"The parties undertake to take appropriate measures to protect persons who may be subject to threats or acts of discrimination, hostility or violence as a result of their ethnic, cultural, linguistic or religious identity."
(Article 6 of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities of the Council of Europe)
As the stand-off developed at Drumcree widespread intimidation was reported throughout the North. Catholic churches, schools and homes were attacked. Roads were blocked, sometimes by small groups of men observed by the RUC who then turned traffic away. In the Derry area roads were repeatedly blocked in Drumahoe, Newbuildings, and Nelson Drive and both bridges over the Foyle were blocked on various occasions in the days following the Drumcree stand-off. Both Catholics and Protestants were afraid to undertake any journey by car or public transport and were indeed advised by the RUC not to do so. These incidents have been publicised. Less attention has been paid to the often invisible acts of intimidation, the anonymous phone call, the unsigned threatening letter or the passing comment in the street. Rumours abound in the Derry area many of which are difficult to substantiate. Following contact with community workers the following picture does emerge of events following the Drumcree stand-off.
On Sunday 7 July a number of Catholic residents in Hawkin Street which leads into the largely Protestant Fountain Estate were stoned while parking their car on the street. The Crossan family had their downstairs windows broken. When the father approached RUC men in the back lane to ask for protection he was told that both he and his wife would be arrested. (This man spoke out in an interview the following day on Radio Foyle.) The RUC watched from approximately 20 yards distance and failed to intervene or move up the street to a position where the residents would have had protection. One couple moved out of the street that night. The following night the Crossan family was again attacked and cars belonging to Catholic residents had their windows smashed. As a result of anti-catholic intimidation two mixed couples who lived in the Fountain itself were forced to leave their homes because they lived with Catholic partners.
Property belonging to a local Protestant was fire bombed in Abercorn Road on 11 July.
Intimidation and rumours of intimidation were not restricted to the west bank of the Foyle. A Catholic milkman was threatened and chased by a mob in the Rossdowney Road area. In the largely Catholic Currynierin estate in the Waterside there were rumours that Protestant families received letters giving them "48 hours to get out." No letters were in fact sent as confirmed to us by local community workers. However a mixed couple who lived on the estate were forced to leave their home after threats were received alleging that the Protestant partner had been seen at a loyalist roadblock in Drumahoe. The family were escorted out by an RUC patrol. It was reported in the Derry Journal that Catholics in the Newbuildings area were intimidated. An Irish Times report (16 July) that ten Protestant families had been forced from their homes in the Waterside area cannot be corroborated by any of the community leaders/workers from Protestant areas that we have talked to. However 20 cars belonging to Protestant families had their tyres slashed. It is reported that five Protestant families are in the process of moving out of Strathfoyle. This cannot be confirmed though it seems likely that families are moving as a result of intimidation. An attempt was made to set fire to Clondermott High School which is perceived to be Protestant. A respected community worker has said that a group of young loyalists from the Waterside intended setting fire to the Catholic Chapel in Newbuildings but were prevented from doing so by local Protestants. Groups of rioters in the largely Protestant Tullyally and largely Catholic Currynierin estates could have attacked each other but aimed almost exclusively at the RUC in what appears to have been a rare display of working class unity. There were minor sectarian skirmishes during which a Catholic pensioner had a window smashed. The next morning young people from the Tullyally estate apologised to the pensioner. A youth worker in Currynierin was badly beaten up and hospitalised when he appealed to young nationalists on the estate not to riot. There are a number of allegations that the attack was led by people linked to drugs in the area. There are reports of intimidation of Catholics in the Cloony area of the Waterside. We have been shown a threatening letter sent to one family in the area. A taxi firm in the Waterside received a phone call naming one of its Protestant drivers and threatening to burn his car. A local nationalist community worker intervened and the threats stopped.
Following the RUC decision to allow the Orange march through the Garvaghy Road in Portadown a confrontation developed between rival groups of youths in the Bishop Street/Fountain area. Insults then stones and bottles were exchanged followed by petrol bombs which were thrown into the Fountain estate hitting gable walls. A number of petrol bombs were also thrown from the Fountain. When the RUC came on the scene they then fired plastic bullets at Catholic youths and at people leaving pubs in the Bishop Street area. (One young man leaving a pub was seriously injured in this incident. See The Use of Plastic Bullets). Local people in the Long Tower area allege that an RUC man behind the security fence in the Fountain estate (corner of Bennet Street) was firing plastic bullets through the fence while a loyalist standing beside him was throwing stones. In the wake of this confrontation three Protestant families who lived close to the security fence moved out of the Fountain area.
In the largely Catholic Shantallow area a family was forced to leave their home after the Protestant partner received a threatening letter. Nearby an attempt was made to set fire to Ballyarnet Presbyterian Church. On Friday July 26 a large crowd attacked a Catholic pub in the Dungiven Road area of the Waterside and a number of people were injured. The RUC are alleged to have ignored the attack. This followed an incident on the Eleventh night when a crowd had gathered outside a nearby bar and chanted "we're the bully boys of Drumcree."
People within the Protestant community in Derry have told us that young Protestants have been threatened in the Foyleside shopping centre and city centre areas.
There can be no doubt that the Rev. Ian Paisley and David Trimble intended to unleash a wave of sectarianism through their actions in Drumcree. They must ultimately bear the responsibility for the UVF murder of Michael McGoldrick and the widespread intimidation of Catholics throughout the North. Germans, in the wake of the holocaust, developed a name for those who bear responsibility but claim clean hands. They were called Schriebtisch tater or desk perpetrators. The men in suits who whisper to others in back rooms. This is the backdrop against which intimidation must be seen. The uncomfortable truth is however that the human right to live, work and relax has been denied to many people in this community in recent weeks, both Catholic and Protestant.