SAOIRSE32

Derry Journal
07 July 2009

A woman collapsed and had to be taken to hospital yesterday after her home was searched by the PSNI in the Shantallow area.

The woman’s daughter, Mary Coyle, also claimed she was physically and verbally abused by police officers during the search at Drumleck Drive and was left with bruises on her arm.

A crowd of up to 300 people gathered in the area during the search operation and a number of them attacked police Land Rovers with stones and bottles.

Ms Coyle claimed a police officer threatened to put her “through the window with a slap” while her mother’s house was being searched.

“I came home from work and found the police searching my mother’s house. My mother was so upset she collapsed and had to be taken to hospital. I protested and a policeman told me to ***k up or he’d put me through the window with a slap. I was then grabbed and pushed out the front and I have been left with a bruise on my arm,” she said.

The front window of the house was broken when a PSNI Land Rover parked outside came under attack from a group of up to 300 stonethrowers who gathered in the area.

Ms Coyle said she could not understand why the house was searched and said three people who were arrested during the operation were arrested for non-payment of fines.

Sinn Féin councillor for the area Tony Hassan condemned the incident and claimed that some officers called people ‘fenian b*****ds’ at the scene.

“I want to condemn the PSNI for the way they handled the situation. I have had a number of complaints from residents that they were told to ‘***k off’ and were called ‘fenian ******ds.’

“I support the PSNI if they are tackling crime in a responsible manner but from what I can gather and what I have seen myself they completely over-reacted and involved a lot of the community who did not need to be involved. I will be complaining about this to the local District Policing Partnership,” he said.

A PSNI spokesperson said: “Police are carrying out a search of a house in the Drumleck Drive area of the city as part of an ongoing investigation relating to drugs and anti-social behaviour. Three people have been arrested and are currently helping police with their enquiries.”

Derry News
07 July 2009

The increasing number of people being stopped and search under anti-terrorism legislation was discussed at a meeting of the Policing Board on Thursday amid complaints from Derry republicans about being searched.

Members of the Board’s human rights and professional standards committee received an update about the use of stop and search powers.
The move comes after a Derry solicitor criticised the PSNI, claiming they are using stop and search powers against people based solely on their political beliefs.

Paddy MacDermott made the comment after members of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement (32CSM) in Derry claimed that are being harassed on “an hourly basis.”

Leading Derry republican Gary Donnelly has said he and several of his children have been stopped under section 44 of the Terrorism Act on a number of occasions in the last number of weeks.

On Wednesday he contacted the ‘Journal’ to say he and his daughter had been detained and searched by police on Meadowbank Avenue while out shopping. He claimed the search is “part of a part of a campaign of intimidation against republicans and their families.”

Policing Board members were told that a new system of recording the number of people stopped and searched would be in place by September.

News Letter
07 July 2009

SIX witnesses to the sectarian murder of Catholic father-of-four Kevin McDaid in Coleraine have received death threats, the High Court heard yesterday.

The disclosure was made during a bail application by one of the six, Peter Neill, 42, from Westbourne Crescent, Coleraine, who is facing a charge of incitement to hatred.

Neill, who was in court, was arrested last month after he was alleged to have shouted abuse at loyalists erecting flags near his home.
He was granted bail last week on condition that he resided at an undisclosed address and observed a curfew from 10pm to 7am.

Yesterday he applied to have the conditions lifted, along with others to stay out of Coleraine and not use private transport.
Defence barrister Joe Brolly said the murder of Mr McDaid and its aftermath had become a very venomous affair.

He said a threatening poster showing Mr Neill’s injuries after he had gone to help Mr McDaid had appeared at a bus shelter in Bushmills.
A poem circulating on the web identified Mr Neill and other witnesses to the murder and it was clear from the poem that his undisclosed address in Kilrea was well known.

“Five other witnesses to the murder have been served with death notices by police,” said Mr Brolly.
“One of them was given until July 12 to leave Coleraine, otherwise he would be assassinated.”

Mr Brolly said Neill felt extremely unsafe and isolated living in Kilrea. His bail conditions meant that he was fixed in a certain place at certain times which created an obvious problem as he was living in a small village with no police station.

“He is isolated where he lives now and sticks out like a sore thumb,” said the lawyer.
If the conditions were lifted he could live at one of several addresses in Coleraine where he would feel safer as the people in the Heights estate were hyper vigilant.

Crown counsel Sheena Mehaffey opposed the application. She said police could protect Neill and look after his right to life.
Ms Mehaffey said the PSNI superintendent in Coleraine did not want Neill back in the area.

Mr Justice Treacy said he accepted Neill’s belief that he would feel safer living in the Heights because of the vigilance of people who knew him and also because there was a police station in the town.

In those circumstances, said the judge, he would lift the residence and curfew conditions so that Neill could reside in the Heights.
Mr Justice Treacy said he was also removing the ban on using private transport in light of the ongoing threat to Neill’s life.

News Letter
07 July 2009

A FORMER IRA prisoner has led demands for sectarian attacks on Orange halls to stop, after yet more halls were vandalised.
North Belfast MLA Carál Ní Chuilín, who in 1989 was sentenced to eight years in prison on explosives charges, denounced an attack on Clifton Street Orange Hall as “blatant sectarianism”.

A separate attack on an Orange hall in the centre of Rasharkin, in which sectarian slogans were daubed on the building, was condemned by Sinn Fein North Antrim MLA Daithí McKay who said that the attacks “served nobody’s interest and people want them to end”.

Unionists welcomed the republicans’ strong condemnation of the attakcs.
In the latest attack on Clifton Street Orange Hall – traditionally the starting point for the Belfast Twelfth parade – paint was thrown at the hall’s facade.

Extensive work was recently carried out to enhance the appearance of the hall, including the removal of a steel cage which protected the building for more than 30 years, to improve the appearance of main roads going into the city centre.

Ms Ní Chuilín said: “Given the work that was done, to have paint spattered over the front of the building for purely sectarian reasons is completely unacceptable and those behind the attack have no right to do this.”

The Rasharkin hall has also been attacked four times this year. Mr McKay said: “Any attacks of this nature need to be stopped immediately and those behind the attack need to realise there is no support whatsoever from the vast majority of both sections of our communities.”

Belfast DUP councillor William Humphrey, chairman of the council’s Development Committee, said that the attack would not prevent the Clifton Street building’s restoration.

“Obviously, we are now going to have to make good the damage sustained in this attack: this will have implications not only for this particular project, but it will have a knock-on effect for other projects in the area, as we will have to find the money from other budgets,” the Orangeman said.

Speaking of the Sinn Fein MLAs’ comments, he added: “The condemnation and strength of it are both welcome.
“We should all be about creating a tolerant society.”

North Belfast DUP MP Nigel Dodds condemned the “sectarian” attack as the work of “narrow-minded republican bigots” and said that the annual Twelfth parade would leave from the front of the hall as is traditional.

He said: “The attackers should know that rather than discouraging the Orange brethren and sisters this bigoted attack will only reinforce their determination not to be bowed and to provide a marvellous parade and celebration for all to enjoy on Monday, July 13.”

Fellow Orangeman and former Belfast UUP Lord Mayor Jim Rodgers said that he was saddened by the attacks and said that the Orange Order may need to look at CCTV or individuals guarding halls if the attacks continued.

He “absolutely welcomed” the Sinn Fein condemnation of the attacks but added “just like on the loyalist side, I hope their words mean what they say”.

Ballymoney TUV councillor Audrey Patterson said that the “cowardly attacks” had been “rightly viewed by the minority community of the village as an assault upon the entire Protestant population”.
Orange Order Grand Secretary Drew Nelson said that he was disappointed by the attacks.

“We believe these attacks to be sectarian and we are very disappointed that a small number of people in the nationalist community seem to want to still attack the Orange Order,” he said.

“We would call on politicians and community leaders in the nationalist community to do everything in their power to discourage them.”

By Francesca Ryan
Andersonstown News
Monday, 6 July 09

Just one month before the 40th anniversary of the burning of Bombay Street, the incident many historians mark as the start of the Troubles, a series of previously unseen photographs taken at the time have gone on display in a downtown gallery.

Hundreds of people have been filing through the doors of the Red Barn Gallery in Rosemary Street to see photographs taken in the aftermath of the Bombay Street pogroms.

The exhibition, Bombay St – Taken from the Ashes, recalls the days after August 15, 1969 when Catholics were burnt out of their homes by a loyalist/RUC mob armed with petrol bombs, guns and sticks.

Around 1,500 Catholic families were left homeless as a result of the infamous pogrom which also targeted the nearby streets of Kashmir Road, Conway Street, Clonard Gardens and Cupar Street.

The photographs were taken by Gerry Collins, who lived in the Clonard district at the time. The morning after August 15, 1969, Gerry went to check on his aunt who was living in Bombay Street, before leaving the house he lifted a camera and three rolls of film. He snapped 50 photographs in total, 30 from Bombay Street the morning after August 15, and 20 more which captured the scenes of disarray in the streets around the area in the following days.

Now aged in his 80s, Gerry has decided to share his recorded memories ahead of the 40th anniversary of the Bombay Street burning.

Gerry gave the treasured photographs to Frankie Quinn, Director of the Red Barn Gallery, who told the Andersonstown News the casual manner in which the successful exhibition came to fruition.

“Gerry Collins came down here at the start of the year and said he had pictures of the morning after the burning of Bombay Street. I told him to bring them down and never thought any more of it.

“A while later he turned up with this incredible box of history, you can imagine my reaction being a photographer myself.”

Frankie said he couldn’t believe the quality of the photographs both in terms of content and substance.

Camera Club

“I found out that Gerry was a founder member of the Christian Brothers Camera Club and a keen amateur photographer and you could tell because the pictures were great. Gerry used the medium format, which I would use, and it’s a bit tricky but the pictures were composed so well that nothing had to come out.”

There was no doubt in Frankie’s mind that the photographs had to be exhibited, particularly as the anniversary was drawing close.

“This is the only record of a key pivotal moment in Irish history, an event that was so important it changed the course of Irish history,” he said.

“There was no question about whether or not we were not going to use these, it was like finding hidden treasure.”

The success of the exhibition, which has been only open for one week, has proved phenomenal for the gallery which launched in May 2008.

“The success of the Bombay Street exhibition is incredible and without a doubt our most successful to date,” said Frankie. “We are honoured to be hosting the exhibit.”

The names and comments in the visitors’ book are testament to the success the exhibition is garnering among locals and internationals alike.

The book is jammed full of positive comments and compliments from visitors from Andersonstown to Australia as well as the United States, Scandinavia and, of course, Bombay Street residents past and present.

The exhibition is running at the Red Barn Gallery until July 25, it will then move into the West where the photographs will be on display at St Mary’s University College where it will stay for the duration of Féile an Phobail (July 31-August 9).

Frankie is now urging others who may be in possession of similar photographic compilations to get in touch.

“Gerry had these photographs all these years. We are certain that there must be other people out there with hidden photographic treasures like this. Even if you don’t think it is of interest, we might, so bring it down to us.”

Bombay St – Taken from the Ashes is on show at the Red Barn Gallery, 43b Rosemary Street, Belfast until 25 July.

By Diana Rusk
Irish News
6 July 09

DESTRUCTION: damage to the SuperValu supermarket in Newtownbutler, Co Fermanagh, after a masked gang stole a cash machine using a digger and a truck. Inset, the crime captured on CCTV in this image provided by the BBC - MAIN PICTURE: John McVitty

POLICE failed to respond for 12 hours to desperate calls for assistance, leaving villagers to look on helplessly as a gang used a digger to steal a cash machine from a supermarket wall.

Families in Newtownbutler, Co Fermanagh, feared for their lives after the gang set fire to the digger near petrol pumps and yards from their homes.

Residents called police as the theft unfolded and were told that officers were “aware of the situation”. However, no officers arrived for 12 hours.

The masked thieves fled towards the border with the machine, believed to contain about £80,000, in the back of a pick-up truck.

Witnesses told The Irish News how:

• the first call to police was made when the digger was stolen shortly before 4.30am on Saturday

• the three men wearing balaclavas appeared calm and unhurried as they rammed the digger into the wall of the Supervalu shop

• neighbours watched from their windows for a full 10 minutes as the raid took place

• they feared an explosion after the digger was set alight next to the petrol pumps

• firefighters and ambulance crews arrived quickly but police waited until 4.30pm, citing the safety of their officers amid a dissident republican threat as the reason.

The police response was criticised by residents and Declan McCabe, owner of the shop on the main street where the crime took place.

_________________

Villagers criticise police over response to cash machine theft

By Diana Rusk
Irish News
6 July 09

RESIDENTS in a Co Fermanagh village had campaigned for years for a cash machine to be erected so that they would not have to drive to the nearest town for easy access to money.

In the early hours of Saturday, however, they watched helplessly as a masked criminal gang tore the machine from a supermarket wall.

Those living next door to the Supervalu shop in Newtownbutler were woken up by the crashing sound of the digger ramming at a wall shortly before 4.30am and immediately rang police.

Instead of officers arriving to catch the criminals red-handed, the callers were told police were “aware of it”.

Ten minutes later the gang had completed their operation, torched a digger which they left burning – yards from petrol pumps – and escaped in a white van with the cash machine containing around £80,000.

Firefighters and two ambulances arrived within 15 minutes but police did not call to the scene until 4.30pm – 12 hours after the first call for help.

Police last night defended their response times, citing dissident republican activity in the area. However, villagers and the owner of the Supervalu shop said they were angry at how police had handled the situation.

One witness living nearby said she was woken by a bang at 4.23am. “We saw them trying to break in at the top of the cash machine,” she said.

“There were three of them, all masked – wearing balaclavas. One was wearing a brown T-shirt and they were all well-built men. They were doing it with a sense of calm and purpose but no rush.

“The whole neighbourhood was watching through the windows.”

The witness said “four to five” calls were made to police from the neighbourhood including one from someone who had seen the gang steal the digger from a nearby play park.

“I rang the police and they put me through to someone who said: ‘Is this at Supervalu at Newtownbutler? We’re already aware of it’,” she said.

“I asked: ‘Are you aware that they have now set fire to the digger and that it is right beside petrol pumps?’

“The fire brigade were here within 15 minutes of making the phone call and there were two ambulances but no police.”

The witness said villagers were angry at the police response “because the whole thing frightened a lot of people”.

CCTV footage shows how the thieves smashed the cash machine out of the wall at the supermarket and dropped it into the back of the getaway vehicle – a white pick-up truck.

The supermarket owner, Declan McCabe, said he was “very concerned” about how police had dealt with the crime.

“When they arrived to see me at 6pm that day, they explained that the delay was because of a bomb alert the previous evening,” he said.

“They were talking about the security threat in the area and that they didn’t want to put police officers in danger.

“But they had umpteen phone calls from residents and then the fire brigade and ambulance arrived on site so there were lots of independent bodies that could confirm this was a genuine emergency.

“I’m paying my rates like everyone else and at the end of the day I am as entitled to a proper response from the PSNI as any other business.

“This sends the wrong message out to criminals.

“We have a big concern that the local community is now at a loss for an ATM because it was the only one in the town.”

The police station in Newtownbutler is one of several rural stations closed down by the PSNI over the last few years.

The district commander, Chief Inspector Graham Dodds, defended his officers’ response to the crime.

“This robbery has been treated as a serious incident from the outset and additional resources were allocated to the investigation,” he said.

“Unfortunately policing in this area is being delivered against the backdrop of a significant threat from dissident republicans so we have to

be cautious in our approach to some crime scenes to ensure officer safety.

“We attended the scene of this crime around 4.30pm as soon as it was deemed safe to do so.”

Mr Dodds also said the theft was an attack on a community resource.

“Those who perpetrated this attack have deprived local residents of the means of withdrawing cash readily and vandalised their local shop and post office premises,” he said.

BBC

Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde has said he is frustrated that the case against Larry Zaitschek collapsed.

Police were planning to bring him to trial over the break-in at police headquarters at Castlereagh in 2002, when special branch files were stolen.

Mr Zaitschek had worked as a chef at the base.

Larry Zaitschek currently lives in the United States

However, last week police said they could not disclose all relevant material and conceded he would not receive a fair trial.

Mr Zaitschek has always denied all the charges against him and denied having anything to do with the break-in.

He has been living in the United States since shortly after the raid.

Sir Hugh Orde said he was disappointed the case against him had to be pulled after seven and half years of investigation.

“There is nothing within my intelligence systems that I was not prepared to release to enable a fair trial to take place,” he said.

“So there’s a clue in that, the issues that arose were outwith my jurisdiction and I will not have my service criticised for something that was out with my responsibility, I think that would be very unfair.”

Embarrassment

The incident at the Castlereagh security base on 17 March 2002, was a huge embarrassment for the police.

Three men walked into what was supposed to be a highly secure room packed full of sensitive security information, tied up a police officer and stole dozens of Special Branch files.

These files included details of Special Branch officers and their agents’ codewords.

Millions of pounds were spent re-housing officers and others, whose security had been compromised.

Mr Zaitschek flew to the US shortly after the break-in, leaving his wife and young son behind.

It is understood that Mr Zaitschek’s wife was in protective custody after the incident and may have been used as one of the key prosecution witnesses.

Breaking News.ie
06/07/2009

Police are today investigating an attack on an Orange Hall that plays a central role in the Order’s July 12 parades in Belfast.

Paint was thrown at the recently renovated Orange Hall at Clifton Street near the city centre.

In a separate incident, sectarian slogans were daubed on an Orange Hall in Rasharkin, Co Antrim.

A spokesman for the Order said: “The Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland has condemned vandalism attacks on two Orange Halls over the weekend.

“Sectarian slogans were daubed on the Orange Hall in the centre of Rasharkin.

“This is the fourth time this year that the hall has been the target for attack.

“Paint was also thrown at the front of Belfast Orange Hall, at Carlisle Circus.

“Extensive work was recently carried out to enhance the appearance of the hall, which is the location for the start of the Belfast Twelfth Parade.”

The attack on the Orange Hall at Clifton Street was reported to police on Friday at 10.30pm and they have appealed for information on the incident.

Ballymoney Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) councillor Audrey Patterson condemned the Rasharkin attack.

“These cowardly attacks have been rightly viewed by the minority community of the village as an assault upon the entire Protestant population,” he said.

“Orange Halls are at the very heart of the community, not just during the marching season but all year round.

“Attacks such as these display the blatant sectarianism of republicans and their hatred for all things associated with loyalism or Protestantism.”

The councillor appealed for anyone with information to contact police.

Belfast Telegraph
6 June 09

Two former members of the security forces in Northern Ireland received death threats from the Real IRA, it was claimed today.

The pair served in the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) and live in mid-Ulster.

Last week DUP South Antrim MP William McCrea also received a safety warning from police.

His son Ian, DUP Assembly member for Mid-Ulster, said: “I have been informed of death threats against two former members of the UDR who have been told that dissident republicans are plotting to kill them.

“These are two brave men who served their country during the worst days of Northern Ireland’s troubled past.

“For these dissident republican criminals to target two innocent men in this manner is an extremely serious state-of-affairs.”

He called for a robust and hard-hitting security response.

“The police need to be given all the support and resources that they need to eliminate the dissident republican threat.

“Furthermore, this latest spate of death threats calls into question the sense or otherwise of removing people’s capacity to protect themselves with a personal protection weapon.”

Earlier this year two soldiers and a policeman were shot dead by dissident republicans.

William McCrea said police passed on the message to his wife at home on Tuesday and he received it from her on Thursday as he had been in Westminster.

He said he would be foolish not to take the danger seriously but attacked the police for bringing the message to his door without an envelope so his wife could see it and failing to contact him directly.

Ian McCrea added: “Growing up in a family where a member was under threat of death and having narrowly escaped an IRA attempt on my life, I know exactly the pain and stress that such threats cause to innocent people.

“I would urge the entire community to co-operate with the police to ensure that the dissident threat is extinguished forever.”

A police spokesman said they do not discuss the security of individuals.