(Forwarded) ____________________________________________________________________ LOYALISTS AND FASCISTS LOBBY DOWNING ST ____________________________________________________________________ 9th September 2000 http://www.redaction.org/news/sept_2000.html#09_09_00 Armed with full colour glossy posters of their hero, the campaign for the release of UDA/UFF death squad leader, Johnny Adair, found its way to Westminster this afternoon. The posters carried by UDA supporters outside the gates of Downing Street bore the slogans, "VICTIMISATION ? Free Johnny Adair Now? His only crime is Loyalism." Adair's wife, Gina, accompanied by two other loyalists (one of whom looked suspiciously like the convicted gunrunner, Frank Portinari) handed in a petition calling for her husband's immediate release from prison. Johnny Adair was re-arrested and imprisoned during the recent loyalist feud at the behest of Northern Ireland Secretary, Peter Mandelson, on the grounds that he was directing a campaign of terror against his rivals in the UVF. Thomas Potts, an Ulsterman billed as the "Loyalist Protest Leader", was interviewed by Sky News. Mr Potts said, "Johnny Adair is 100% behind the Good Friday Agreement and surely he should be released to continue the work that he has started." Perhaps sensing that not all in the north of Ireland share Potts' estimation of Johnny as a peacemaker, the Sky reporter replied that, "Mr. Mandelson would argue that he was fomenting violence; that he was provoking the violence." Potts' chilling retort was, "Prove it. Present the evidence to that case." One other curious aspect of the lobby was the protesters themselves. Clearly, it was a tiny minority of the placard carriers who had made the journey from Ireland. The rest were a motley collection of men wearing England baseball-caps in an effort to hide their faces and a crew of skinheads from the National Front. As well as Frank Portinari, another convicted loyalist gunrunner and leading NF member, Terry Blackham, was pictured by Sky News wearing the UDA T-Shirt favoured by Adair and those who marched with him recently at Drumcree. It bore the slogan, "Simply The Best? UDA? Their only crime is Loyalism." ++++++++++++++++++ RED ACTION BM Box 37 London WC1N 3XX E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.redaction.org/ - Saturday, 9 September 2000 -
