In our document on Rosemary Nelson, we included an appendix that listed all known loyalist attacks from 1 January 1999 through 30 April 1999. Given the nature of the document the list focused on loyalist attacks. Since that time, we have continued to document attacks across the North, expanding our remit to include all attacks that might be considered sectarian (sometimes, however, the motives aren’t always clear.)
The following list of sectarian and race attacks is from 22 through 31 July 2000. Should any incidents have inadvertently been left off the list please contact us. The issue of inclusion/exclusion is very problematic. For instance this document does not include punishment beatings ‘within’ a community, attacks by the security forces on civilians or by civilians on the security forces or murders where the perpetrators are believed to be from the same community and the motive is not thought to have been sectarian. We have also not included violent incidents connected to feuding within loyalism. We will update this list each month.
Due to the upsurge in sectarian attacks during July 2000 we plan to release an updated version of this list on a weekly basis for the duration of the month.
The following is list of attacks and incidents that occurred during the last 10 days of July.
Tuesday 25 July
The deputy lord mayor of Belfast, Frank McCoubrey of the UDP (aligned to the UDA/UFF) painted out the UDA mural on the Shankill Road in Belfast that celebrated the UDA’s worst atrocities, including the Greysteel massacre and that at Sean Graham’s bookies on the Ormeau Road. Rejecting calls from Sinn Féin to condemn those responsible for the mural, Mr Mc Coubrey said he was painting it out after consulting people locally. Onlookers jeered as he painted it out. Relatives of some of the Greysteel victims welcomed the move.
Wednesday 26 July
An eighth man has been charged in connection with the 11 July murder of UVF man Andrew Cairns. It is believed that Cairns was killed by members of the UDA and the LVF for singing a UVF song.
A loyalist pipe bomb was found at an Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH) hall in Galladuff, Co. Derry. It has been alleged that the bomb was intended to raise tensions in the run up to a loyalist parade through nearby Maghera.
Northern Irish culture minister, Michael McGimpsey of the UUP, praised the restoration work on Dan Winter’s cottage, the birthplace of the Orange Order. Mr McGimpsey said he believed the cottage to be part of a legacy all communities could share in.
Friday 28 July
After an 11th hour U-turn by the Parades’ Commission a loyalist parade was allowed to pass through a nationalist area in Maghera Co. Derry. Residents said that, in defiance of the commission’s rulings, the band played tunes as it passed nationalist homes.
A 13-year-old nationalist youth from Divis Street in Belfast was arrested by the RUC and charged with littering after he dropped some lottery tickets that he was bringing home to his mother. He was wearing a Celtic soccer top at the time.
A leading UDA man was released on bail in Belfast after being charged with possession of security force files on 92 suspected republicans. In 1991 he was jailed for four years for offences arising out of the Stevens enquiry into the leakage of security force documents to loyalists. The documents he has now been charged with possessing date from 1998.
Sat-Sun 29-30 July
Catholic residents and their homes came under successive waves of attacks in the north Belfast interface area of North Queen street and Duncairn Gardens. A gang of 100 loyalists carried out the attacks during which windows were smashed and houses were paint bombed. Six people were injured, including a thirteen year old boy who was hospitalised for a head wound. At the end of one of the attacks as the attackers fled upon hearing that the RUC were coming, they vowed to return to burn the residents out. A spokesperson for the residents said he believed the attacks were orchestrated.
Nationalist residents meeting on Belfast's Springfield road in the tense aftermath of the Twelfth and the nightly attacks by loyalists, were harangued by an RUC officer described as having "gone berserk". As the residents gathered to take stock of the months events the RUC man said that Catholics were "AIDS carriers" and began verbally abusing residents. He identified some residents by name and then threatened to come back and kill people.
Monday 31 July
The UVF are thought by security forces to be preparing themselves for retaliatory strikes against the LVF's leadership, now that the bulk of the UVF is out of jail.
On Belfast's Oldpark road, a graffiti, apparently signed jointly by the UVF and UFF (UDA), reads "S. Kelly. We can wait" The message is directed at IRA man Sean Kelly who was jailed for the Shankill bomb in 1993.
The white supremacist British National Party has vowed to contest at least one seat in the North of Ireland. It's spokesman Alan Moore said that it was heartened by the sales of it's news-sheet True Brit. It is most likely to contest seats in North Belfast, South Antrim and East Antrim.
A major Civil Service survey by the Northern Irish Department of Finance and Personnel, one of the largest in Europe found that 13.2% of Catholic staff felt harassed because of their religion. The survey was completed 2 years ago, but its findings have only just emerged. A memo leaked to a British paper revealed RUC "paranoia" about the findings.
The Orange Order's official organ The Orange Standard blamed "obvious provocation by republicans and nationalists" and elements outside the order for the violence surrounding Drumcree. Sinn Fein MLA for Upper Bann, Dara O'Hagan pointed out that it was the spokesperson for Portadown Orange Lodge David Jones himself who had welcomed support from Belfast UDA leader Johnny Adair.