The following list of sectarian and other hate-driven incidents and attacks is from 1 through 31 July 2003. The criteria we use for inclusion is based on the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) criteria; if a person/organisation feels that the motivation for an attack against them was sectarian (or racist or homophobic), then it should be counted as such. We rely on a number of sources for our information, but this is by no means comprehensive. If you find incidents that have been left off the list please contact us.
1 July, Tuesday. In Westminster, Democratic Unionist MP Nigel Dodds criticised the sentence imposed on a Catholic woman who was jailed for two years jail plus two years probation for the manslaughter of Protestant teenager Thomas McDonald in Whitewell during the Holy Cross dispute in September 2001. Thomas died after he was knocked from his bike, on the Whitewell Road, by the 33-year-old mother-of-five. The woman was sentenced to two years in jail and to two years' probation for manslaughter by reason of provocation after the court heard the teenager had thrown half a brick at her car. (BT, IN)
The European Court of Human Rights ruled that the British Government failed to properly investigate allegations of collusion in the 1989 murder of Pat Finucane. Following the ruling the Taoiseach again called for an independent public inquiry. In an editorial in the Newsletter the paper argued that a Truth and Reconciliation Commission may be the appropriate response to calls for inquiries. Though the actual murder was carried out by the loyalist UDA there is overwhelming evidence that RUC Special Branch and the British Army FRU were involved in this and other murders. (IT, IE, NL,LI)
2 July, Wednesday. A Catholic man was assaulted by a gang of loyalists on the Cloyfin Road, near Coleraine, Co Derry. The victim was stabbed in the back eight times and suffered a punctured lung in the attack. The PSNI said they were treating the attack as attempted murder (RM, IN, BT, PSNI)
In Derry, Catholic youths attacked Protestant homes in the Fountain area with over 40 petrol bombs, destroying property. The attack was condemned by politicians from all sides. (IN, LS)
In Whitewell, north Belfast, a eight-year old Catholic boy and his four year old brother were chased by 4 loyalist teenagers with an Alsatian dog. (NBN)
Margaret King, a Catholic woman staying in Clifton Park Avenue in Belfast, received 12 stitches to her face after being hit by a missile thrown by loyalists when she went out on to the street to bring in her grandchildren after violence had erupted. (NBN)
A young Chinese woman, working in a fast food restaurant on the mainly nationalist Antrim Road in north Belfast, was slashed in the face with a broken bottle by two youths who then stole the contents of the till before escaping through the fence in Waterworks Park. The attack followed a few days after a similar attack on a man of Bangladeshi origin in the same neighbourhood. (NBN, CW)
3 July, Thursday. An American woman living in the Catholic community, whose family business has repeatedly been attacked by the UVF in south county Derry, is considering returning to the US. In the latest attacks, the family business was destroyed in a fire, while windows in the family home were broken and "Taigs out" written on the side. (RM, IN)
4 July, Friday. Three men from nationalist backgrounds were sentenced to 100 hours community service and fined £1,000 each for causing almost £50,000 worth of damage to the Edintilone and Lisginny Orange Halls near Aughnacloy, Co Tyrone. IN)
5 July, Saturday. Seven Soldiers from the British Army's Green Howards Regiment, stationed in Ballykelly, Co Derry were involved in a racist attack outside a nightclub in nearby Portstewart. (BT)
The Housing Executive revealed that 89 people, or 15% of the people presenting as homeless In county Antrim during 2002 had done so because of sectarian intimidation. Sinn Fein called for a civic forum to mediate in the problem. The vast majority of people expelled from their homes in Antrim because of sectarianism are victims of loyalists. (BT, PFC, CW)
In Craigavon, in the predominantly loyalist Enniskeen area, a ten strong gang of racists wielding baseball bats and iron bars attacked the home of a mixed-race Moslem family. The family have since moved to England. The attack was condemned by religious and political leaders from across the political spectrum. However Fred Crowe, Ulster Unionist councillor, whose longstanding opposition to the building of a Mosque locally and whose Islamophobic views are well documented, denied responsibility for creating the current situation by making inflammatory remarks. Councillor Crowe's remarks were echoed in leaflets produced by the self-styled White Nationalist Party (WNP), a neo-nazi group linked to elements of the UDA and LVF, which proclaimed "This is Ulster, not Islamabad. No Mosques here" and invoked fears of Al Qaeda cells operating in Craigavon. (IN, CW, ARN)
In an article in the Guardian newspaper Dr Uhomoibhi, lecturer in computer science at Queen's University, Belfast, and chairman of the Northern Ireland African Cultural Centre, said that while there had always been "name-calling, graffiti, car tyres slashed, that sort of thing" being carried-out against the 2,600 Africans living in Northern Ireland "…about three weeks ago, an African man came home to find two live bullets on his doorstep. He ran for his life and hasn't been back to that house since…. Then a few days ago, we had a pipe-bomb thrown in the house of two sisters, and another at the home of a couple and their eight-week-old twins. " While the PSNI officers were sympathetic, he said, not enough was being done about the attacks, mainly because of inadequate procedures. Although most of the attacks against members of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities occur in loyalist areas, and in spite of the longstanding links between loyalist paramilitary groups and British ultra-nationalist and white supremacist groups, Dr Uhomoibhi said that it would be wrong to blame loyalists "per se" for the attacks as to do so would risk drawing people from BME communities into the sectarian conflict. Senior loyalist sources told the newspaper that while "rogue loyalists" were responsible for the attacks the UDA and the UVF themselves were not responsible. They called for a halt to the recent spate of attacks on members of the African, Chinese and other BME communities. See June 2003 and Craigavon piece above. (G)
British Home Office Immigration officials were criticised for dumping nine asylum seekers, including five children, over the border between Newry and Dundalk in the middle of the night, without money. The nine made their way to an hotel where they telephoned Gardaí and were arrested under the Irish "Aliens Act". (IN)
7 July, Monday. Nationalists attacked a Protestant family home in Aghalee, Co Antrim, with two petrol bombs. A four-year-old boy and his parents escaped injury. (RM, IN)
In Rathfriland, the Roads Service responded to nationalist demands that loyalist paramilitary flags be removed from lampposts by saying that it would not do so where its employees would be at risk. (BT)
8 July, Tuesday. Twelve-year-old Shauna Millen, one of the schoolchildren forced to run the infamous loyalist gauntlet en route to the Holy Cross School in north Belfast, was left bruised and traumatised after being assaulted by a PSNI officer during a raid in the Clifton Park Avenue area. (RM, NBN)
9 July, Wednesday. Loyalists were blamed for scrawling 'You Are Now Entering Taig-Free Bready' on the gable wall of a house in the mainly Protestant village on the Strabane - Derry Road. The reference to the village being 'Taig' (Catholic) free was removed following protests. (BT)
In north Belfast, nationalist youths attacked and taunted the 11-year-old sister of Thomas McDonald, the 16 year old Protestant killed during disturbances in September 2001. (See July 1, above) (IN)
In Limavady, Co Derry, loyalists are thought to have been responsible for vandalising St Mary's Catholic Church on Irish Street. (LS)
Race hate graffiti, accompanied by Nazi insignia, was written on a wall in the predominantly nationalist Little America district of north Belfast. (CW, NBN)
10 July, Thursday. Loyalist arsonists destroyed a playground used by Catholic children in the New Lodge/Duncairn area of north Belfast.(RM, NBN)
11 July, Friday. The Red Hand Defenders, a cover name used by the UDA, issued death threats against a number of Catholic residents of Ardoyne who had sought a judicial review of the Parades' Commission's decision to allow an Orange Order march through the area. (RM, CW)
In Coleraine, 80 loyalists defied the PSNI and the Parades' commission and took part in an Orange band parade through the town. The PSNI said they would be examining CCTV coverage with a view to prosecuting participants. (IN)
12 July, Saturday. Loyalists were blamed for the paint-bombing of a memorial to the five civilians killed in a UFF/UDA attack on Sean Graham's Bookmakers on the Lower Ormeau Road in February 1992. (IN, SBN, CW)
At 9:30 pm, at Cromac Street, in the Markets area of Belfast, nationalist youths stoned a car carrying a Protestant family returning from a July 12 parade. The family's 5 year old son, Curtis Martin, was struck and needed 5 hours of surgery to save his left eye. (BT, IN, PSNI, UPMJ, BBC)
In Cookstown, Co Tyrone, nationalists attacked the Drumnacross and Ballybriest Orange Halls. (BT)
The North Belfast News reported that cars, taxis and even ambulances going in and out of the Ligoniel Catholic enclave in north Belfast are regularly subjected to UDA orchestrated attacks. (NBN, CW)
14 July, Monday. Nationalists are thought to have started the fire which destroyed Greenbank Presbyterian Hall at Quigley's Point in Donegal, close to the border with Derry. It is thought that those responsible also set fire to the Victoria Masonic Hall at Culmore Point, outside Derry, on the same night. (DJ, LS, IN)
Loyalists catapulted ball bearings, screws, bolts, bricks and rocks at cars, houses and people in the Clandeboye Drive area of the mainly Catholic Short Strand district. The windscreen of one car was shattered, showering the 22 year old driver and her 15 year old sister with glass. (IN, CW)
15 July, Tuesday. Loyalist supporters linked to the UDA's youth wing distributed White Nationalist Party (WNP) leaflets and other neo-nazi regalia, including swastika-type flags and "Blacks Out" posters in several parts of Ballymena, including the Social Security and Housing offices. (RM, CW, IN)
16 July, Wednesday. Two Catholic postal workers in Derry received UVF "sympathy" cards, signed "RIP, Fenian SCUM" at their home addresses. There have been numerous loyalist threats issued against Catholic postal workers in Derry and throughout the north since the UDA murder of Daniel McColgan in January 2002. (RMN, PFC, CW)
A Catholic family living on the Ligoniel Road in north Belfast and who have been subjected to repeated, and often violent, sectarian attacks, had "UDA", "UVF", and "LVF" sprayed in red paint across the front of their house. The family has complained that the PSNI insist on treating these attacks as criminal damage, and not as sectarian. (IN, CW)
On the Rathenraw estate in Antrim, "fierce" hand-to-hand fighting erupted after a 50 strong gang of loyalists attacked Catholic homes with baseball bats, stones and bottles. (IN)
17 July, Thursday. In Magheraveely, Co Fermanagh, loyalists threw missiles at the home of a Catholic woman and her three young children. The attack occurred shortly after an Orange Order march through the village. (RM, CW)
19 July, Saturday. In east Belfast, loyalist youths using catapults attacked cars and houses belonging to Catholics in the Short Strand. (RM, CW)
20 July, Sunday. A 20 strong gang of loyalists assaulted a 21 year old Catholic man who was playing a round of golf with his brother-in-law at a club outside Lisburn. The gang used golf clubs and iron bars causing the man critical injuries for which he was taken to hospital. The victim was identified by his attackers because he was wearing a "Celtic" top. (RM, CW, IN)
23 July, Wednesday. Over 10 percent of Housing Executive tenants living in the Leckagh Drive estate in Magherafelt, Co Derry have applied to be rehoused since April 2002, according to the Irish News. The Leckagh Estate is notorious for pipe bomb and other sectarian attacks on Catholic homes. (IN, CW)
24 July, Thursday. Loyalist paramilitaries were blamed for an elaborate hoax bomb which caused the evacuation of a number of Catholic families from their homes in the Leckagh Drive estate in Magherafelt, Co Derry. Earlier in the month, a man accused of pipe-bombing Catholic homes was ordered by the judge to stay clear of Magherafelt, as part of his bail conditions. (RM, UTV, CW)
RM Distribution reported that three pipe bombs and a grenade, believed to have been intended for use by loyalists against Sinn Féin representatives in the Camlough/Bessbrook area of Co Armagh, were recovered. According to UTV loyalists claimed to have abandoned a grenade and two pipe bombs near the home of a Sinn Fein councillor but nothing was found. (RM,UTV )
25 July, Friday. A man charged with the attempted murder of a Catholic man was released on bail at the High Court in Belfast. The victim sustained serious brain damage, the court heard. The prosecutor told the court that the incident occurred on June 29 near Ballynahinch, and added that the accused had a history of involvement in loyalist paramilitary groups. (UTV)
26 July, Saturday. Loyalists set fire to the historic St Johns Catholic Church, on the Magherafelt to Castledawson road in Co Derry. (RM, PSNI, BT)
According to the Prison Service "only" 15% (9 out of 60) of prisoner-on-prisoner assaults in northern Irish prisons in the last 15 months were sectarian. (BT)
In Ballymena, white supremacists from the self-styled White Nationalist Party leafleted cars in the Tower Centre multi-storey car park, with posters entitled "Stand-by loyal Ulster" accusing the IRA and the British and Irish governments of conspiring together. The posters urged the removal from Northern Ireland of anyone who refuses to renounce Irish citizenship. (IN)
In the Barrack St area of West Belfast two Catholic boys, aged 13 and 14, were attacked in separate incidents. Loyalists from the Shankill Road area, armed with a baseball bat and travelling in a Blue Corsa, were believed to be responsible. (AN)
27 July, Sunday. In Dunmurry, outside Belfast, a 15-strong masked UDA gang attacked and injured a 14 year old boy and his 26 year old male companion. A 17 year old girl who was with them had a gun put to her head. The three had been taking shelter from the rain. The 14 year old played dead to stop his attackers, who were armed with golf clubs and a pistol, from beating him. (UTV, CW, PSNI, IN)
In Rathcoole, outside of Belfast, a gang of men from the south Antrim UDA broke in to the home of Mary Morris, a 32-year-old Protestant woman who was pregnant, and kicked her, causing her to miscarry her child. They also ransacked her home and stole £800 in savings. Ms Morris was attacked because she had Catholic friends. (RM, CW, NBN, NoW)
Loyalists attacked six Catholic homes, including the home of a 62 year old grandmother, in the Stiles estate in Antrim. The attackers came with golf clubs, bricks and hatchets. The woman, who has lived in the same place for 27 years said she was very reluctant to leave but now felt she had no choice. Her granddaughter said that loyalists were ethnically cleansing the estate of Catholics. (CW, IN, UTV)
28 July, Monday. Loyalists sent a postal death threat to John Dallat, the former SDLP MLA and Mayor of Coleraine. (BT, IN, DJ)
29 July, Tuesday. The PSNI announced a "fresh investigation" into the killing of Patrick Kelly, 33, an independent nationalist councillor in Omagh, Co Tyrone. Mr Kelly's body was found three weeks after he disappeared in 1974. His family believe he was kidnapped and killed by rogue Ulster Defence Regiment soldiers; they had been told in January 1999 that a former UDR man broke down in a pub and confessed to the killing, naming other soldiers he said were involved. It is understood that former Stormont Assembly member Oliver Gibson, 69, a member of Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist party and an ex-UDR soldier, is to be questioned in relation to the murder. While the UFF (nom de guerre for the UDA) claimed the murder, there are longstanding claims, relating in part to a number of documented irregular UDR checkpoints in the area, which point the finger of suspicion at the notorious British Army regiment. The Kelly family have rejected outright any re-investigation by the PSNI and are demanding an independent investigation. (see also update)(G, IN, PFC)
30 July, Wednesday. In Ballymena, self-styled white supremacists from the neo-nazi White Nationalist Party daubed Nazi insignia on walls in the town. WNP stickers and leaflets have accompanied recent racist attacks on members of the Filipino and African communities. (RM, IN)
In the Short Strand area of Belfast, loyalists attacked Catholic homes with golf balls and ball bearings. (RM, CW, SBN)
Sources:
AN: Andersonstown News
BT: Belfast Telegraph
BBC: BBC radio and television news, BBC online, Radio Foyle
CW: Local community workers
DJ: Derry Journal
DN: Derry News
G: Guardian
IE: Irish Examiner
IN: Irish News
IT: Irish Times
ITN: Independent Television News
LI: London Independent
LS: Londonderry Sentinel
NBN: North Belfast News
NL: Newsletter
NoW: News of the World
OB: Observer
PA: Press Association
PFC: Pat Finucane Centre
RM: RM Distribution
PSNI: Police Service of Northern Ireland (RUC) press office.
SBP: Sunday Business Post
SBN: South Belfast News
ST: Sunday Tribune
UPMJ: Ulster Protestant Movement For Justice website
UTV: Ulster Television