MURDEROUS ATTACKS ON FAMILIES, PARAMEDICS, PRIESTS

Saturday July 20, 2002 10:44

by McMean

There have been a number of lethal and organised attacks by loyalists over the past 24 hours in some of the worst violence of the summer.

Loyalist paramilitaries in north Belfast have spread their
violence to a different nationalist area after mounting an
intense onslaught on Catholic homes last night.

An organised mob stormed over the so-called "peace line" into the
relatively quiet Ligoniel Estate and began attacking Catholic
homes yesterday.

In a brazen assault on an entire community, loyalists jumped over
garden walls to mount attacks at the windows of nationalist
homes.

The crowd attacked the first Catholic homes they came to and
tried to break into some. One house was destroyed in a petrol
bomb attack and windows were broken in nine more.

A couple and their young children had a lucky escape when a
petrol bomb thrown at the children's upstairs bedroom window
exploded against the glass but did not shatter it.

Cars were also wrecked and burnt out in an orchestrated rampage
of violence and destruction. Gunshots were fired in the attack.
It was not clear what the target was and the sound of shots may
have been used as a signal.

Several residents, including a number of children, required
treatment for injuries sustained in the attack on their homes.
Ambulances were called, but even they were attacked by the mob.

PARAMEDICS ALSO INJURED

Two paramedics required hospital treatment themselves after their
vehicle was struck by heavy breeze-blocks.

One ambulance worker was kept in hospital overnight after he
suffered serious head injuries when he was struck by one block,
the ambulance service said.

Another paramedic needed treatment to remove glass fragments from
his eyes after the youths smashed the windows of his vehicle.

An ambulance officer described the attack as attempted murder.

"It's one of the nastiest cases I've ever been involved in 17
years of service," he added.

Two ambulances sent to the scene were directed down a side street
and attacked by a gang of youths.

They came to a standstill and crowds of youths appeared from the
dark and started firing the bricks. One ambulanceman was struck,
but the other managed to drive away to safety.

The first officer suffered serious head injuries and lacerations
from the shattered glass and was being kept in hospital
overnight. The second was treated for glass fragments in his eyes
but was later discharged.

A second ambulance crew also came under attack from the
loyalists. They were treated for shock.

DAYS OF ATTACKS

At another interface in north Belfast, a Catholic man and woman
have been injured in several days of loyalist attacks.

A man and a women were injured when various missiles were hurled
from the loyalist Glenbryn estate into the predominately
nationalist Alliance Avenue.

The windows of several homes were smashed and a car was also
damaged but order was quickly restored.

The man and woman sustained head and facial injuries and were
taken to the Mater hospital.

The trouble started when stones were thrown from the loyalist
Glenbryn estate. Sinn Fein councillor Margaret McClenaghan said
tensions at the flashpoint - the scene of serious violence last
year - have been building up over the last number of weeks.

"It has intensified since Sunday night and it has been non-stop.
Last night's trouble was a brief, but very vicious spell. People
were running for cover from the hail of boulders and bricks," she
said.

"They (loyalists) have been using the roofs of empty houses in
Glenbryn to attack Catholic homes. We have called for the houses
to be blocked up and secured."

The trouble has continued up to today, with no action yet taken
against the loyalists who are raining missiles on Catholics in
Alliance Avenue, including pensioners and children.

McClenaghan has called for the immediate heightening of the
interface fence at the back of houses at Alliance Avenue. The
call came just hours after loyalist petrol bombers from Glenbryn
attacked nationalist homes along the avenue.

"All of these attacks have to stop and stop now," said Margaret,
"the row of houses in the middle of Alliance Avenue have borne
the brunt of loyalist attacks from Glenbryn following the
heightening of the fence further along the street."

The fence should be heightened along the entire interface, said
the councillor, rather than place the lives of young families at
risk.

Meanwhile, the parents of a five-year-old boy whose Alliance
Avenue home was paint bombed on Wednesday said her son is afraid
to sleep in his bedroom.

The child's mother, who asked not to be named, said her home has
been under daily attack from the Glenbryn estate since April.

"I am being treated for an ulcer and my son is being treated for
his nerves and it is all down to these attacks," she said.

The boys father said he had been playing with his son in the back
garden minutes before the attackers struck. Just 24 hours earlier
a house two doors away was hit by a petrol bomb which failed to
ignite.

PRIESTS PETROL-BOMBED

In the early hours of this morning, two Catholic priests escaped
with their lives today [Friday] when they managed to beat out
flames in their burning home after it was petrol bombed.

Four petrol bombs and three canisters of lighter fuel were thrown
through the living room window of the parochial house in
Newcastle, County Down, in an attack described as an "attempted
double murder".

The sound of breaking glass, at around 5 a.m., woke one of the
priests. He roused his colleague and between them they managed to
beat out the flames.

But there was considerable damage to the living room, police
said. Mr McGrady, SDLP MP for South Down, said: "This is a very
vicious and horrifying attack, really it is attempted murder.

"It wasn't just somebody throwing a petrol bomb at the front
door, it was four petrol bombs and canisters of fuel. It was an
attempt to set the Parochial House ablaze with the two good
fathers in it.

"It was a horrendous event, it was really a murder attempt, a
double murder attempt, and must be treated as such."

LEFT FOR DEAD

Meanwhile, a Catholic man who was attacked as he walked home
after celebrating his 37th birthday believes he is lucky to be
alive.

The victim, who did not want to be identified, was targeted by
loyalists at around 1am on Wednesday after leaving a pub close to
an interface on the Oldpark Road.

A four-strong gang, one armed with a baseball bat, jumped him and
dragged him into a deserted cul-de-sac in the loyalist end of the
Oldpark Road. The man was viciously beaten around the head and
body in an attack which he says lasted around 20 minutes. The
gang also attempted to stab him in the stomach.

"They came out of nowhere and trailed me into a cul-de-sac. One
started beating me with a baseball bat around the head while the
others kicked and punched me," he said.

"I shouted 'leave me alone, I didn't do anything' but they
continued to beat me. It got to the stage where I didn't feel
anything.

"One of them panicked when he saw the blood pouring out of me and
shouted 'leave him alone, he's had enough'."

Despite his ordeal the man, who blacked out for a time during the
attack, managed to walk to the nearby Mater hospital, where he
received 35 staples to the head and treatment for severe bruising
to his body.

Recovering at home last night the man, who lives with his
parents, said he was targeted because he was a Catholic.

"They knew rightly I was a Catholic. I thought they were going to
kill me. They knew what they were doing and I feel lucky to be
alive."

His elderly mother, who did not want to be named said: "God
forgive them. They are bullies and scum. They (loyalists) are
trying to start trouble around here. They are driving up and down
in cars picking Catholics out for attack."

Sinn Fein councillor for the area Eoin O Broin also condemned the
attack.

"This incident bears all the hallmarks of a savage sectarian
attack. The man in question is a quiet individual who keeps to
himself and was very lucky to escape with his life," he said.

"We are calling on nationalists in the area to be extra vigilant
especially late at night and keep on the look-out for suspicious
groups of men.

"It is ironic that we discovered about this incident at the same
time senior UDA figures were escorting Tory politicians around
interface areas in north Belfast."

BOMB TARGETS COUNCILLOR'S FAMILY

A Sinn Fein councillor in Co Antrim whose three-year-old son
handled a parcel bomb has said the device was "designed to kill".

Ballymoney borough councillor Philip McGuigan received the
package in the post at his Dunloy home at around 10.45am on
Thursday morning.

His young son picked up the parcel and carried it to his mother
who was holding the couple's three-month-old baby.

The parcel, which was sent to Mr McGuigan but had a fictional
sender's address on the back, was comprised of a video case
containing a battery wired up to a tube.

A controlled explosion was carried on the device after a
three-hour operation.

Mr McGuigan said those responsible for sending it were "clearly
intent on raising tension in the area".

He blamed loyalists for the incident which he said was the latest
in a series of attacks against Catholics in the area.

"I have four young children under the age of nine in the house
and I am just relieved that nothing happened," he said.

He accused the PSNI police as well as unionist and rival
nationalist politicians of adding to tensions in the area through
recent criticisms of Sinn Fein.

Mr McGuigan said he and the nationalist and republican community
in north Antrim had been demonised, allowing "breathing space for
loyalist death squads to operate".

PROTECTION DENIED

But another prominent Sinn Fein councillor today accused a High
Court judge of "wilfully endangering" his life and his family
after refusing him permission to carry a gun for his own
protection.

Mr Justice Kerr dismissed an application from Mr Meehan for a
judicial review of a lifetime ban on being legally armed because
of his past conflict-related convictions.

The republican hit back saying: "He ruled today that I should not
have the right to protect my family.

"This despite the fact that I have been under constant threat and
the victim of numerous loyalist murder bids."

Mr Meehan pointed out that 13 Sinn Fein councillors and numerous
other party colleagues had been murdered over the past years. The
judge's ruling was "an invitation for those involved in this
activity to continue," he said.