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 attacks is from 30 October through 1 December 1999. 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.
30 October – The Andersonstown News reports that a "sectarian nail gang strikes again".
Children’s soccer matches at Tildarg park in west Belfast were cancelled after over "200 deadly six inch oboe nails were found placed pointed end up … and small sharp tacks were spread out across the goalmouths to ensure maximum injury." It is the second time that the football pitches at the park have been targeted. Belfast City Council will now sweep the grounds with metal detectors before future fixtures.
Following the last such incident, SDLP assembly member Carmel Hanna revealed that she received a phone warning from loyalists. Ms. Hanna was told that "hundreds of nails [have been spread] on the pitch at Carnamore because we don’t want Catholic teams playing there."
She was also told that there would be no further warnings.
31 October – Pastor Clifford Peeples, one of two men arrested only days before in connection to an explosives find (26/10/99), attacked a republican prisoner in Maghaberry prison. It is alleged that Peeples scalded the man in the face and chest with a cup of hot water.
He has since been moved to another wing of the prison and faces disciplinary charges.
November 1 – A "news brief" in the Irish News notes that RUC detectives in Antrim are still questioning five-suspected loyalist dissidents. Two had been arrested on the 28th of October while the three others were arrested the following day.
A firearm was recovered after one of the arrests.
November 2 – RUC detectives found a number of pipe bombs hidden in a hedgerow while conducting a search of the loyalist Mourneview area of Lurgan, Co. Armagh.
November 3 – Three young men, two being students at the University of Ulster, appeared before Antrim magistrates court on conspiracy to murder charges.
Paul and Mervyn Armstrong of Dunadry, Co Antrim were also charged with possession of a firearm and ammunition; the former was accused of possessing information likely to be of use to paramilitaries as well.
Stuart Wilson was charged with being a member of the Orange Volunteers and with three other offences.
All three have been remanded in custody to appear before the same court on 1 December.
The RUC arrested three Belfast men for questioning in regards to the 1989 murder of solicitor Pat Finucane.
Commenting on the arrests, Ulster Democratic Party spokesman John White said: "I can only describe the arrest and detention of these three men as part of an ongoing campaign of police harassment being directed at loyalists living in the greater Shankill area [of Belfast].
In May of this year, White said, "if UFF personnel are going to be arrested [in relation to Pat Finucane’s murder] it will have a serious effect on whether the UFF would continue to support the peace process".
November 4 – Detectives found up to 300 military files in an Orange hall in Stoneyford, Co. Antrim. The files contain photographs, addresses, telephone numbers and other personal details of republicans living in Belfast and South Armagh. They were thought to have been in the possession of senior members of the Orange Volunteers.
"I can’t state what really went on there but I know the lodge is aghast at the situation," said Co. Antrim Grand Master Robert McIlroy.
For more information on the relationship between the Loyal Orders and loyalist paramilitaries over the past 30 years, see "For God and Ulster: an alternative guide to the loyal orders"
November 5 – Hundreds of republicans were warned by the RUC that their lives could be at risk from loyalist paramilitaries. The warnings follow the previous day’s discovery of a number of military documents in an Orange hall.
The top story in the day’s Irish News covered the discovery. The article, along with an editorial piece, can be found at:
Order ‘aghast’ at death files find
and
The documents are alleged to have come from the regular British Army units, not the Royal Irish Regiment.
A Catholic church in Derry came under attack shortly before 6 am. Two petrol bombs were thrown against the exterior walls of St. Columb’s church on Derry’s Waterside.
November 7 – O’Neill’s funeral home on the Stewartstown Road in west Belfast was attacked. According to the Andersonstown News, vandals "broke in through the back door of the building and poured petrol through a pipe into the embalming room before setting it on fire." Extensive damage was done to the business’s preparing room.
"It’s the same old thing, we are in a key position here between the two communities, and because we are a Catholic business people seem to target us," said funeral home owner Donna O’Neill.
Despite "persistent" attempts by loyalist to drive the funeral home out of business, the owners said they were staying.
In August of 1997, the business was the target of an arson attack that extensively damaged a chapel, storerooms and a kitchen.
In the early hours of the morning, the home of a Catholic family from the Turf Lodge area of west Belfast was petrol bombed. A couple and their two youngest children were in the house at the time but were uninjured.
When the RUC arrived at the home to investigate the attack, one family member was told that his details had been amongst those discovered at the Stoneyford Orange hall earlier in the week.
November 8 – The three men arrested in connection with the murder of Pat Finucane were released.
The trial of Stephen McClean and Noel McCready begins in Belfast. The two men have been accused of a double murder connected to a LVF gun attack on the Railway Bar in Poyntzpass, Co. Armagh last year.
The murders of Philip Allen and Damien Trainor received international media attention because their friendship spanned the North’s so-called sectarian divide. Philip Allen was a Protestant and Damien Trainor was a Catholic.
Allen and Trainor were the 9th and 10th victims of a loyalist’s sectarian killing spree that marked the beginning of 1998.
November 9 – The Irish News reports that Norman Coopey, the man jailed for the brutal sectarian murder of 16 year-old James Morgan, was never expelled from the Orange Order. Instead, Coopey "was allowed to resign".
The murder of James Morgan in July of 1997 was particularly gruesome and horrific. According to Lost Lives, a new book that tells the stories of all who have died as a result of the Troubles:
RUC divers recovered his mutilated body from a water-filled hole on a farm at Blackstaff Road on the outskirts of Clough, about five miles from his home at Annsbourough, near Castlewellan. He had been savagely beaten and an attempt was made to burn the body before it was dumped. The sink hole was used by local farmers to dispose of dead farm animals and an attempt was made to cover up the youth’s body in the pit.
In January of this year, Coopey was sentenced to life for the murder of James Morgan. He will qualify for early release under the Good Friday agreement.
November 10 – A pipe bomb with a jar of nails attached to it was discovered on the windowsill of a flat off of Belfast’s Lower Ormeau Road. The device was later made safe by an Army bomb disposal team.
Commenting on the attack, Lower Ormeau Concerned Community spokesperson Gerard Rice said, " Like all of these attacks, this has been deliberately designed to instil fear within the community."
Loyalists have been blamed for the pipe bomb.
November 11 – Five letters containing bullets were intercepted at a postal sorting office in Newry, Co. Down. The letters were signed by loyalist dissidents – allegedly the Orange Volunteers.
A Sinn Fein activist and three of his brothers were among those targeted.
It is thought that the incident is linked to the discovery of over 300 military files on republicans found in an Orange hall the previous week.
A Catholic-owned funeral home, situated on the peaceline separating the Protestant Suffolk and Catholic Lenadoon estates, was attacked again. (see November 7) An Army bomb disposal team was called to the premises to diffuse what appeared to be a pipe bomb. The device turned out to be a hoax.
Earlier in the week, owners of the funeral home noted the sectarian nature of previous attacks on the premises.
November 13 – The Andersonstown News carries an article highlighting an ongoing "campaign of intimidation against nationalist councillors". The article notes that the homes of south Belfast councillors Catherine Molloy (SDLP), Carmel Hanna (SDLP) and Sean Hayes (Sinn Fein) have all been recently attacked.
Ball bearings have been fired at the windows of all three councillors. No one has been injured in any of the incidents.
Loyalists are thought to be behind the attacks.
November 14 – The home of a Catholic family in north Belfast was targeted in a pipe bomb attack. No one was injured in the attack.
One family member described the incident as part of an ongoing campaign against Catholics in the area. A number of other local Catholic families have been subject to sectarian attacks.
Just weeks before the incident, the RUC had warned the family member that his personal details were in the hands of loyalists. He is unsure if this warning was related to the documents recently found in the Stoneyford Orange hall.
A west Belfast couple was subject to a vicious sectarian attack in Belfast City centre. A 22 year-old woman and her boyfriend were kicked, beaten and spat upon by three loyalists in the Shaftesbury Square area.
According to the Andersonstown News, the attack took place after the woman’s boyfriend "intervened to stop the three thugs – one wearing a band uniform, another wearing a Glasgow Rangers top – from assaulting a young man and subjecting him to sectarian abuse."
The intervention only angered the attackers more and their attentions then turned to the young couple. The pair were saved when the young man’s co-workers came to his rescue.
"I have never been so frightened in all my life," said the young woman. "I really thought that they were going to kill us."
November 15 – A Catholic family living in a predominantly Protestant area of Derry was the target of a sectarian arson attack. An 82-year-old pensioner and her daughter were seriously injured in the attack. Her son was also injured.
The full story on the incident can be found in the Irish News at:
Sectarian arson causes outrage
The Ulster Defence Association (UDA) later issued a statement, blaming the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) for the sectarian arson attack in Derry. The statement said:
This innocent family have played a very active role in the life of the Waterside community for many years. Rightly residents feel aggrieved at the attack waged on them by elements identified with the Progressive Unionist Party [PUP, the political wing of the UVF].
The UVF, through the PUP, responded to the statement and denied any involvement in the attack. It went on to say that "these allegations by the UDA are part of an orchestrated campaign by elements of the UDA … to blacken the name of loyal Protestants and unionists."
A Derry mother-of-three later branded the UDA’s condemnation of the sectarian arson attack hypocritical. Two years ago the woman was forced to leave her Waterside home after a sustained campaign of sectarian harassment by the UDA.
November 16 – The home of a man from Harryville, Ballymena (Co. Antrim) was petrol bombed. Two were in the house at the time but no one was injured. There was extensive damage to the living room.
"I think people may have found out that I used to be a Catholic and that’s why I’m being attacked," said the owner of the house. He is now a born-again Christian.
The Church of Our Lady – a Catholic church – is located in Harryville. Beginning in 1996, loyalists picketed the church in protest of the banning of loyal order parades in the nearby village of Dunloy. The picket lasted for over 20 months and cost the RUC an estimated £2 million to police.
November 17 – British Army technical officers carried out a search of a shopping centre in the heart of west Belfast after a caller claimed that a pipe bomb had been abandoned on the grounds. The caller claimed to be from the Orange Volunteers.
No device was found.
November 18 – A 45-year-old Catholic from the Short Strand area of Belfast was brutally attacked by loyalists just outside his home. His attackers, who are believed to be linked to the ‘on-ceasefire’ Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF), struck him in the face with the butt of a pistol. They then hacked his arms, head, stomach and back with a machete.
The man was saved when neighbours poured from their homes and gave chase to the attackers. He was treated in the Belfast City Hospital for his injuries.
The Irish News carries an article about a Catholic member of the Royal Irish Regiment who "says he has suffered a catalogue of sectarian abuse" from fellow soldiers. The British Army is currently investigating the allegations. The article can be found at:
Catholic soldier ‘bullied’ in RIR
November 21 – Parishioners from St. Gerard’s Church on the Antrim Road in north Belfast were stoned by a number of youths as they left the church after 7pm Mass. One man suffered minor head injuries.
Commenting on the attack, North Belfast SDLP assembly member Alban Maginness said, "There’s undoubtedly a sectarian element but its not purely sectarian – its hooliganism."
November 25 – The Irish News prints the full text of a UDA/UFF statement. In the statement, the "leadership of the UFF" announces that it will not be appointing a representative to General de Chastelain’s decommissioning body.
"They have decided to defer making a decision at all on the issue until they see the actual commitments which republicans have made being met," said Gary McMichael of the UDA/UFF-aligned Ulster Democratic Party.
It is worth noting that this same paramilitary organisation was linked to the December 1997/January 1998 sectarian murders of Eddie Treanor (31), Larry Brennan (52) and Ben Hughes (55). All three men were gunned down by the UDA/UFF nearly five months after the IRA reinstated its August 1994 ceasefire.
The full UDA/UFF statement appears below:
The leadership of the UFF has given consideration to political developments of the past week and recognises the potential for progress.A British Army bomb disposal unit carried out a controlled explosion on a pipe bomb found in the "staunchly loyalist" village of Bushmills, Co. Antrim. A man was arrested in a follow-up operation.However, reported comments from the USA by senior republicans have cast some doubt upon commitments given by the IRA. This has made it necessary for the UFF leadership to defer its decision on the appointment of an interlocutor to liase with the IICD (Independent International Commission on Decommissioning) until after the IRA has met its commitments in this regard.
by Paul O’Connor, Pat Finucane Centre
As Ulster unionist delegates dutifully filed into the Waterfront Hall in Belfast yesterday, another, largely forgotten, drama was continuing in the intensive care unit at Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry.
The family of 82-year-old Hilary Millar watch over their mother, day after day, still numbed from the after shocks of the sectarian fire bombing of their home in the Waterside area of Derry on November 13.
Hilary Millar remains seriously ill. This attempted murder of an entire family did not warrant front page headlines in the British newspapers, questions in parliament or calls for an end to the peace process.
The ‘decommissioning now’ camp didn’t flood newsrooms with ‘we told you so’ faxes. Why not? Why was conservative spokesman Andrew McKay not on our TV screens demanding a response from the government? The answer is both obvious and deeply disturbing.
The perpetrators of this sectarian attack were Loyalists. The victims were Catholics. The local UDA blamed the UVF who in turn cast aspersions on the "lifestyles, reputations and character of those people"(the UDA).
Recent events have led many to believe that the decommissioning issue may be resolved. Sequenced statements, good vibrations and praise for both side’s courage. The RUC Chief Constable isn’t fooled however, and issues regular warnings that dissidents are preparing to wreck the whole show. Britain is on full alert.
Following publication of the Patten report, the man from RUC HQ informed us that the threat from dissident Republicans was "rising by the day". Like floodwaters? Maybe it is.
Earlier this week, Scotland Yard issued a similar warning. No one in their right mind could discount the possibility that dissident Republicans might be planning attacks. (Perhaps those devoting political energy to the intricacies of timing devices would study the lessons of the 1956-62 campaign, not the past thirty years, and ask themselves some hard questions).
Thankfully, since Omagh, any discussion of dissident republican attacks has been in the realm of the hypothetical. Not so the reality for Catholic families throughout the North.
Between September 12, when the RUC Chief Constable issued his post-Patten warning and the latest alert from Scotland Yard this week, there were at least 35 sectarian attacks on Catholic homes and property.
Take your pick of perpetrators. Just about any combination of the loyalist alphabet which includes the words Ulster, Loyalist or Orange will do.
Not to mention the embarrassing discovery of security force documents at a certain Orange Hall in Stoneyford which has left 150 families fearing for their lives.
This poses a larger question in regards to decommissioning. When was the last time a journalist cornered a spokesperson for the UDP or PUP and challenged them on the issue of decommissioning?
Is the UDA in Larne, scene of a sustained sectarian campaign over the past months, ready to embrace the decommissioning of pipe or petrol bombs?
Unionists tell us that the crucial difference between loyalist and republican weapons is that the UDP/PUP will not be eligible for those coveted Ministerial cars. No government, no guns! Leaving aside the complete irrelevancy of this argument for those bearing the brunt of the ongoing loyalist campaign this argument should, in theory, pose a dilemma for the DUP. The Lost Tribe of Ulster has promised to take up their ministerial seats, albeit as wreckers.
With bated breath we await the appointment of the interlocutor from the DUP to negotiate the fate of weapons still in the hands of Ulster Resistance.
None of this of course will help 82 year Hilary Millar but the massive support shown to her family by Protestant neighbours has surely lessened their pain.