting to smash their way in.

“This child was brought up, the whole family, never to get involved or associate with so-called paramilitaries,” Mrs McIlvenny told BBC Radio Ulster’s Talkback programme.

“He went through integrated education, had a wide span of friends and there is no way that they can even say he was associated with a paramilitary group.”

The half-naked body of his 23-year-old mother, Lorraine, was found in a stream on 8 March, 1987 near a loyalist club in Tynedale where she had been drinking.

She had been beaten with a concrete block, and it was reported at the time that it was believed she had been killed by the UDA.

“She was beaten to death in a loyalist club and he has now left a son at the same age - the loyalists have now left another child without a parent,” Mrs McIlvenny said.

No-one was ever charged with his mother’s murder.

The family has blamed the UVF for murdering Craig.

“These are cowards that go in the middle of the night with masks over their face and shoot people in their bed,” she said.

She added that when he was younger, Craig had been involved in petty crime, but that since the birth of his son he had turned his life around.

“Craig has not done anything to give them ones a reason. He wanted to live for his child,” she said.

The family of David Hanley, who was shot and seriously wounded on the same night, have stressed that neither of the two men were involved in a loyalist feud.

The Hanley family said in a statement: “The PSNI spokesmen and both paramilitary groups have stated that these young men are not, and have never been members of these organisations. These statements are most welcome.”

The family added: “We were unable to prevent the attempted murder and the horrendous injuries inflicted upon our son.

“But please be advised that we will not allow his good character to be attacked by anyone using either express or implied terms.”

Sinn Féin

Published: 14 July, 2005

East Belfast Sinn Féin Representative Deborah Devenny has challenged UUP
leader Reg Empey to tell the full story about the events at the interface
between the Short Strand and Cluan Place yesterday. (see this story.)

Ms Devenny said:

” There were a number of incidents throughout yesterday of stone throwing
between Cluan Place and Clandeboye in the Short Strand. It seemed that the
catalyst for these disturbances was a party held in Cluan Place and attended
by members of a Scottish flute band staying in Belfast for the Twelfth who
seemed intent on trying to provoke conflict.

” Local residents and community leaders in the Short Strand worked to ensure
that stone throwing incidents from the nationalist side were kept to a
minimum.

” After a number of relatively peaceful summers in this area the last thing
that local people want is a repeat of the summer of 2003. It is my hope that
this band has now returned to Scotland and local people can once again get
on with their lives.

” However partisan and one sided commentary by individuals like Reg Empey
does little to reduce tensions in this area and only serves to wind up a
situation which has been relatively successfully managed in recent years.”
ENDS

Telegraph

By Oliver Poole, Iraq Correspondent
(Filed: 14/07/2005)

Thirty-two people, most of them children, were killed yesterday when a suicide bomber exploded his car beside a convoy of American soldiers handing out sweets in a Baghdad suburb.

The blast left the street covered in pools of blood, mangled bicycles and the corpses of the young, many still clutching blue-wrapped chocolate bars.

An Iraqi woman wails in anguish after the blast

Two houses partially collapsed, reportedly killing a family of seven, and another building was set on fire in one of the worst outrages the city has witnessed this year.

A total of 31 people were wounded in the explosion, many of them also children, and an American soldier was among the dead.

Moments before, locals said, the street had been filled with the sound of shouting and laughter as the youngsters, most aged between six and 13, excitedly surrounded the line of US Humvees.

The US military has had far more success in gaining trust from the city’s young than its adults, not least because Baghdad’s children know the shout of “Hey, Mister” or simply “Hello” is often rewarded with a treat.

This time the children of the city’s Jedidah district thought they were in particular luck.

The convoy, dispatched to look for a suspected car bomb, had piles of sweets and key-rings featuring a smiley face in a baseball cap.

Word spread, drawing more children to the spot.

“My friend Abbas ran out,” said Amer Hamad, 13. “I shouted at him to wait for me but by then he was already on the street.

“It was then the car came from a side street and blew up.”

The dead were taken to Kindi hospital, where small, wooden coffins were laid out in the courtyard.

Mothers ripped open their black robes, threw themselves on the ground, wailed in anguish and slapped their faces.

Abu Mohammed’s son had shrapnel lodged in his head but was alive. “All the rest of his friends died,” said Mr Mohammed.

Hana Ali had already checked several of the city’s hospitals looking for her 11-year-old son. Then she found his body at the bomb site.

The people of Baghdad had until now thought they could no longer be shocked by the bombings.

Most are received with a shake of the head or black humour. But yesterday there was palpable disgust at the crime and anger at those who had committed it.

“Children are the most innocent,” said Henan Hafidh, who has two sons. “That is no Muslim who did this. It is evil. I feel so strongly for the loss to their families.”

Last September 34 children were among 41 Iraqis killed when three car bombers attacked an American convoy on a busy street.

But yesterday was the first time children had been so clearly visible around an intended target.

Major Russ Goemaere, a US military spokesman, said: “The terrorist made a deliberate decision to attack one of our vehicles. He undoubtedly saw the children around the Humvee as he attacked.”

Indymedia Ireland

by M. Ní Sheighin Thursday, Jul 14 2005, 2:51pm

Ráiteas eisithe ag an “Rossport 5″ tar éis na hArd-Chúirte inniu, Déardaoin 15 Iúil 2005.

The change proposed to the High Court order today is a welcome advance extracted from Shell. Shell has accepted, by implication, that it is in breach even of the rolling consents granted to them by ex-Minister Frank Fahy.

We welcome Shell’s promise to abide by the consent and hope that this indicates a new attitude on their part to what behaviour is tolerable in a democratic society.

It is regrettable that this decision to abide by the law has been extracted from Shell as a result of the action of our legal team, and is not a voluntary conversion. What a commentary this is on accepted business ethics, when such behaviour is practised with impunity.

We are in jail, as a last resort, to protect ourselves and our families, our neighbours and our area, from potential destruction by gas pipeline rupture. That remains our position, our one and only requirement: no-one can do less.

Pipelines rupture: no pipeline engineer intends this to happen but it does, with sickening frequency. The outlandish pipeline here proposed, to be forced in close proximity past our houses, is the stuff of nightmares. What they do to us, they will do to you.

The solution we are proposing, i.e. a shallow offshore platform, is the only positive one. It means yes to gas, yes to jobs, but yes to health and safety.

posted on behalf of
Philip McGrath, Brendan Philbin, Vincent McGrath, Willie Corduff and Micheál Ó Seighin

BreakingNews.ie

**Here is an example of people not doing their jobs. The boy needs immediate help. He should NOT have to wait until August for a ‘review’ of his application in August. He is at risk NOW.

14/07/2005 - 12:43:40

The Ballydowd Special Care Unit, currently Ireland’s only secure facility that provides therapeutic intervention for children with serious emotional and behavioural problems, has rejected an application to take a 14-year-old boy who has tried to kill himself three times.

The north inner city boy has been held in custody for over two months in the Finglas Child and Adolescent Centre amid fears for his safety. He is facing a charge at the Dublin Children’s Court for handling a stolen bicycle, over which the issue of his fitness to plead has been raised.

Defence solicitor Michelle Finan told Judge Angela Ni Chonduin today that she had been contacted by the Health Service Executive (HSE) and told that that the Ballydowd Special Care Unit had rejected the application to have the troubled boy placed there.

Two assessments, one conducted by and Finglas Child and Adolescent Centre, and another by a psychiatrist, concurred that the teen needed to be placed in a secure therapeutic environment and that a placement through the criminal justice system was not appropriate, the court had heard earlier.

Ms Finan said yesterday that the HSE had stated that it had not been provided with enough information in relation to the request to have the boy placed in the Ballydowd Unit, which is in west Dublin.

However, she added that the HSE is to hold a strategy meeting on Monday, with all relevant parties present, and are review the application in August.

“The Health Service Executive said they were acutely aware of the position he (the boy) is in, and they are endeavouring to find a placement for him,” Ms Finan told the court.

Rose Sweeney of the Special Residential Services Board said that presently, the Ballydowd Special Care Unit was the only facility that could provide the specialised therapeutic intervention needed.

Judge Ni Chonduin consented to a request from Ms Finan to adjourn the case pending the outcome of next week’s strategy meeting.

She said that it would have been very easy for the HSE to get the required information. Meanwhile, she added, the teenager has been in custody over two months.

“The health service executive needs to provide a secure therapeutic unit for this child, not in the criminal justice system,” she said adjourning the case.

The teenager has been involved in suicide attempts and incidents of self harm and his family fear for his welfare, the court had heard previously.

Earlier, his mother had told the court that she had been trying to get help for her son for since he was aged 10.

His school teacher had also said earlier that over the last two years she, with the boy’s mother, has attended numerous meetings with social services over him “but nothing has come out of it”.

She had described the boy’s behaviour as “very extreme” and continued to say he had tried to commit suicide three times in school.

RTE

14 July 2005 13:20

The five Co Mayo men who are in jail following their failure to comply with a court order are to remain in custody after they declined to purge their contempt at a High Court hearing this morning.

Mr Justice Joseph Finnegan also refused to amend the order given on 4 April restraining landowners in the Rossport area from stopping Shell carrying out work on their lands.

The judge also dismissed an application for an injunction preventing Shell from continuing with work on the Corrib gas pipeline project in north Mayo.

Justice Finnegan said he saw no point in the five men remaining in jail.

However, he said they would have to come before Justice McMenamin to purge their contempt before they could be released.

Meanwhile, a group of about 20 people continued their protest at the site of the Shell Gas Refining Terminal at Bellanaboy in North Mayo this morning.

Pickets were placed on two separate entrances and a waste removal truck was prevented from entering the site.

Work on the site has been halted for the past week. A number of Gardai were called to the scene.

The protestors say they are still totally opposed to the location of the €300 million terminal at the site and believe the gas should be refined at sea.

Shell welcomes Dempsey move

Meanwhile, Shell Ireland has welcomed an initiative by the Minister for Natural Resources, Noel Dempsey, aimed at resolving the dispute over the pipeline.

Last night, the minister said he was ordering a further safety review with a view to ending the standoff.

However, in their initial reaction to the minister’s initiative, the jailed men have indicated that its terms of reference do not go far enough.

In a statement issued on their behalf, the men said the core safety issue was what would happen if there was a leak or rupture of the gas pipeline and what would be the subsequent effect on local people at various distances from it.

The statement said the minister’s most recent proposal deliberately excludes the safety of the men and their families from his published terms of reference and it was not acceptable.

Irelandclick.com

As Orangemen celebrated the Twelfth, accompanying violence and disruption spilled onto the streets throughout the North.

* Sexual Assault at Bonfire

At an Eleventh night bonfire in North Down a woman was subjected to what the PSNI have described as a ‘serious sexual assault’. The 30-year-old was attacked some time between midnight and 3.00am at the fire at Clandeboye Road in Bangor.

The PSNI said that there was a large crowd at the bonfire. The attacker was wearing a red T-shirt and had either gelled or greased hair.

* Bonfire Causes Gas Explosion

A Chinese takeaway food business was destroyed as an Eleventh night bonfire ruptured a gas pipeline. The three-storey building in Dromore Street off Cregagh Road was gutted when the gas was ignited by the bonfire which was built in the middle of the street.
As a result of the gas pipe blaze, the Chinese family were left homeless and thirty homes in East Belfast were evacuated. Phoenix Gas engineers were required to attend the scene on the Twelfth to try to carry out repairs on the hazardous leak.

*Firemen Attacked by Loyalists

Firefighters were attacked by stone throwers in eleven separate incidents as they dealt with more than 500 call-outs over the Eleventh and Twelfth. Seventy of the call-outs were bonfire-related on the Eleventh night. Much to the disappointment of the Divisional Officer Graham Crossett, the figures are very similar to last year. “The Fire and Rescue Service are there to serve all sections of the community and it makes our job much more difficult when we come under such attacks,” said Mr Crossett.

*PSNI Attacked by Loyalists

Two PSNI officers were assaulted as they assisted a man who was being savagely attacked by a crowd at an Eleventh night bonfire in the east of the city.
During the violent attacks at Woodstock Link two officers were hurt and one had his gun and radio stolen after they were flagged down and asked to help a man who was being beaten up. The loyalist crowd outnumbered and set upon the officers. Extra PSNI were brought into the area to restore calm early on Tuesday morning. The weapon was later recovered but the PSNI did not release any details about how it was retrieved.

* UVF Show of Strength
A group of masked men claiming to be members of UVF attended a bonfire in the lower Newtownards Road area of East Belfast. The bonfire was at Pitt Park where the organisers received £2,500 sponsorship from Belfast City Council under a scheme intended to maintain control over the event.

The UVF party showed up wearing military style clothing and balaclavas and mounted a stage to address the crowd gathered at the event about the ongoing feud with loyalist rivals, the LVF. They said that they would “wipe out” the LVF and fired a volley of shots.

Journalist:: Staff Reporter

Irelandclick.com

By Francesca Ryan

The July 12 rioting in North Belfast saw the police fire plastic bullets into the crowd for the first time in almost three years.

The PSNI fired the latest plastic bullets, known as attenuated energy projectiles (AEPs) and which were introduced last month, following the return leg of a contentious Orange Order parade along the Crumlin Road on Tuesday evening.

Speaking yesterday, Sinn Féin’s Gerry Kelly said, “The fundamental problem is the unionists’ and loyalists’ continuing demand to walk through Catholic areas,” before adding that only dialogue can solve what he referred to as an “untenable and unacceptable situation” in the North of the city.

“To take a position as a political leader not to speak, and for the Orange Order to take a position not to speak to residents or indeed to political representatives, is one way of going absolutely nowhere, the Parades Commission rewarding this refusal to talk is a fundamental problem,” he said.

Mr Kelly, who himself was on the wrong end of a PSNI water cannon on Tuesday alongside party leader Gerry Adams, was quick to praise community activists, members of the local clergy and the Ardoyne residents for their “courage and restraint” but was more reserved, however, when asked whether he thought the PSNI’s behaviour had improved compared with recent years.

“That’s difficult to say, there were a number of plastic bullets fired as well. The first thing to hit me was actually the baton charge and then the water cannon but I suppose the whole process has moved forward somewhat.”

Minor stone throwing and an exchange of insults between youths and marchers would have been easily managed had the PSNI not intervened with the baton charge and water cannon, said the Sinn Féin MLA.

“This action disempowered the local residents and stewards and for a time control was lost. This is not what we wanted to see happen, nor was it what the residents of that area wanted to see happen.”

Meanwhile, SDLP policing spokesman, Alex Attwood, said the PSNI did show restraint and that needed to be acknowledged.

“It has been a number of years since I have seen such vicious and ferocious rioting. This was an organised riot and nationalists are responsible for what went on that night, it wasn’t anybody else, the Orangemen had long since passed when the rioting erupted.

“Of course, the SDLP condemn the use of plastic bullets, both old and new, that is crystal clear. We have never agreed to their use but I challenge other people to accept our analysis that the PSNI’s behaviour was restrained.
“Indeed, the restraint shown by all throughout the day was significant and nobody should take away from that.”

Journalist:: Francesca Ryan

Irelandclick.com

Damian McCarney

SpriNGfield Road residents say they’re mystified by PSNI reports that petrol bombs were thrown by nationalists over the peace line on Monday evening. The stories of petrol bombs thrown from the Springfield Road at houses in Ainsworth Avenue were carried by the BBC and confirmed by the PSNI.

Information provided by the PSNI about the alleged incidents appears to undermine the validity of the reports. A PSNI spokesperson said that none of their officers witnessed the attack but that they had received reports of it.

They did not say who reported them.

The PSNI spokesperson said that the petrol bombs were thrown from near the Workman’s gate at about 8.45pm – the gate remains open until 9pm.

They PSNI say they’re not sure if the missiles went through the gate or over the wall. For the lit petrol bombs to have been thrown from Workman’s gate and land in Ainsworth Avenue, they would have to have travelled the length of Forth Parade and Kirk Street.

A spokesperson for the local residents said that they were shocked when they heard the news story the following morning as local residents were on the ground on the Eleventh night working with young people to keep the situation calm and they saw nothing.

“The story actually heightened tensions as residents believe that it did not happen. The length and journey of the petrol bombs make it impossible,” said the local representative.

The PSNI said that no one was injured and there was no damage to property caused by the attack.

Journalist:: Damien McCarney

Irelandclick.com

By Francesca Ryan

THERE were scenes of violence when trouble broke out between loyalists and nationalists at the Suffolk/Lenadoon interface.

Over 100 loyalists carrying knives, iron bars and one wielding a samurai sword, poured across the Stewartstown Road into the nationalist Lenadoon estate at around 1am on Tuesday and hand-to-hand fighting ensued.

Gerard O’Neill, a Sinn Féin councillor who was present at the time, explained to the Andersonstown News what happened.

“Myself and three others were standing in the opening to Doon Road facing Costcutter to ensure there was no trouble. It had been a very quiet night up to that point, there was nobody around. Next thing a taxi pulled up, its windows had been smashed and the driver claimed he had been attacked on Blacks Road. Before we knew what was happening there was a band of people coming towards us from the other side of the Stewartstown Road.”

Councillor O’Neill estimated that 100 people had gathered across the street hurling missiles, including rocks and bottles, whilst around 30 more entered the Horn Drive area via an open gate which runs along the side of Woodbourne barracks.

“With all the noise these loyalists were making, residents soon came out of their homes to see what was happening, then it was just mayhem. One of these loyalists, who had a t-shirt over his head, was taking swipes at people with a samurai sword in Horn Drive and others had iron bars.”

The PSNI arrived and parked their Land Rovers in the middle of the road to keep the crowds separated and an uneasy peace descended.
One officer was injured by a stone before calm returned.

“As far as sectarian tension goes, this place is usually quiet enough,” said Councillor O’Neill.

“Right up until I saw these people, the whole estate was fairly silent and then it all happened out of the blue, it was a bit surreal. We haven’t seen the likes of it in a number of years. Bizarrely, the PSNI were herding nationalist residents further back into their own estate rather than moving the loyalists out of Lenadoon,” added the councillor before adding that he was convinced that the trouble was organised.

“These were not kids, they were grown men and I’m pretty sure they weren’t all from that small estate on Blacks Road. I think other people may have come from elsewhere to join them in what appears to be an orchestrated attack on our community.

“I don’t know why this happened, relations are usually fairly cordial to some degree between the two communities,” said Cllr O’Neill who went on to appeal for calm in the weeks ahead.

The PSNI confirmed an incident had taken place in the area
“Police received a report at about 1am that a group of young people were throwing stones in the Stewartstown Road area.

“It is believed that rival factions totalling 12 youths were involved. A group of about fifty persons were also noted in the area and were monitored by police.

“The police received a report at 1.15am of a disturbance in the Woodbourne area and while responding to this report, one officer received a minor head injury when he was struck by a stone.”

Journalist:: Francesca Ryan

Irelandclick.com

by Ciara Mcguigan

An eerie veil of silence fell over the normally bustling Springfield Road on Tuesday morning as crowds of residents gathered to protest over the contentious 12th of July Orange Order parade.

Lined peacefully along either side of the Springfield Road, residents spoke in hushed tones as they waited for the parade to begin – the buzz of three helicopters circling high above the roa slicing through the stillness.

Holding placards condemning ‘Sectarian Marches’, residents displayed posters calling for ‘Meaningful Dialogue’ – a dialogue which broke down last month after a Parades Commission ruling ordering the Whiterock Lodge parade to bypass the contentious stretch of road by using the Mackies site route.

A strong PSNI presence flanked the Springfield Road, with an estimated 20 Land Rovers and over 50 officers patrolling the full length of the parade route.
A number of officers also carried video and camera equipment.

Political representatives, including Sinn Féin councillors Tom Hartley, Chrissie Mac Giolla Mhín and Fra McCann, were also present, lending their support to the residents, each holding a white sheet reading, ‘Meaningful Dialogue = Respect’.

In a startling incident just before the march began, protestors awaiting the late arrival of the Orange march narrowly escaped injury as a speeding car, adorned with Union flags, careered up on to the footpath, causing seated protestors to scatter, narrowly avoiding serious injury or worse.

As the parade finally got under way, representatives from four Orange Lodges made their way past Catholic homes towards the gates, patrolled by PSNI, at Workman Avenue.

Orangemen marched to a single drumbeat as they paraded along the contentious route, led by two young children wearing junior-sized Orange sashes.

Herded through the Workman Avenue gates, the Orange marchers were followed, at a distance, by the assembled crowd of Springfield Road residents who held their placards high above their heads in a silent, dignified protest.

As they left the road and made their way back on to the other side of the peaceline, marchers were greeted by loud yells and triumphant whoops from their waiting supporters and the two bands accompanying the march immediately struck up an ear-bashing din as their supporters waved Union Jack flags and sang a joyous rendition of the Sash as Springfield Road protestors stood silently at the other side of the barrier.

Speaking after the protest, Springfield Road Residents’ Association spokesman Sean Paul O’Hare said that he was delighted by the dignity and restraint demonstrated by the residents of the Springfield Road. But he added that he was disappointed by the original ruling that such a provocative march could be allowed along the Springfield Road.

“Meaningful dialogue needs to be put in place so that this matter can once and for all be resolved,” he said.

Journalist:: Ciara McGuigan

Irelandclick.com

By Ciarán Barnes

The Continuity IRA considered firing on the PSNI with automatic weapons during rioting following an Orange Order parade in the Ardoyne area of North Belfast on Tuesday night.

The leadership of the organisation made the claim in an exclusive interview with the Andersonstown News less than two hours after the July 12 violence.

The CIRA also confirmed, using a recognised code word, that its members threw two blast bombs at the PSNI that seriously injured one officer and two journalists.

Shortly after trouble in Ardoyne had ended dissident republicans contacted this newspaper to give what they termed as “their side of the story”.

A journalist was taken into West Belfast where he met with the most senior CIRA figure in the city.

He told the Andersonstown News that the only reason the organisation did not open fire on the PSNI was because it wanted to avoid another Bloody Sunday.

He said, “We had three active service units (ASUs) in Ardoyne on Tuesday night, mostly comprising volunteers from North Belfast.

“There were about 15 men in all and each ASU was armed.

“When the PSNI started firing plastic bullets at residents we considered returning fire.

“We abandoned the idea because we were fearful that many people could be injured. Instead, we decided to use blast bombs on the PSNI.”

The CIRA figure also denied PSNI claims that officers were pulling out of Ardoyne when they came under attack.

He said: “They were firing plastic bullets at residents when we attacked them.”

Rioting erupted after the PSNI attempted to hold back nationalist protesters as hundreds of Orangemen marched along the Crumlin Road for the return leg of their July 12 parade.

Shortly after 8pm bottles, bricks and debris were thrown at the PSNI after they used a water cannon to break up the demonstrators.

The PSNI responded by firing a number of plastic bullets.

A car was also hijacked and set on fire close to PSNI lines.

Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams, who with party colleagues got a dousing from the water cannon, said that, despite the violence, it could have been much worse.

“The fact is that the vast majority of people have demonstrated peacefully and in a calm manner,” he said.

The West Belfast MP blamed the PSNI’s strategy for the trouble. “When the police moved in, in what I think was quite a reckless manner, they took management completely away from the stewards.

“They brought the water cannon in too quickly, we should have been allowed to keep order,” he insisted.

In the wake of Tuesday’s violence the Orange Order called on the Parades Commission to ban all future protests at Ardoyne.

A spokesman said the latest rioting proved that the Commission’s policy of “constantly appeasing” hardline republican residents by granting them the right to protest at Ardoyne was “threatening the stability of Northern Ireland and putting the lives of police officers at risk”.

Journalist:: Ciaran Barnes

Belfast Telegraph

By Chris Thornton
14 July 2005

The bomb attacks that injured police and civilians during Tuesday’s Ardoyne riot were the work of the Continuity IRA, according to police and a man claiming to represent the dissident republican group.

The man said the bomb attacks were in response to police using plastic bullets against the rioters.

He claimed the group had been prepared to open fire on police, but feared injuring Ardoyne residents.

The development could cause concerns for the PSNI. Police intelligence has generally constrained dissident republicans, especially the smaller Continuity IRA.

But the injuries caused by the blast bombs used in the attack suggest police did not have advance warning of the attacks.

The alleged Continuity IRA spokesman told the Daily Ireland newspaper that the group had “three active service units in Ardoyne on Tuesday”.

He claimed those units were armed and had a total of 15 men, mainly from north Belfast.

Rioting broke out as an Orange Order parade passed through a heavy security cordon on the Crumlin Road. Police said it was orchestrated, noting that rioters stepped back before the bomb attacks began.

Supt Gary White, the senior officer on the ground during the march, said: “This was a clear and deliberate attempt to kill police officers, there can be no doubt of that.”

He said police came under an “lengthy and ferocious attack”.

Nine blast bombs were thrown plus dozens of petrol bombs, stones and bottles.

One hundred police officers, two ambulance staff and eight civilians, including two journalists, were injured.

BreakingNews.ie

14/07/2005 - 09:02:30

The PSNI has accused ‘dissident’ republicans of trying to murder police officers during rioting in north Belfast on Tuesday night.

The riots broke out after an Orange Order parade proceeded along the nationalist Crumlin Road, despite local opposition.

The PSNI said nine blast bombs, some packed with bolts and nails, were thrown at the security forces during the violence.

Six of the bombs exploded, injuring more than 100 police officers and a number of civilians, including journalists and ambulance workers.

A British army press officer was the worst injured, having sustained multiple fractures and abdominal wounds.

The Continuity IRA is being blamed for the worst of the attacks.

The PSNI said it fired 22 plastic bullets during the riots and insisted that it acted with restraint, despite Sinn Féin complaints that the police acted before local republicans had a chance to quell the crowd.

BBC

The family of a man murdered in Londonderry nearly two years ago has met with the IRA in an effort to resolve their dispute.

Jimmy McGinley was killed by Bart Fisher - who the McGinley family claim was a member of the IRA.

A statement released by the family after the meeting said the IRA had “refused to accept any of their concerns”.

The meeting ended with the McGinley’s walking out.

BBC

UVF men fired shots at a Belfast bonfire

A paramilitary show of strength at a bonfire in east Belfast could put a pilot funding scheme in jeopardy, a Belfast councillor has said.

Five UVF gunmen appeared on stage at Monday night’s bonfire at Pitt Park in the lower Newtownards Road area and fired a volley of shots.

The Pitt Park bonfire was one of nine bonfires which are part of a £50,000 council pilot scheme.

It aimed to bring such events under proper control.

Naomi Long of the Alliance Party said Pitt Park had been chosen because of its controversial nature.

“What we wanted to do was try and tackle some of the very serious problems we have had with some of the major bonfire sites,” she said.

“The intention was that this scheme wouldn’t be some tokenistic approach by the council, but would actually try to get to the root cause of some of the problems we have been having.”

Ms Long was one of the councillors who originally approved the scheme.

It aims to address issues such as paramilitary flags being flown, tyres being burned, preventing illegal dumping and keeping the site tidy.

The incident of UVF gunmen turning up and firing shots was a serious knock back to the scheme, which will now be under review, she said.

“A total of £50,000 was allocated to the entire scheme - over half of which went to Groundwork - the organisation which facilitated a lot of the facilitation on this scheme.

“As to the individual bonfires, a maximum of £2,500 was allowed to be spent on each individual site.

“But that was to be spent on a mixture of things. Some of it was signage for the site, some of it was fencing for the site, which would already have been incurred by the council.”

Other money would be given to fund “community-based celebrations”, said the councillor.

“That is the portion - which I think in the case of Pitt Park - needs to be looked at again by the council before that finance is released.”

BreakingNews.ie

13/07/2005 - 22:54:58

A bomb was found in a car in Co Armagh tonight after police mounted widespread searches for devices across the North.

The bomb, deemed “viable” by police, was discovered in the vehicle on a roadside between the village of Milford and Armagh city.

The device, once made safe, was taken away by army bomb disposal experts for detailed examination.

Searches for bombs were launched early in the day after a coded warning was made to a Belfast media outlet.

Police said 15 locations were mentioned in the warning, half of which were in the Armagh area.

Others were on the M1 motorway, the A1 road to the border, Banbridge, Lisburn, Moira, Dungannon, Scarva.

All other areas were declared bomb-free and safe.