June/July 2000 Summary of Sectarian Attacks from The Pat Finucane Centre 2 June Nationalist residents from Derry's Mountjoy Street called publicly for an end to the escalating problem of missiles and sectarian abuse being hurled across the interface from the adjoining loyalist Fountain estate. 4 June A loyalist pipe bomb attack on a family in south Down is believed to have been a sectarian murder attempt. The RUC revealed that the pipe bomb was similar to one found in nearby Clough within the last two months. Loyalists in Portadown dragged a pallet across the road forcing vehicles travelling home from a GAA match to slow down. In one of several incidents a bus driver was injured when a brick was hurled at him, smashing the vehicle's windscreen. A number of passengers were showered with glass during the attack. In another incident, two cars travelling along the same route carrying four women and six children were stoned. One woman from Lurgan said her sister's car was attacked and the windscreen smashed. 5 June Loyalists attacked a Catholic taxi driver as he drove down Corcrain Road in Portadown. Ulster Unionist MP and former UDR officer Ken Maginnis was struck in the head with a beer can as he was eating out in a restaurant in Dungannon, Co Tyrone. It is not known whether the motive for the assault was sectarian. 6 June Republican sources reported that a nationalist resident of the County Down town of Ballynahinch came close to serious injury when a loyalist held a broken cider bottle to her face. "You're lucky you're a fuckin' woman", he was reported as saying as he held her by the throat. The incident happened the previous Friday, 26 May, at 11.45pm, when a drunken loyalist mob rampaged through the town. One loyalist smashed the windscreen of the woman's car and then danced on the bonnet. She was later followed home. When she phoned the RUC to report this they took 25 minutes to arrive. Two days later the woman recognised the same gang harassing a young nationalist man in the town. The incidents come amid accusations of the RUC turning a blind eye to loyalist intimidation. The coroner for Greater Belfast decided not to hold an inquest into the death of Portadown man Robert Hamill out of concern for the safety of witnesses. Robert Hamill died in Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital in 1997 from injuries sustained when he was attacked in Portadown by a loyalist mob while the RUC looked on. International visitors touring the north of Ireland were the victims of a sectarian attack when their vehicles were destroyed by fire in the early hours of the morning. The backpacking tourists were evacuated from their hostel when three minibuses and a car parked outside were set alight. All four vehicles carried southern Irish registrations. The tourists from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the United States were staying overnight at the Linen House Hostel in Kent Street, close to the loyalist Shankill Road. Around 150 guests were evacuated to the nearby Catholic parochial hall where they stayed for 30 minutes while the blaze was brought under control. A Free Presbyterian protest led by Ian Paisley jeered Irish President Mary McAleese as she went to attend the inauguration of the new Presbyterian moderator at Church House in Belfast. Mr Paisley also voiced anger that the Presbyterian Church had joined the World Council of Churches, of which the Catholic Church is a member. 6 June Arsonists set fire to St Malachy's Catholic Church on the Ormeau Road in Belfast. The attack is believed to have been sectarian. Loyalist John Peter Killen was jailed for six months for threatening to kill a Catholic employee at a TESCO supermarket in Belfast. Three men surrounded the employee and held a knife to him while threatening to kill him. 7 June St John's Catholic Church in Portadown, scene of a cross-community concert a week previously, was set on fire by arsonists The attack is believed to have been sectarian. 8 June A Catholic woman and her 20-month-old baby escaped with their lives after loyalists threw a pipe bomb at their home in Annalong, South Down. 12 June The British government announced that no action would be taken against a British army officer who unfurled an Orange Order flag while a regimental photograph was being taken. Armed Forces Minister John Spellar said in a written Commons statement that military police had completed their investigation into the incident last summer, involving a Major in the 8th battalion of the Royal Irish Regiment at Armagh's Drumadd Barracks. The photograph, picturing 60 uniformed Royal Irish Regiment members with an Orange Order banner, was taken on 12 July 1999, shortly after the army had been supporting the security operation in Portadown, County Armagh. The soldiers, whose regiment was formerly known as the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR), were holding a banner which appeared to read: "Drumcree: Here we stand, we can do no other. For religious and civil liberty." Mr Spellar said the circumstances in which photos were taken could be "misinterpreted". Arsonists set fire to St Mary's Catholic Church in Cushendall, Co Antrim. In Ahoghill, County Antrim two Catholic primary schools, St Mary's and St Joseph's were also set on fire. All three attacks are thought to have been sectarian. 14 June Garfield Gilmour, the loyalist who a week previously had his conviction for the murder of the three Quinn brothers overturned, was given 14 years for their manslaughter. Jason (7), Mark (9), and Richard Quinn (10) were murdered in a UVF firebomb attack on their home in Ballymoney on 12 July 1998. The three boys were killed at the height of the stand-off by Orangemen at Drumcree hill in Portadown. None of the other three loyalists known to have carried out the attack with Gilmour have been arrested. Taking into account time already served and 50% remission for good behaviour, Gilmour is expected to be released in 2005. British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Peter Mandelson, refused to answer questions tabled in the House of Commons about RUC officers intimidating and threatening people being brought into custody. The questions follow the jailing, for the first time ever, of two RUC officers for the assault and sectarian abuse of an innocent man they had taken into custody. The RUC men had also threatened to have the man shot by the LVF. Three live bullets were found by the thirteen-year-old girl in Derry after the RUC had called at her family home on the Creggan estate. 16 June Catholic workers employed by Denny’s food processing plant in Portadown downed tools after placards carrying sectarian slogans were erected adjacent to the main factory entrance. The placards, measuring eight feet by four, carried offensive slogans referring to the murder of local Catholic Robert Hamill, as well as other slogans such as "PARAS - SHOOT TO KILL" (a reference to Bloody Sunday). They were later removed as a result of the workers'; actions. Denny's factory is located between the loyalist Edgarstown estate and the nationalist Obins Street area, and is only 100 yards from the family home of Robert Hamill. Over the previous week there were a number of incidents where loyalist gangs had thrown missiles at Catholics leaving the factory. Also in Portadown a Catholic owned taxi was attacked by a loyalist mob at 9.00pm. The taxi was driving along Corcrain Road when the gang struck, showering the vehicle with missiles. The driver narrowly escaped injury when a brick smashed through the vehicle’s front windscreen. Loyalists throwing stones and wielding baseball bats attacked cars taking people to Mass in Clonard, north Belfast. A leading west Belfast republican won a judicial review to force the RUC to explain why they refused to show him the photograph of himself that had been leaked to loyalists. 17 June For the third night in succession loyalist gangs threw fireworks at Catholic homes in Obins Drive and Obins Avenue in Portadown. Residents are said to be afraid that the next explosion may be caused by a loyalist pipe-bomb. In June of last year a 65 year-old grandmother, Elizabeth O’Neill, was murdered when loyalists threw a pipe bomb through the window of her Portadown home. Loyalist paramilitaries in north Belfast placed paramilitary flags and banners around nationalist estates as the contentious Tour of the North parade took place. 19 June The Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF - nom de guerre of the UDA) made a statement pledging to break its ceasefire and shoot Catholics "if attacks on Protestant homes continue". The statement, believed to come from the Shankill Road UDA, went on to accuse Catholics of the ethnic cleansing of Protestant areas. In response the Northern Ireland Housing Executive took the unusual step of releasing a statement saying that it had no record of any Protestants being intimidated out of their homes in the previous month. It had, however, had to re-house 21 Catholic families because of intimidation by loyalists in the same period. Tensions continued to rise at the interface between the Shankill Road and the Springfield Road, scene of a planned contentious parade by the Orange Order on June 24, as missiles were thrown across the interface at nationalists on a nightly basis. The UDA is believed to be behind a campaign of organised intimidation which has seen the numbers of Catholics families living in the Greymount area of north Belfast drop from 100 to only 12 in recent years. Johnny Adair, leader of the Shankill Road UDA, recently featured on a TV documentary probing alleged drugs rackets in loyalist areas of West Belfast. There are believed to be power struggles within the UDA/UFF as well as between it and rival loyalist paramilitary grouping, the UVF. Adair is said to be keen to fill the vacuum on the loyalist far-right left by the murder of Portadown LVF commander Billy Wright. Adair has pledged support for the Orangemen at Drumcree in Portadown. He is said to be building up links with the LVF as well as "respectable" people within Orangeism and Unionism in Portadown. Loyalists in Whiteabbey, north Belfast, attacked the Jordanstown Inn, a nationalist public house. Several of the customers needed hospital treatment. 20 June Arsonists set fire to St Coleman's Catholic Church in Greenisland, Co Antrim. 21 June Open confrontation between nationalists and loyalists following incursions by loyalists on the nationalist Springfield road in Belfast resulted in three RUC officers being injured. It is strongly suspected that the UDA is behind the incursions. Politicians of almost every hue agreed that the recent UFF/UDA threats to kill Catholics had heightened tensions locally. 22 June After negotiations between residents on both sides of the interface, the gates in the 'peaceline' at Lanark Way on the Springfield Road were opened. They had to be shut again after incursions by loyalists the same evening. Loyalist threats prevented a builder from completing vital defensive work at a notorious sectarian flashpoint in Portadown, and at another point on the edge of the Garvaghy Road area vulnerable to attack. The contractor was to have removed a bridge that has provided a vantage point for loyalist snipers, bombers and stone-throwers in past years. The contractor was also due to reinforce a defensive wall at the end of a Catholic street in the same area. The LVF issued a death threat and the work ceased, leaving the nationalist community vulnerable in advance of this year's threatened violence. 24 June Men dressed in paramilitary regalia and brandishing UVF and UFF/UDA flags were filmed marching ahead of a flute band during the controversial Orange march on the nationalist end of the Springfield Road in Belfast. Participants, organisers of the march, unionist representatives and RUC officers all initially denied seeing the offending display which was a blatant breach of the Parades' Commission guidelines on marches. This came only days after the UFF/UDA had issued its threat to kill Catholics. Springfield Road Residents had earlier clashed with the RUC when loyalists played sectarian tunes over a tannoy system as the marchers prepared to cross the peace line onto the nationalist side. This was also in breach of the Parades Commission guidelines. There were minor scuffles between nationalist residents and representatives and the RUC as the offending section of the march passed. Three Sinn Féin representatives were injured by RUC batons. 26 June The nationalist Circus Bar, on the Antrim Road in north Belfast, was badly damaged in a fire blamed on loyalist paramilitaries. The UFF/UDA had previously threatened Catholic businesses in the area with "further action" if loyalist flags were tampered with. 27 June The Deputy Lord Mayor of Belfast, Frank McCoubrey, received a death threat which he claimed came from republicans. Councillor McCoubrey of the UDP, the political party closely associated with the UFF/UDA, cancelled all public engagements. Michael Brown of Sinn Féin said it was unlikely the threat came from the IRA, as there had been no suggestion of a breach in the IRA's cease-fire. Mr Brown expressed "empathy" for Mr McCoubrey's "unenviable position, a position many Sinn Fein members had found themselves in in recent months." Mr McCoubrey had been present at the contentious Orange Order parade on the nationalist Springfield Road on 24 June when a UFF banner had been carried by men in paramilitary uniform. An IRA man is reported to have fired on loyalists with an automatic rifle after two incursions by loyalists into the St James area in west Belfast. The incident happened after locals chased a group of loyalist men back to their cars in a TESCO car park after they had been seen damaging cars and houses with golf clubs and sticks. The IRA man is said to have opened fire after one of the loyalists fired on his pursuers with a handgun. No one is believed to have been injured. The Parades' Commission criticised the Orange Order for raising sectarian tensions around the Garvaghy Road in Portadown and throughout the north by filing for a new parade along the controversial route just a week before the main parade on 9 July. 29 June Loyalist paramilitaries were blamed for the arson attack at St Oliver Plunkett's GAA club in Clady, Co Derry. Two south Derry GAA officials received death threats from a loyalist group calling itself the Orange Volunteers. The same group clamed responsibility for the death of GAA man Sean Brown and boasted they were recruiting extensively among members of the Orange Order. Tourists trying to escape the 12th by going on holiday in Spain were shocked to find a Benidorm pub bedecked with loyalist slogans and regalia. Tiles at the front door of the Golden Last Bar spell out the words '36th Ulster Division', a reference to the UVF, and the UFF/UDA slogan 'Simply the Best'. "Its more like the Costa Balaclava than the Costa Brava or Blanca" said one of the tourists. 30 June The UFF (cover name for the UDA) painted a new mural on the Shankill road celebrating some of its massacres. Above the legend 'Wouldn't it be great if it were like this all the time?' five vignettes celebrate the massacres at the Rising Sun Bar in Greysteel, Sean Graham’s bookmakers on the Ormeau Road, James Murray's bookmakers, the Devenish arms and Kennedy Way council depot. The Red Hand Defenders, the group which claimed responsibility for the murder of Rosemary Nelson, and believed to be another front for the UDA, issued death threats to staff at a community centre in north Lurgan. 8 July 2.30am. Loyalists playing flutes and bagpipes on Carlisle Road in Derry attempted to block a taxi driver's path as he went to pick up a fare. One went to throw a bottle at the car but was stopped by one of the others. It was claimed that two carloads of loyalists attempted to gain entry to a nationalist home on the Cavan Road in Castlederg, Co Tyrone. They were frightened off because the adjacent road was too busy. 8/9 July Two Catholic primary schools and an integrated college were targeted by arsonists overnight. The attacks in Glengormley and Carrickfergus are believed to have been sectarian. Two Catholic men escaped with their lives in Ardoyne when loyalists attempted to open fire on them. A car slowed down alongside the two men and a back-seat passenger wearing a balaclava pulled a gun and tried to fire but it jammed. One man dived to the ground while the other jumped over a wall. The car then reversed back up and the gunman tried to fire again twice. The gun jammed both times. Loyalists attacked the house of a Protestant woman in Newbuildings in Derry after a Drumcree-related protest nearby. The woman works for the Community Police Liaison Forum. 9 July According to press reports the RUC warned that the UFF/UDA, together with the LVF, have threatened to "kill a Catholic a day" until the Orange Order is allowed down the Garvaghy Road. A petrol bomb was thrown into a garden at Lurgan hospital. The device, which failed to ignite, landed just yards from a hospital ward where stroke victims and respite patients are cared for. The RUC linked the attack to disturbances on the nearby loyalist Mourneview estate. 10 July Most areas of the north were affected by protests and roadblocks, which began at 4.00pm and blocked many arterial roads and major junctions. The protests were supposed to finish at 8.00pm, but in some cases the protests and obstructions remained, while in others riots soon developed. In all 125 roads were blocked. The RUC pushed 300 protesters back up the Albert Bridge Road when they tried to enter the nationalist Short Strand area of Belfast. In Limavady a man was knocked to the ground and beaten by a group of loyalists when he got out of his car and attempted to remove a seemingly unattended roadblock. The man and his family were on their way to the wake of a close relative. In Ballynure, Co Antrim, the RUC deployed a water cannon to clear protesters but didn't use it. In Rathgael, near Bangor, Co Down, a young woman driver was left badly shaken when a mob surrounded her car. One man jumped on the bonnet. The RUC found component parts for blast bombs in Greenisland, Co Antrim. Cars were hijacked and set on fire in many areas including Newtownards, Lurgan, Dunmurry, Derry, Craigavon, Belfast and Antrim. In the centre of Lurgan a crowd of about 200 loyalists gathered at the war memorial in the nationalist end of the town and confrontation threatened as nationalists gathered in the William Street area. The RUC pushed the loyalists back towards High Street. Even in areas not directly affected by the protests shops and businesses closed early to ensure that workers got home safely. Rush hour began before 3.00pm and by 4.00pm the roads were already deserted. In Belfast the Chamber of Trade advised its members to close by 3.00pm. Mr Frank Caddy, Chief Executive of the chamber, said: "We don't need to lose this sort of turnover which must amount to several hundred thousand pounds in the loss of two or three hours of trade." With the exception of nationalist west Belfast almost every main road in the city had at least one obstruction. At Carlisle Circus, on the main route into north Belfast, loyalist leader Johnny Adair was present. Other major junctions, such as Shaftesbury Square, Broadway roundabout and the Albert Bridge Road, were blocked. Antrim town, Newtownabbey, Carrickfergus, Ballyclare, Ahoghill and Ballymena were affected by protests. A car driven by SDLP councillor Oran Keenan was hijacked and overturned in Antrim. In counties Down and Armagh, roads in Lurgan, Portadown, Tandragee, Castlewellan and Markethill were blocked. The M1 motorway was blocked at Sprucefield, Donaghmore and Dungannon. Roads in Ballynahinch, Newtownards, Annalong, Comber, Downpatrick, Carryduff, Killyleagh, Moira and Newry were also affected. The A1 road to Dublin was blocked at Dromore. Many roads in the Waterside area of Derry were blocked. There were protests on Milltown Crescent, Ardmore Road and Limavady Road and, for a very short period, on the upper deck of the Craigavon Bridge. Magherafelt was also affected. The Ballygawley roundabout on the main road from Belfast to the West was blocked, as were roads in Moygashel, Omagh and Aughnacloy. The nationalist Lower Ormeau Road was hemmed in for several hours and on the peace-line between the Falls and Shankill Roads there were a number of incidents in the Northumberland St area. A car was hijacked and abandoned on a motorway bridge at Fortwilliam, north Belfast, forcing the closure of the M2, M3 and M5. Independent Unionist Councillor Andrew Davidson was forced to drive through a red light after his car was attacked by loyalists at the Woodburn crossroads in the Waterside area of Derry. A crowd of about 15-20 youths, some wearing scarves over their faces, had blocked the road, and a number of the protesters jumped on to the councillor's car as he attempted to pass. Bomb disposal officers were called to deal with suspected pipe bombs in Newtownabbey. The RUC recovered 32 petrol bombs in Thorburn Road in the same area. Orangemen from Portadown and from the Ballynafeigh Lodge in south Belfast picketed the Parades Commission office in Belfast. Some of those who had participated in the demonstration disrupted traffic on the M1 afterwards, moving slowly along in a convoy of 20 vehicles. Earlier there had been a hoax bomb alert outside the home of a member of the Parade's Commission. Loyalist gunmen attacked a Catholic-owned taxi in Glenmachan Street in Belfast. Those in the car escaped serious injury when the driver and passengers ducked and the driver swerved to avoid the gunmen who had been trying to stop it by holding up their hands and pointing a gun at the car. The passenger in the rear of the car suffered minor injuries when a brick was thrown through the back window as the car sped away. Two Catholic churches, one in Castlederg and one in Newtownabbey, were set on fire. The home of a Catholic priest in Brunswick Road, Bangor was attacked by approximately 150 loyalist protesters. His church, St Comgall's, was also attacked and two windows in the building were broken. The same protesters also stoned businesses in what is a mixed area of the predominantly Protestant town. Car show rooms in Coleraine and Banbridge were set on fire. Cars were hijacked and set on fire in Derry's Waterside. One driver had their rear window put through as they sped away from would-be hijackers. Two Danish tourists described the situation here as "more like Bosnia" after they were stopped at a loyalist roadblock on the Killyleagh to Armagh road. They complained that the RUC had refused to help them. Sam McAllister, convicted murderer and member of the notorious UVF Shankill Butchers gang, was hospitalised after being badly beaten by suspected members of the UDA/UFF in Lisburn. The attack is seen as being part of the escalating feud within loyalism. Five men appeared before Craigavon Magistrates' Court charged with having petrol bombs and wearing masks on Monday night. 11 July Portadown was described as "a vacant lot" minutes after a group of 150 men, without weapons or masks, walked into shops and told them "you're closed". A crowd of about 200 loyalists tried to enter the bottom end of the Garvaghy Road at Shillington's Bridge but were pushed back by the RUC. At the same time a similar sized crowd gathered at the St John's Church at the upper end of the Garvaghy Road and were also held back by the RUC. In nearby Lurgan a group of 50 Loyalists blocked the upper end of High Street. Businesses throughout the north of Ireland closed early as staff rushed home to avoid roadblocks. RUC Chief Superintendent Roy McCune defended the loyalist protester's right to block roads, saying that people had a "legitimate right" to protest on roads. Six lorries and a storage unit were damaged in an arson attack at a mushroom factory near Dungannon at around 12.45am. A Dungannon restaurant was badly damaged in a petrol bomb attack at around 6.30am and a tyre depot in Armagh was hit by a similar attack just after 5.00am. Petrol bombs were hurled at a Catholic Church at Doagh Road in Ballyclare, causing scorch damage to a hall adjacent to the Church. One person was arrested after the attack. A man was badly beaten by a mob and then shot dead at an eleventh night bonfire in Larne. The man, 22-year-old Andy Cairns, alleged to have been a member of the UVF, is believed to have been killed by the UFF/UDA. Minor damage was caused in a suspected arson attack at the Presbyterian Church Hall at Drumgor, Craigavon. The building was extensively damaged in a similar attack some weeks ago. A woman and her six-year-old child escaped uninjured after a brick was dropped from a bridge in the loyalist Finaghy Road North area through the windscreen of their car. A Belfast man was threatened by the RUC with criminal charges for driving on to a footpath to escape a loyalist roadblock in Ballynahinch. The man has vowed to go to jail rather than pay a fine over the incident. In Bushmills, Co Antrim, a lorry was hijacked and set on fire. There were security alerts at Orange halls in Dungannon, Armagh, Moira, Lurgan and Magheralin. A small explosive device was thrown from a car into a pub in the nationalist village of Dunloy, Co Antrim and another was discovered in the grounds of an Ancient Order of Hibernians' hall in Rasharkin. Both failed to explode and were removed by the security forces. Petrol bombs were thrown at an Orange hall in Aghalee, Co Antrim. Three Apprentice Boys who were in the building at the time were taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation. The building also houses a Church of Ireland hall. Seven shots were fired at an RUC vehicle in Belfast. There was an alert at Dungannon premises belonging to Mr Joel Patten, a former leading Orangeman closely linked to the Spirit of Drumcree faction. An arson attack by loyalists on Dromachose Cross-Community Association in Limavady caused extensive damage. Protestants living in the Fountain estate in Derry had their homes pelted with stones thrown by nationalist youths, some as young as seven. On one occasion youths also fired an air gun at a young girl who was in her bedroom doing her homework. St Patrick's Catholic Primary school in Portrush was set on fire. At the same time a number of petrol bombs were thrown at the RUC in the town. The RUC arrested three young men for allegedly spraying republican graffiti on a gable wall in a mixed estate in Newtownabbey. At the same time the RUC were criticised for their inaction over car hijackings by loyalists in the area. Residents in Castlederg, Co Tyrone, claimed that a loyalist band was allowed to ignore a Parades Commission ruling that prohibited it from marching in an area of the town. The band had been prohibited from marching along Ferguson Crescent in the town but was allowed by the RUC to pass along a footpath through the area. The chairman of Strabane District Council, Charlie McHugh, claims that when nationalist residents protested to the RUC they were told that they [RUC] and not the Parades Commission would make decisions on the ground. The Parades Commission said that while using the pavement instead of the road "may not be in breach of the letter of the determination it was definitely a breach of the spirit of it." Nationalists in Dundrum, near Castlewellan, were besieged by loyalists during the 11th night bonfire. 'Revellers' urinated in people's gardens, blocked entrances and chanted sectarian slogans late into the night. Two people were injured in stabbing incidents at an 11th night bonfire in the Cregagh area of east Belfast. Loyalists from the Shankill road area held an 11th night disco, just across the peace-line from the nationalist Springfield road. At the disco sectarian tunes were played and the DJ was heard shouting, "Stand up if you hate the Fenians". Later, after the bonfire had been lit, they stood up on pallets at the peace line itself and threw missiles at nationalist homes on the Springfield Road. The RUC, it was claimed, looked on from their landrovers. The bombardment carried on until 8.00am when the RUC arrived on the Springfield Road side to clear the way for the Orange parade. During the night 21 RUC officers were injured during disturbances in the Corcrain and Edgarstown areas of Portadown. A number of plastic bullets were fired by the RUC. More than 100 petrol bombs were thrown at security forces in the Lincoln Courts and Tullyally areas of Derry it was claimed. A Catholic Church in Ballyclare was petrol bombed for the second night running, with only minimal damage being caused. In Belfast an ambulance crew was attacked at Forth River Drive. Two crewmembers needed hospital treatment. An ambulance crew was also attacked in Nelson Drive in Derry as it attended to a man that had suffered an epileptic fit. A woman was injured by a crossbow bolt as she drove along the Crumlin Road in Belfast. Gunfire was reported in the Rathcoole and Newtownabbey areas of Belfast and the Kilcooley estate in Bangor. Masked loyalists fired shots at bonfires in Sandy Row and the Shankill Road. The single mother of a disabled child described her terror as her home in Magherafelt was attacked by Loyalists. The mother of six had been living in the Protestant Leckagh Drive area of the town for only two weeks as renovations were carried out on her own home to make it more suitable for her disabled child. A Catholic-owned house was badly damaged in a petrol bomb attack on the Newry Road in Armagh. 12 July RUC officers were assaulted and threatened with a sword as they attempted to stop Orange marchers from urinating in a street in the centre of Belfast. Four men, including one in his 70s, were injured when stone throwing youths attacked their bus as they travelled back from the county Orange Order parade in Coleraine, Co Derry, to Co Donegal in the Republic. The attack, in which the windscreen and a side window of the bus were smashed, took place at Prehen, outside Derry. Later, another bus travelling to Newbuildings was attacked at the same spot. 13 July An Orange hall in Co.Cavan, in the Republic of Ireland, was gutted in a fire. More Catholics are being forced to flee their homes in Randalstown in County Antrim because of sectarian attacks. While there had been quite a few Catholics living in the Neilsbrook estate, there are now said to be only ten families left. The situation is said to have become so bad for those remaining in the Neilsbrook estate that they are unable to use public amenities. Two years ago UVF and LVF paramilitaries started to put flags and murals up around the estate. The community centre is now said to be completely out of bounds for Catholics. Walls are adorned with sectarian plaques and park benches are daubed with the letters "K.A.T" meaning "Kill All Taigs". SDLP representatives in Castledawson, Co Derry, called for more RUC action after three Catholic-owned homes were attacked in the town. Portadown Orangeman Ivan Hewitt, who sports numerous tattoos featuring swastikas and other neo-nazi and white power emblems warned in a television documentary that it may be time for loyalists to "bring their war to Britain." An Anti Fascist Action spokesperson said the documentary showed a "definite link" between British neo-nazi organisations and loyalists. There have already between numerous reports of members of various British extreme right-wing organisations attending Drumcree related protests. 14 July A 50 strong gang of loyalists broke away from the main pro-Drumcree protest in Finaghy, north Belfast, and attacked the nearby nationalist Grangeville area. The RUC, who were only 50 yards away at the time, did not intervene for some thirty minutes. In that time the loyalists blocked streets, abused residents and attempted to hijack two cars. Three Catholic families have been intimidated out of their homes in the Lisburn Road area of Belfast. In West Belfast a Stewartstown Road pensioner escaped injury after the latest of numerous attacks on his home by stone throwing loyalists from the nearby Suffolk estate. The man who is one of several pensioners to have suffered stone and brick throwing attacks over the last few weeks, had his living room window smashed by a brick, which landed on the seat where he sits to watch television. Portadown Orangemen's calls for another day of widespread protest went unheeded as the Armagh and Grand Lodges refused to support their calls. Shops and businesses across the north remained open and only a handful of roads were blocked for a short period, including Black's Road, Crumlin Road, Ballysillan Road, Westland Road and Oldpark Road in Belfast. Most of the arterial routes in the city were unaffected. Short protests were also staged on the Dublin Road in Antrim, the Albert Road in Carrickfergus and the Ballygawley roundabout in Co Tyrone. There were pickets at several areas in Portadown, but no more than 200 protesters were involved in total. The steel security barrier at Drumcree was dismantled and many of the extra troops deployed there returned to barracks. Saturday 15 July A Catholic man narrowly escaped injury when a bomb exploded as he got into his car outside his home in Castlewellan, Co Down, shortly before 9.00am. The attack is believed to have been sectarian. An Orange Hall at Brackey, Co Tyrone, was badly damaged in an arson attack. The attackers bored a hole in the roof of the building and poured flammable liquid through. Sunday 16 July A quantity of bomb-making equipment was found by the RUC in a loyalist area of Larne. The RUC found a sub-machine gun and 90 rounds of ammunition, along with three replica weapons and two balaclavas, in the loyalist Mourneview area of Lurgan. No one was arrested at the scene. Monday 17 July Three men and a woman were remanded in custody at Ballymena Magistrates Court on charges relating to the killing of Larne loyalist Andrew Cairns on 11 July. It was later reported that one of those charged is secretary of the Larne branch of the Ulster Democratic Party which is allied to the paramilitary Ulster Defence Association. Four men from Derry were fined £50 each on charges relating to a riot in the Lincoln Courts area in support of the Drumcree protests. The Catholic Church of our Lady at Harryville in Ballymena, scene of long running loyalist pickets, was badly damaged in an arson attack Tuesday 18 July It was reported that the RUC had identified a further 80 people involved in Drumcree related protests from photographic and video evidence and that there were plans to arrest and charge those identified. A Catholic father of four who was intimidated out of his home in the Leckagh Drive area of Magherafelt blamed the RUC for the delay in getting him re-housed, claiming that their failure to produce a vital report was the main cause of the delay. An Orange Hall on the Crumlin Road in Belfast was gutted in an early morning arson attack. Although the attack was initially believed to have been sectarian later reports suggested that the attack may have been linked to the ongoing loyalist feud. Four men were remanded in custody at Armagh Magistrate's Court in connection with a petrol bomb attack on a Catholic-owned home on 11 July. Five masked men hijacked a van in the village of Castledawson, Co Derry, only to abandon it a short distance away. Local people claim the incident was the work of loyalists. Wednesday 19 July It was reported that the UDA/UFF in the north west had endorsed the Belfast leadership's threat to return to violence and threatened to carry out similar action. Three more people appeared in court in Larne charged in connection with the 11th night killing of local loyalist Andrew Cairns. The Parades Commission ruled that a loyal order parade planned for Saturday in Castlederg, Co Tyrone, must stay away from nationalist areas. A similar parade caused controversy last week when the RUC allowed the bands to 'walk' through the nationalist Ferguson Crescent. A number of classrooms were damaged in an arson attack on a Catholic school in Larne. St Patrick's College on the Broughshane Road was attacked shortly after 1.00am. A Catholic family escaped injury when a petrol bomb was thrown at their home in the mainly Protestant Lettercreeve Estate in Ballymena. Thursday 20 July Antrim SDLP Councillor Oran Keenan rejected claims that he drove through a loyalist roadblock (see last week's list of sectarian attacks) as part of an electoral publicity stunt. The claims were made by Jim Sands, best known as the source for many of the claims made by Sean McPhilemy in his book The Committee. A Catholic woman from the Markets area of Belfast was told by the RUC that her personal details were known to be in the hands of loyalists. She said she was not told why there was a file kept on her, or how loyalists had got hold of it, and criticised the RUC for not doing enough to retrieve her file. A Catholic man from the Markets area of Belfast who has never been arrested or involved in any way in politics was told by the RUC that a file containing his personal details was in the hands of loyalist paramilitaries. The RUC would not reveal which organisation had the file or the nature or extent of the information contained. As with other similar cases the RUC refused to divulge how they came to know that the missing file was in the hands of a loyalist organisation. Friday 21 July A 21-year-old Portadown man was fined £200 for riotous behaviour relating to violence in Portadown on 11 July. A Catholic secondary school in Ballynahinch was attacked by arsonists in the early hours of the morning. St Colman's High School received only slight scorch damage, but a school mini-bus parked in the grounds was more seriously damaged. Noel McCready and Stephen McClean, convicted of the Poyntzpass murders, appeared in court with three other men charged with attempting to murder a man who objected to them removing UVF flags while on pre-release home leave. They were remanded in custody amid appeals for their planned early release to be halted. It was reported that the Mormon Church of Jesus Christ and the Latter Day Saints on the Old Cavehill Road in Belfast has been subjected to vandalism costing £8000 since the beginning of July. It is not known who the perpetrators are, or whether or not the attacks are in any way sectarian. Portadown Orangemen vowed to continue their protests, with more marches and pickets planned for the coming weeks.
