'You're dead you Fenian bastards'

national | miscellaneous | news report Thursday July 25, 2002 17:06 by McMean

A Catholic teenager was shot dead, a Catholic man was seriously injured and a number of other Catholics narrowly escaped death in five separate shooting incidents. Two Catholic men were viciously beaten and stabbed.

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A Catholic woman and her children were almost burnt alive when
the car they were travelling was set alight. Two Catholic
brothers lost everything when their home was engulfed during a
petrol bomb attack.

In the last three months, there have been 363 attacks against
Catholics. In other words, on average there have been four
sectarian attacks against Catholics every day since May. There
have been 144 bomb attacks, 25 shooting incidents, 151 homes
damaged, 42 people assaulted and one killing.

In Belfast, the escalation of loyalist violence continued last
week with loyalist paramilitaries particularly targeting
vulnerable nationalist areas in the North of the city.

In Ardoyne, four days of sustained loyalist attack on Catholic
homes in Alliance Avenue began around 5.30pm on Wednesday, 17
July. For almost six hours, Catholic homes were attacked with
bricks and bottles, paint and petrol bombs.

The home of one young Catholic family was paint bombed 17 times
on Wednesday night alone. Gerard Russell said he was afraid to
let his five-year-old son step outside the door.

"Ever since the loyalist blockade of Holy Cross primary school we
have been living in fear but the last few days have been a
complete nightmare," he said.

Two Catholic men were viciously beaten by a loyalist mob in the
Oldpark area of North Belfast. A 37-year-old North Belfast
Catholic was attacked by a loyalist gang as he walked home around
midnight on Wednesday.

The man, who had been celebrating his birthday, was dragged into
a deserted cul-de-sac in the loyalist end of the Oldpark Road and
viciously beaten.

"They knew I was a Catholic. I thought they were going to kill
me. I feel lucky to be alive," he said.

In a sustained sectarian attack, the loyalist gang of four beat
their victim with a baseball bat and tried to stab him in the
stomach. The victim, who was left bleeding and unconscious,
required 35 staples to his head at the nearby Mater Hospital.

Within hours of the attack, a loyalist gang in the Oldpark Road
area attacked a second Catholic man. The father of three was
attacked around 2am in the early hours of Thursday morning as he
walked with a friend along Rosapenna Street, a predominantly
Catholic area of the Oldpark Road.

The victim said a car carrying four men drew up and two of the
passengers got out. One of the assailants said, "You're dead you
Fenian bastards". The man was stabbed in the right upper arm. The
gaping eight-inch wounded required emergency surgery. "If they,re
driving around in cars with knives then they're intent on doing
one thing and one thing only," he said.

Later that day, a Catholic mother and her three young children
were trapped in their burning car after the vehicle was attacked
by a 60-strong loyalist mob.

It was 11pm on Thursday night when Pauline Moore was driving on
the Upper Crumlin Road. In the car were her three children,
twelve-year-old Paula, Joseph (11) and Mark (6). "There was no
rioting, there was hardly another car on the road, they just saw
the car and attacked it," said Pauline. The windscreen was
smashed and the vehicle pelted with petrol bombs.

"The car was on fire and I was shouting to the children to get
down. All I could think about was the three Quinn children. I
didn't want the same thing to happen to my children. They wanted
to kill us. We could have burnt to death in that car," she said.

Richard (10) Mark (9) and eight-year-old Jason Quinn were burnt
alive after loyalists petrol bombed their Ballymoney home at the
height of the Drumcree protest in 1998.

The attack on the Moore family occurred as loyalists
simultaneously targeted Catholic homes in three parts of North
Belfast. Over 20 homes were attacked in Ligoniel, Deerpark and
Alliance Avenue. A number of people were treated in hospital.

Loyalists in the Glenbryn area of Ardoyne pelted Catholic homes
in Alliance Avenue with petrol bombs. The attack followed an
earlier incident in which loyalists from Glenbryn had hurled
missiles, breaking windows and damaging cars.

Television footage of the earlier attack showed loyalists in
Glenbryn on the roofs of derelict house throwing missiles over
the peaceline. A Catholic man and woman sustained facial and head
injuries during the bombardment and were taken to hospital.

The attack stopped for a number of hours only to resume around
11pm, when more than a dozen petrol bombs were thrown from
Glenbryn at Catholic homes in Alliance Avenue.

"These attacks are not being carried out by children. They are
being carried out by men, UDA men," said local Sinn Fein
Councillor Margaret McClenaghan.

Fearing they would be targeted by the loyalist mob, firemen at
the scene were unable to enter the back gardens to extinguish the
petrol bombs.

At the same time, Catholic homes in the Ligoniel Road area of
North Belfast came under attack from a 50-strong loyalist mob.
During a sustained 30-minute attack, the homes of ten Catholic
families were targeted by the mob.

Two brothers, Jonathan (23) and 24-year-old Michael Graham fled
from their ground floor flat, clambering over fences to escape
the machete and baton-wielding mob.

"We made our way out of the back. When we turned round we saw our
flat in flames," said Jonathan. "It's the first Catholic-occupied
house on the road. It was an easy target for them. I've no doubt
they would have killed anyone they got their hands on."

The Graham brothers, who recently moved back to Belfast after
living in the 26 counties for 12 years, lost everything but the
clothes they were wearing in the fire.

A second Catholic family, a couple with young children, escaped
injury when a petrol bomb thrown at a bedroom window exploded but
failed to break the glass.

Another resident described lying down against the front door in a
desperate attempt to stop the loyalist mob forcing their way into
his home.

"When I heard the window smashing, I jumped on the floor to
protect the children. The loyalists started trying to kick in the
front door. I lay down in front of the door and tried to keep
them out," he said

Moments later two shots were fired. "I don,t know if they fired
at the house. All I know is that these people wanted to kill a
Catholic."

A Catholic family whose Deerpark home was one of several to come
under loyalist attack on Thursday night described their 'living
hell'. Since the family move into the house two years ago,
loyalists have attacked it 17 times.

"The latest attack came on Thursday night when loyalists broke
our windows and the windows of two other houses in the street,"
said the resident.

The family is unable to move because no one wants to buy their
house and the NIO are refusing to include the family in their
Special Purchase of Evacuated Dwellings scheme because the
attacks are not classified as intimidation, only vandalism.

"We're living on our nerves; no one can sleep at night because
you don't know if you will be alive in the morning," he said.

Loyalists attacked two ambulance crews and several paramedics
were injured when they attempted to drive into Catholic areas to
attend the injured. One paramedic was knocked unconscious when he
was struck on the head by a brick. Another paramedic needed glass
removed from his eyes after the loyalist mob smashed the
windscreen of the ambulance.



NO PROTECTION

A Catholic family of four narrowly escaped injury when they awoke
to find their Skegoniel Avenue home on fire after a petrol bomb
attack. They had initially been targeted by a loyalist mob around
2am in the early hours of Saturday morning. The family's car was
one of nine Catholic-owned cars smashed and torched by the mob.
Three vehicles were completely burnt out, two in Skegoniel Aveune
and a third in nearby Glandore Avenue.

The mob returned three hours later with petrol bombs. The
Catholic couple carried their three-year-old twin sons from the
blazing building. The family were forced to make their escape on
foot because their car had already been destroyed.

The father later questioned the role of the PSNI/RUC, who he said
had promised to stay in the area after the first attack but were
absent when the loyalists returned.

On the same night, Catholic homes in the Rosapenna area of North
Belfast also came under loyalist attack. Windows were smashed and
cars damaged in the second of two attacks in the area in as many
days.

Meanwhile, Ardoyne was facing a fourth day of sustained loyalist
attack, with families living along Alliance Avenue bearing the
brunt of loyalist bombardment. John Manley, a journalist for the
Irish News, reported witnessing more than 20 large bricks being
thrown by loyalists at one home during the short time it had
taken him to interview the family.

At around 7pm on Sunday night, a number of shots were fired from
Ardoyne into Glenbryn, injuring a 19-year-old loyalist near the
alleyway from where the attacks on Alliance Avenue had mostly
emanated. The teenager was rushed to hospital, where his
condition was described as ill but stable.

Within the following five hours, loyalist gunmen launched five
separate sectarian gun attacks, culminating in the killing of a
19-year-old Catholic in the Whitewell area of North Belfast.



GERARD LAWLOR

Gerard Lawlor was walking home after spending an evening with
friends in Glengormley at the Bellevue Arms. The teenager was
shot dead in a drive-by shooting less than 200 yards from his own
front door. Residents reported hearing four or five gunshots
around midnight on Flora Road close to the Whitewell Road.

Gerard, who was wearing a Celtic football shirt, had been easily
identified as a Catholic by his killers as he made his way into
Whitewell, a Catholic enclave in a predominantly loyalist part of
North Belfast. He died at the scene.

Gerard had been due to move house with his partner Siobhan and
the couple's 18-month-old son Josh within days. The victim's
parents were on holiday in Newcastle when they were informed of
their son's death.

An initial statement claiming responsibility for the killing was
issued under the cover name of the Red Hand Defenders, but the
UDA later admitted they had carried out the fatal shooting.

Three masked and armed loyalists appeared on camera to read a
chilling message threatening further sectarian violence. The UDA
described the sectarian killing of Gerard Lawlor as a "measured
military response" and claimed it was 'retaliation' for "the
onslaught against the Protestant community by the republican
gunmen".

A midfield player for the local St Enda's GAC, Gerard Lawlor was
the fourth member of the club to be killed by loyalists within
the last ten years. Liam Canning was shot dead by an off duty UDR
member in 1981. Sean Fox, a 72-year-old widower, was tortured
before being shot dead by the UVF in 1993. Gerry Devlin was shot
dead by the LVF as he arrived at the club in 1997.

Gavin Brett, a 19-year-old killed by loyalists in the mistaken
belief he was a Catholic, was talking to friends outside St
Enda's when he was shot dead in July 2001. Gerard had known both
Gavin Brett and 20-year-old Catholic postman Daniel McColgan,
shot dead by loyalists earlier this year.

Less than an hour before the Lawlor killing on Sunday night,
another Catholic sustained gunshot wounds in a loyalist attack.
29-year-old Jason O Halloran was shot in both legs and groin.
Shots were fired from a dark car travelling down Rosapenna Avenue
towards Cliftonville Road. At the same time, a loyalist gunman on
Oldpark Road fired around ten rounds. At 10.45pm a dark car had
approached a group of residents in the Catholic Ligoniel Road and
a gunman opened fire. Cartridges and live rounds were later found
at the scene.

Fifteen minutes earlier, in another sectarian murder bid, a
loyalist gunman, riding as a passenger on a motorbike, pulled a
gun on a young man standing outside Henry Joy's, a Catholic-owned
bar on the Oldpark Road. The gun jammed and the motorcycle sped
away.

In Salisbury Avenue, two loyalist gunmen at around 10pm had
targeted two young Catholic men. Two shots were fired but no one
was injured.