Sectarian incidents and attacks

Introduction:

The following list of sectarian and other hate-driven incidents and attacks is from 1 through 31 March 2002. 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. A full dossier of sectarian and other hate attacks from January 1999 until February 2002 is also available.

March 1, Friday.
Ballymena Magistrates Court dropped charges against 21 of the 26 men who had been arrested in connection with events on June 15 last year when Irish tricolours were removed from lampposts in the nationalist Fisherwick estate in Ballymena. (IN)

March 2, Saturday.
Up to 20 loyalists attacked Catholic homes in the Newington Street area of north Belfast at around 7.00am. By 8.00am they had moved on to attack a shop on the Limestone Road. Local residents complained that it took the RUC/PSNI an hour to respond to calls from the area. During the attacks loyalists also petrol bombed the cross-community Parkside Gardens community centre on the Limestone Road. (CW, IN)

Nationalist politicians criticised the NIO for holding talks with the UDA’s new political wing, the Ulster Political Research Group (UPRG), about re-specifying the UDA’s ceasefire while the organisation continued to carry out attacks on nationalists. UUP MLA Duncan Shipley-Dalton also expressed discomfort at the government meeting representatives of armed groups not currently on ceasefire. (IN)

March 3, Sunday.
Loyalists threw several petrol bombs over the peace wall at homes at the bottom of Clanchattan Street in north Belfast. (CW)

March 4, Monday.
In the Yorkgate shopping centre in north Belfast, a Catholic teenager was severely injured after he was beaten and kicked in the face, head and body before being stabbed in the lung with a kitchen knife. The attackers, loyalists who subsequently escaped into Tiger’s Bay, were wearing Celtic football shirts. (CW, NBN)

A report by retired education lecturer Michael McKeown entitled "Post Mortem" found that half of those murdered in the north of Ireland as a result of the conflict were killed for purely sectarian reasons as opposed to ‘political’ or ‘military’ reasons. (IN)

A married couple, originally from Portadown, pleaded guilty in Craigavon Magistrate’s Court to attempting to pervert the course of justice in connection with the fatal sectarian attack on Robert Hamill in Portadown in April 1997. Details of the Robert Hamill case. (IN)

March 6, Wednesday.
The British Government offered to make a payment of £10,000 to the family of Pat Finucane, the Belfast Solicitor assassinated by the UDA at the behest of the State in 1989. The government made the offer by way of "friendly settlement". His family, who have been campaigning for a full, independent, judicial inquiry into all the circumstances surrounding the murder, rejected the offer. (See March 26/27) (IN, NBN, BBC)

A man in his 30s was assaulted at the junction of Tennent Street in north Belfast by three men who had been following him along the Crumlin Road. (RUC/PSNI)

March 7, Thursday.
The Orange Order turned down a request to re-route their Lower Ormeau Road parade away from the scene of the 1992 massacre of five Catholics at Sean Graham’s bookmakers. The appeal was made by the families of those killed. Members of the Orange Order taking part in a 1994 Orange Order parade goaded nationalist residents by dancing and waving five fingers in the air as they passed the bookmakers. (See Sectarian Attacks February 5, 2002) (IN)

The RUC/PSNI uncovered 2 submachine guns, imitation firearms, magazines and other ammunition during a raid on Ritchie Street, north Belfast. One man was arrested. (RUC/PSNI)

March 8, Friday.
It was reported that 42-year-old former UVF super-grass Clifford George McKeown, charged on 2 November 2001 with the 1996 LVF murder of Catholic taxi driver Michael McGoldrick in Lurgan, is to face trial in Belfast Crown Court. McKeown, the brother of LVF man Trevor McKeown who was jailed for the 1997 murder of 18-year-old Catholic Bernadette Martin in Aghalee, withdrew his super-grass evidence against 29 suspected loyalist paramilitaries in 1982. The initial hearing against Clifford George McKeown, held at Craigavon Court, was told that McKeown had confessed the murder to Nick Martin-Clarke of the Sunday Times, who had promised to keep the information secret in exchange for information about security force collusion with loyalist paramilitaries. (IN, CW, PFC, BBC)

March 9, Saturday.
Loyalists attacked homes and cars in the Newington Street and Limestone Road area of north Belfast, before moving on to attack houses in North Queen Street. (CW)

A man was found suffering from a severe head injury in a house on Cameron Street, south Belfast. (Three men were arrested in connection with the attack on 11 March.) (RUC)

A Catholic man getting out of a taxi at the edge of the nationalist Top of the Hill area in the Waterside in Derry was set upon by two loyalists who had been driving around interface areas looking for targets, according to local sources. The man’s cheekbone was broken in the attack. (CW, DJ)

A conference in Belfast, organised by the Parades’ Commission, Incore and the Community Relations Council, aimed at bringing together nationalist residents groups and loyal orders in dialogue, was boycotted by the Orange Order and the DUP, who called it a ‘sham’. A previous conference, held in Templepatrick in February, was boycotted by nationalist residents who expressed fears for their personal safety in a venue not regarded as being neutral or safe. (IN, CW, DJ)

It was reported that republican prisoners in Maghaberry Jail are facing increasing numbers of attacks by loyalist prisoners, with whom they are forced to integrate, and who outnumber them almost five to one. (AN, NBN)

At an Ulster Unionist Council meeting held in Belfast, David Trimble, the Assembly’s First Minister, asked party members to contrast the UK, which he described as "a vibrant multi-ethnic, multi-national liberal democracy – the fourth largest economy in the world – the most reliable ally of the United States in the fight against international terrorism," with "the pathetic, sectarian, mono-ethnic, mono-cultural state to our south." His comments were rejected by senior Protestant clergymen from the south of Ireland as well as by nationalist politicians. (IN, BBC, SBP)

Loyalists were blamed for leaving two pipe bombs close to Whitehead train station in East Antrim. The devices were left on an area of ground used by local children. (IN, CW)

March 11, Monday.
Two Loyalists severely beat two Catholic teenagers in the Yorkgate area of north Belfast, before driving into Tiger’s Bay. (NBN, CW)

The ‘Loyalist Commission’, comprising clergy, community members and representatives of paramilitary groups, was reported in the media to have told the Northern Ireland Office that paramilitaries would withdraw support for those taking part in schools disputes, that they would institute a ‘no strike first’ policy and that they would stand down the Red Hand Defenders splinter group. Parents of the Holy Cross schoolchildren welcomed the assurances. (LS, IN, NBN)

In Derry a spokesman for the Ulster Political Research Group (UPRG) told the Londonderry Sentinel that the "Loyalist commission does not speak on behalf of the UDA – only the UPRG and the North Antrim and Londonderry Independent Ulster Loyalists are appointed to do so." They continued: "The statement was also factually wrong. The UDA have always operated a "no strike first" policy… This will be the case in Londonderry…Secondly, the issue of school disputes – in no way was the UDA ever involved in any official capacity in any school dispute. Thirdly, the standing down of the Red Hand Defenders happened two months ago, to our knowledge… The Loyalist Commission in no way speaks for the UDA. The fact that Johnny Adair is often quoted as an authority on the UDA is also confusing. The UDA is run by a six-man inner council, the identities of whom are well known… Johnny Adair is not a member of this inner council. If people want to speak about the UDA, they can contact the Ulster Political Research Group or the North Antrim and Londonderry Independent Ulster Loyalists". (LS)

In north Belfast, loyalists – again wearing Celtic shirts – quizzed and then assaulted a 14-year-old youth from Ardoyne as he walked through the Yorkgate shopping centre. The youth was rescued by a local man who saw the assault from his car. The attackers then fled into Tiger’s Bay. The attack came a week after a teenager with a learning disability was stabbed in similar circumstances. (NBN) (It has also been reported that the RUC/PSNI in Derry have been copying loyalists by wearing Celtic shirts to catch nationalist youths they allege have been involved in disturbances – PFC, DJ)

March 12, Tuesday.
Nationalist youths stoned a bus carrying schoolgirls from the mainly Protestant Glengormley High School as it drove along the nationalist Whitewell Road in north Belfast. One girl was injured and a number of others were treated for shock. (IN, CW)

March 13, Wednesday.
Templemore Secondary School, the last remaining State-run school on Derry’s cityside, won a reprieve against closure from the Western Education and Library Board. All political parties welcomed the move. The threatened closure of what had previously been a mainly Protestant school came at the same time as the Protestant grammar school, Foyle and Londonderry College, announced plans to relocate to the Waterside. (IN, DN, LS)

March 15, Friday.
Loyalists brandishing a hammer and wooden posts assaulted a teacher and a pupil at St Comgall’s Catholic School in Larne. (IN)

Parents of pupils at the Holy Coss Primary School in north Belfast began a judicial review into the Secretary of State’s and RUC/PSNI’s handling of the dispute outside the school, arguing that they had failed to adequately protect the rights of the pupils. (NBN)

March 16, Saturday.
A group of loyalists fired up to six gunshots through the living room window of a Catholic home on Alexandria Street in north Belfast, one of only two in the immediate area. The attackers escaped into Tigers Bay as the incident provoked a riot. The RUC/PSNI denied that a gun had been used. (CW, IN)

The RUC/PSNI reported that a home in the nationalist Whitewell Road area of Newtownabbey was petrol bombed. A man escaped with his 6-year-old daughter. (RUC/PSNI)

The RUC/PSNI seized,100 rounds of ammunition during a Planned search of house in Bray Street, in the loyalist Shankill in Belfast. (RUC/PSNI)

March 17, Sunday.
Loyalists attacked houses in Newington, north Belfast, with bolts, bricks, paintbombs, slates, bottles and fireworks at around 7.00pm. The attacks lasted into the night, provoking riots that spread to the Whitewell area. (CW, IN)

March 18, Monday.
Loyalists continued their attacks on homes in Newington, north Belfast, this time using petrol and acid bombs. Rioting followed as local residents organised to ward them off. According to local sources the RUC/PSNI rammed security gates, leaving the street open to attack, and assaulted residents. The RUC/PSNI claimed that it was they who had come under attack from residents. One resident moved out. Around 70 petrol bombs were thrown. Children are now wearing hard hats when playing outside, to protect them from bolts and other missiles being thrown over the peace line. (CW, IN, NBN)

In south Belfast loyalists defaced the memorial to the five Catholics killed in Sean Graham’s Bookies in 1992. It was the third time loyalists had attacked the memorial in recent months. (See March 7th, February 5th) (SBN, CW)

March 19, Tuesday.
Two more families moved out of their homes in Newington St., north Belfast, after Catholic homes were attacked for the 5th day running. Children wore hard hats as bolts flew over the security fence from the Tiger’s bay side. One 16-year-old boy was taken to hospital after he was hit on the head with a bolt. (IN, CW)

A group of nationalists attacked Protestant parents collecting their children from Currie Primary School on the Limestone Road. One mother was hit in the back with a brick. Four-year-old William Galloway was hit on the arm with a piece of slate thrown by the nationalists. (CW, IN, NBN, RUC/PSNI)

3 people were injured, and 4 buses and a car were damaged during stoning on the loyalist Shore road, north Belfast. (RUC/PSNI)

March 20, Wednesday.
The European Court of Human Rights awarded £12,500 to a Catholic former silver service waiter because a local court had refused him leave to pursue a religious discrimination case against his employers, the Culloden Hotel in Co. Down. (IN)

In Derry a loyalist gunman, possibly not acting alone, fired four shots into the living room of a house in Shepherds Glen, a new housing development with mainly Catholic inhabitants. The four young occupants of the house, three Catholics and a Protestant, escaped uninjured. The attacker escaped on a mountain bike, which was later found close to the loyalist Irish Street estate. The occupants speculated that they could have been targeted because one of them had been seen wearing a Celtic shirt while cleaning windows. The RUC/PSNI are said to be treating the incident as attempted murder (DJ, IN, CW, BBC, RUC/PSNI)

March 21, Thursday.
International Day Against Racism. The northern Irish Citizens Advice Bureaux joined with the Chinese Welfare Association and members of the Indian community to launch a poster campaign encouraging people to report racist incidents. RUC/PSNI statistics and data collected by community groups confirm that racial incidents are on the increase in the north of Ireland, especially since September 11. The campaign was welcomed by the Islamic Centre in Wellington Park, south Belfast, the area with the highest ethnic minority population in the north of Ireland and the highest concentration of racial attacks. A recent University of Ulster Survey found that racist attitudes were twice as prevalent as sectarian ones. Jamal Iweida of the Islamic Centre also warned that institutional racism appeared to be entrenching itself. (IN, SBN, CW)

Up to 200 loyalists, some of them bandsmen who had been drinking in the Mount Bar in Tigers Bay, led what was described as a generalised attack on Catholic homes in the whole Limestone, Newington, Clanchattan, North Queen Street area of north Belfast. Residents complained that British Army units positioned on the interface let the attackers through their lines. Heavy rioting broke out with petrol bombs being thrown from both sides, mainly at RUC/PSNI lines. One officer was injured. A fifth family applied to the Housing Executive for emergency relocation. Loyalist sources said that the spark for the rioting was an attack on three Protestant teenage girls leaving the Mountcollier complex in which one of them was hit in the back with a bottle. (CW, IN, RUC/PSNI)

In east Belfast, loyalist graffiti warning "TAIG LOVERS BEWARE" ("Catholic lovers beware") on a wall just 200 yards from Willowfield RUC/PSNI station was removed. It had been left on the wall for a week. (IN, CW)

Staff, management and unions at the Mater Hospital in north Belfast have been involved in a series of meetings to resolve sectarian tension among staff. The meetings follow interventions by UNISON and the ICTU after management had refused to acknowledge that there was a problem at the site. Staff are said to have been split along sectarian lines since the blockade of the Holy Cross School last year. (NBN)

March 22, Friday.
Gary Smith, described as a leading loyalist and associate of UDA leader Johnny Adair, had his licence revoked and was jailed for three years for making a hoax call on behalf of the Red Hand Defenders claiming a "bomb" had been left tied to a railing at Holy Cross School in Ardoyne on June 25 last year. The Judge described him as having been motivated by a "degree of malevolence" and as "a person easily prevailed upon to do the bidding of others." (IT, IN, BBC)

In Belfast Crown Court, 26 year-old Clarke Mowbray was jailed for 10 years for an assault in Antrim on May 12, 2001. The assault outside a "mixed bar" was so serious it left his Catholic victim with permanent brain damage. Mowbray told RUC officers who arrested him that, unlike them, he was not restrained by the law "and could deal with such people in his own way". (IN)

Houses in Serpentine Road, Whitewell and White City in north Belfast were attacked during sectarian rioting. (IN)

Serious rioting broke out in the Limewood Street interface area in north Belfast, followed by a "sustained loyalist attack" on RUC/PSNI lines when they moved in to quell the rioting. (IN)

March 23, Saturday.
During sectarian rioting in north Belfast, a Protestant woman was taken to hospital with injuries to her face and eye after a blast bomb exploded shattering all the windows of the car she was driving. Nationalists blamed the UDA for the bomb, which they say had fallen short of its intended target. Loyalists said that nationalists were to blame, and had thrown it over the peace line from the mainly nationalist Newington Street. A young man, who was a passenger in the car, was treated for shock. (IN, RUC/PSNI, CW)

March 24, Sunday.
In an attack chillingly reminiscent of the sectarian murder of Robert Hamill in 1997, a gang of loyalists in Portadown assaulted a group of Catholics coming home from a night out, stabbing 45-year-old Brian Rouse in the head and leaving him for dead. Mr Rouse’s father, Daniel, was beaten to death in a similar attack by the UVF in 1983. Local sources told the Pat Finucane Centre that the RUC/PSNI had earlier in the evening ignored pleas from nationalist residents to apprehend a gang of loyalists who had been attacking people with knives as they tried to make their way back to the nationalist Tunnel area of Portadown. The local Ulster Unionist representative Meta Crozier said, "There is no justification for what happened. Two rival groups came together and the police, as always, were in the middle". (IN, CW, RUC/PSNI)

March 25, Monday.
There was sectarian rioting in the Whitewell area of north Belfast. Nationalists accused loyalists of attacking Catholic homes. (IN)

Unionist politicians accused republicans of launching an attack on loyalists in the Newington/Hallidays Road interface area in north Belfast. There were also claims of further attacks by nationalists on parents picking their children up from the Currie Primary School. However, Maria Burke, a resident of Newington Street said, "there was no-one near the school. Two young guys started throwing bottles and bricks into Newington Street so I went out with my video and filmed the road. There was no one else there except [someone from Tiger’s Bay]" (IN, CW)

A Belfast court charged 17-year-old Graham Bell from North Queen Street with riotous behaviour on three consecutive days at the Limestone Road interface area. He was remanded on bail. (IN)

March 26, Tuesday
UN Special Rapporteur Param Cumaraswamy told the British Government that the "United Nations has made it abundantly clear to the British government that the appointment of an international judge to examine the murder of Pat Finucane is not the proper mechanism and that it does not have any merit and would result in further delays, expense and public anguish". The Finucane family are campaigning for a full independent judicial inquiry into the all the circumstances surrounding the 1989 state-directed loyalist assassination of Belfast lawyer Pat Finucane in front of his wife and children. As with the Stevens investigation, they regard the appointment of an international judge as a stalling tactic. (IN)

The RUC/PSNI charged three men with arson and possession of petrol bombs after an incident in which a car was petrol bombed on Sharman Road, South Belfast. (RUC/PSNI)

The RUC/PSNI found 650 bottles and nine petrol bombs in the loyalist Longlands Court in north Belfast. (RUC/PSNI)

March 27, Wednesday.
RUC/PSNI officers arrested, questioned and then released senior Shankill loyalist William "Mo" Courtney in connection with the Steven’s investigation into the 1989 assassination of solicitor Pat Finucane. It is believed Courtney was arrested following information given to the Steven’s team by Ken Barrett, the loyalist who fled Belfast in January, fearing he was going to be murdered by the UDA. It is thought that Barrett is one of the two gunmen who shot Pat Finucane. Another member of the UDA involved in the murder, Billy Stobie, was assassinated in December last year after charges against him were dropped and he supported the Finucane family’s call for a fully independent judicial inquiry. The PUP’s David Ervine said that Stobie’s murder "reeked" of military intelligence involvement. (IN, BBC) (see December attacks)

March 28, Thursday.
One week after International Day against Racism, Northern Irish Moslems reacted angrily to the DUP’s rejection of a gift of friendship made by Moslems to the people of Ballymena. A brass plaque, featuring a design from the Ka’bah door in the holy city of Mecca, was rejected by councillors Robin Stirling, James Alexander and Sam Gaston of the DUP. Mr Alexander explained that he did "not believe in the Islamic faith" and was "suspicious because of the attacks on New York and Washington…A lot of people in the United States and elsewhere have been slaughtered by them" he added that "there is only one Lord, one faith and one baptism by the holy spirit as written in the holy scriptures". Dr Mamoun Mobayed, the Moslem Chaplain at Queen’s University said "I feel as if we are in the Northern Ireland of 15 or 20 years ago". (IN, BBC)

March 30, Saturday.
A number of plastic bullets were fired by the RUC/PSNI during sectarian rioting in north Belfast. Rioters threw petrol bombs and pushed burning vehicles into RUC/PSNI lines. (RUC/PSNI)

Sources:

Sectarian attacks section

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