SAOIRSE32

BBC

The three republicans are being interviewed by gardai

The Irish police have confirmed they are interviewing the three republicans wanted in Colombia for training Marxist rebels.

James Monaghan, Martin McAuley and Niall Connolly, are currently being held in various police stations in Dublin.

They were sentenced to 17 years in jail in Colombia last year.

They vanished in December 2004 while on bail pending an appeal and have since returned to the Republic of Ireland.

An Irish police statement said: “An Garda Siochana can confirm that contact has been ongoing with the legal representatives of James Monaghan, Martin McAuley and Niall Connolly.

“At this time, all three of the above named are currently being interviewed at various garda stations in Dublin.”

James Monaghan is understood to be at Terenure garda station in the south of the city, while other reports said another of the three was at Kilmainham station in the west of the city.

A garda spokesman would not say if the men were under arrest or were assisting police voluntarily, although unconfirmed reports said one of them had been arrested.

Caitriona Ruane of the Bring Them Home campaign said the men had made themselves available to talk to Irish police.

“They are not on the run,” she said.

“Their wish now is to be allowed the time and space to get on with their lives and live in peace with their families here in Ireland.”

Acquitted

News of their return broke when Irish state broadcaster RTE interviewed James Monaghan at a secret location on 5 August.

It prompted speculation that their return had been part of a deal with the IRA and Sinn Fein, a claim which Taoiseach Bertie Ahern broke off from his holiday to deny.

Colombian vice-president Francisco Santos has said he wants the men extradited but said he did not rule out allowing them to serve their sentences in Ireland.

The trio, who had been accused of being IRA members, were arrested in Bogota in August 2001.

They were found guilty of travelling on false passports in June 2004, but were acquitted of training the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc).

That decision was reversed after an appeal by the Colombian attorney general and they were sentenced to 17-year terms.

Belfast Telegraph

Police liken trouble to ethnic cleansing

By Deborah McAleese
newsdesk@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
18 August 2005

FEARS were escalating today that a loyalist parade in Co Antrim tomorrow will fuel simmering tensions following a wave of attacks on Catholics.

And there was fury from republicans after the Deputy Chief Constable Paul Leighton said the series of attacks on Catholics in the mainly Protestant village of Ahoghill were not “purely sectarian”.

More than 1,000 loyalists are expected to parade through the predominantly nationalist area of Rasharkin tomorrow evening, just a few miles from the under-siege village of Ahoghill.

There was growing alarm within the nationalist community over the news that 46 loyalist bands will march close to the area which several Catholic families were forced to flee from following a campaign of intimidation by loyalists.

Sinn Fein councillor Daithi McKay said people believe the Ballymaconnelly Sons of Conquerors Flute Band parade is “nothing more than a coat-trailing exercise”.

Yesterday Mr Leighton visited the village of Ahoghill to reassure residents that police are doing all they can to improve the situation.

He claimed that police intelligence suggests there is more to the problem than sectarianism and “other elements” are at play.

However, Ballymena Sinn Fein councillor Monica Digney said that Mr Leighton must be the only person to think this.

She said: “It is unbelievable he said that, that he can’t even come out and say ‘yes it’s sectarianism’ because everyone knows it is purely sectarian.

“The paint they are throwing is the same colour as they paint footpaths with in Ahoghill.”

According to Mr Leighton the problem in the village is “worse than ethnic cleansing” as there is “real hatred” among communities in Northern Ireland.

A number of Catholics have fled the area in fear for their lives after a sustained campaign of petrol bombings, paint bombings and attacks on homes, churches and schools in the village.

Police have stepped up surveillance in the area and yesterday it was revealed that the new police helicopter is being used in a bid to track perpetrators and protect the public.

Irelandclick.com

A resident of The Green in Dunmurry who has experienced persistent anti-social behaviour, theft, and verbal abuse over a number of months was arrested by police on Monday for standing up to the thugs who have been harassing him.

At around midnight on Sunday, youths began racing on scooters up and down the area near Dunmurry Lane, keeping residents awake and causing havoc in the area.

The resident – who doesn’t wish to be named – came out to ask the youths to leave, but they refused and became aggressive. He found himself embroiled in a scuffle with one, but walked away.

Around 20 minutes later, the PSNI arrived and arrested the man for assault with a weapon. Although no weapon was found and witnesses confirmed to police that he had neither instigated the attack nor used any weapon, he was later charged at Lisburn police station. Speaking to the Andersonstown News last night, the Dunmurry man explained: “I’m in shock at what happened.”

He continued: “This harassment by the same group of youths has being going on for months and we’re all at our wits’ end here,” he said.

“My next door neighbour is a female doctor who spoke to the police and passed on the number plates of the scooters involved, but nothing was done about it. She’s been tormented too with eggs, beer bottles, she’s had them urinating in her garden, but the police have done nothing for her.

“The youths actually stood there laughing and jeering as I was arrested. My neighbours were shocked.”

Residents in the area have recorded a number of incidents which have occurred in the area over the past number of months, including assault by youths carrying golf clubs, theft of items from their properties, drinking, anti-social behaviour and verbal abuse.

The accused resident added: “I’m no snob, but I’ve worked hard to be able to live in a nice property in what I thought was a nice area, and then this happens. You just feel like it’s a no-win situation.

“I’ve asked them why they don’t go and drink and urinate outside their own houses and harass their own parents, but of course it doesn’t happen like that.”

Sinn Féin councillor Paul Butler last night expressed outrage at the arrest.
“This shows what passes for policing in this area,” he said. “Here we have a man arrested and charged with confronting someone outside his house and the people who’ve been harassing him and his neighbours for months get off scot-free.”

He continued: “The police need to get their priorities right. There’s been a lot of criticism lately in the wake of the rape on the Blacks Road. They need to get their act together.

“Yesterday I spoke to residents in the area who have been tormented for months and have reported incidents but got no response. Then this happens. It doesn’t make sense.”

Journalist:: Laura McDaid

RTE

18 August 2005 09:31

A former leader of the Ulster Defence Association, Johnny Adair, will appear in court in England later today charged with harassment.

Johnny ‘Mad Dog’ Adair, who is 41, was charged following an incident outside a laundrette in Bolton three days ago.

Adair fled to Bolton two years ago after a feud among Loyalist groups in Belfast.

BreakingNews.ie

Man arrested in Spain over IRA attack in Germany
18/08/2005 - 11:24:19

Police in southern Spain have arrested a suspected IRA man wanted in connection with a mortar attack on a British military base in Germany nine years ago.

The Spanish Interior Ministry said the man was arrested yesterday at a hotel in the resort of Torremolinos on foot of an arrest warrant issued in Germany.

The German authorities want to question him about the firing of three mortars at the British base in Osnabruck in June 1996.

Two of the devices failed to hit their target, while the third exploded but caused no deaths or injuries.

BBC

Thomas Devlin was murdered in a knife attack
The police have said they have not ruled out a sectarian motive for the murder of Thomas Devlin - the teenager murdered in north Belfast last week.

Detectives staged a reconstruction of the 15-year-old’s final movements on Wednesday night.

Thomas was stabbed five times in the back last week as he walked from a garage in the Fortwilliam area.

Detective Superintendent Colin Sturgeon said a sectarian motive for the murder was one being considered.

“I can’t confirm or deny that it is a sectarian murder, but it’s something I’m actively considering,” Mr Sturgeon said.

“I want to catch the killers of a 15-year-old schoolboy, which is a horrible crime.”

He said the amount of floral tributes left on the road for Thomas showed the impact the killing had had on the community.

“I’m asking for the help of the wider community to help me catch the killers of Thomas,” Mr Sturgeon added.

From 2330 to 2345 BST on Wednesday, actors retraced the movements of Thomas and his two friends up to the point where he was stabbed on the Somerton Road.

Detectives stopped motorists and pedestrians in the area hoping to speak to anyone who saw something suspicious.

Police said they have been given substantial help but believe there are people with information about the killers.

Earlier on Wednesday, hundreds of mourners attended Thomas’ funeral at the Church of the Resurrection on the Cavehill Road.

Thomas, a student at Belfast Royal Academy, was buried in Armoy, County Antrim.

**From: IRISH REPUBLICAN INFORMATION SERVICE (no. 30)

Teach Dáithí Ó Conaill, 223 Parnell Street, Dublin 1, Ireland
Phone: +353-1-872 9747; FAX: +353-1-872 9757; e-mail: saoirse@iol.ie
Date: 16 August\Lunasa 2005

Internet resources maintained by SAOIRSE-Irish Freedom

http://saoirse.rr.nu

The British colonial police was coming under increased pressure on August 14 to state whether it believes the murder of a 15-year-old nationalist schoolboy in Belfast was sectarian. Thomas Devlin died on the night of August 10 after being stabbed five times in the back as he walked along the Somerton Road with two friends. So far the RUC\PSNI has insisted there is nothing to indicate that his killing was sectarian. The RUC\PSNI has also refused to comment on reports that a passing patrol may have stopped the murder gang prior to the killing-taking place. The British Colonial police are currently questioning two men and a juvenile about the incident.

However, a number of loyalist sources in north Belfast have said that the savage attack on the schoolboy was sectarian. However, a north Belfast man whose son was murdered by the UVF said he had no doubt that the loyalist paramilitary group had killed Thomas. Raymond McCord whose son Raymond was murdered by the UVF in 1997, claimed that the identities of Thomas’s killers were well known in loyalist circles in north Belfast. “The dogs in the street know who killed that young boy,” Mr McCord said. “The police are saying it was not sectarian but then why is it that one of those who was questioned and released about the murder was immediately arrested and charged with possession of ammunition?” Raymond McCord dismissed any suggestion that the UVF could distance itself from the murder, even if its leadership had not sanctioned the killing.
“The UVF ‘ceasefire’ has killed nearly 30 people since 1994 and not one person has been prosecuted,” he said. It is believed that loyalists from the nearby Mount Vernon district were involved in the murder. The names of those involved are known throughout the area. His mother, Penny Holloway, described her son as a “shining beacon” in her family’s life who would never come back. She said: “‘Devastated’ is just too light a word for how we all feel.” I saw him lying there with the doctors working on him and he’s just my beautiful boy, who’s gone. I just really don’t understand that.”
Thomas’ father, Jim Devlin, described what the family was going through as a “living hell”.
“We’re just totally gutted. We haven’t got him home yet but we are doing our best to keep going.
“Thomas was the next generation coming up. He was across all the divides and taken away by someone who sought otherwise,” he said.