The following list of sectarian and other hate-driven incidents and attacks is from 1 through 30 September 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 September, Monday. PA reported that "independent sources" had confirmed that loyalist-British Intelligence double agent Brian Nelson, closely linked to the FRU-UDA assassination of Pat Finucane in 1992, had died of natural causes in April 2003. His death had raised suspicions, coming as it did days before the publishing of the summary of the Stevens report into the Finucane and other murders, and months after the assassination of fellow UDA-FRU agent, Billy Stobie. (PA)
2 September, Tuesday. Loyalists targeted a mixed religion couple in a petrol bomb attack on their Lisburn home. (UTV, IN)
Loyalists were blamed for a stone attack on a school bus carrying pupils from the Cliftonville Primary School as it passed Cliftonville Park in north Belfast. The school draws pupils from both Catholic and Protestant backgrounds. (IN, NBN, CW)
3 September, Wednesday. Following an order from the UDA to "get out", two Catholic families fled their homes in the mixed religion Deerpark Road in north Belfast. In all four families fled the area since August 29. One woman said "from June, we have had 18 bricks through our windows". Other families vowed to move out as a young Catholic man was hit in the face by a brick thrown by the occupants of a car that had drawn up along side him, shouted "fenian" and attempted to force him into the car. (IN, BBC, NBN, AN, CW)
6 September, Saturday. Three young Catholic teenagers who had spent the day skateboarding at Boucher Road Skate Park in south Belfast were attacked by loyalist youths after they went into a shop on Tate's Avenue to buy a drink. By the time the mother of one of the boys arrived in her car to rescue them, the bottle and stone throwing crowd had grown to 20 and attacked the west Belfast woman as well as damaging her car. (AN)
7 September, Sunday. Following a UVF commemoration for sectarian killer Brian Robinson, loyalists in Carrickhill, close to the Shankill, attacked 30 year old Seamus Mallon, a Catholic, with a hatchet, as he walked home after a night out with friends. The gang attacked two people who attempted to assist Mr Mallon, injuring one of them. He was left for dead but was rescued by a Carrickhill resident who phoned an ambulance. The same resident told the North Belfast News that a gang of loyalists had been patrolling the area in a black car, keeping in touch with accomplices using mobile phones. However, Billy Hutchinson of the UVF-aligned PUP said "there is no evidence to suggest that Protestants are responsible for this serious attack". Mr Mallon received ten stitches to the front of his head, as well as two to the back and ten stitches and reconstructive surgery to his ear. (NBN, CW, UTV, PA, AN)
PSNI seized pipe bombs during planned searches of houses in Ballyhorran, Downpatrick, Co Down. (UTV)
8 September, Monday. Loyalists were blamed for throwing a hoax pipe bomb at a Catholic owned home in the Leckagh Walk area of Magherafelt, Co Derry. (UTV, PA, CW)
Loyalists from Rathcoole, a UDA stronghold, were blamed for vandalising Catholic graves in Carnmoney Cemetery, Newtownabbey, north of Belfast. There had been previous attacks on Catholic graves in June 2003, and in May 2002 when loyalists attacked the grave of Daniel McColgan, the 20 year old Catholic postman murdered by the UDA in Rathcoole in January of that year. One family declared their intention to have their mother exhumed and reburied elsewhere (see September 10, 14, 2003 and January 2002). (BBC, NBN, CW, UTV, IN)
9 September, Tuesday. A Catholic prison officer alleging discrimination told a Fair Employment hearing that the Northern Ireland Prison Service had passed him over for promotion in spite of his having helped compile a fundamental review of the service in 1996/97. (UTV, IN, BT)
In Armagh two people escaped injury after a pipe bomb attack on their home in Faughaballagh Way. (UTV)
Loyalists from Sandy Row were blamed for daubing "Taigs Out" on the walls of the privately owned Whitehall Square apartment block in South Belfast. (IN, SBN)
10 September, Wednesday. Loyalists painted "K.A.T" ("Kill all Taigs") and UYM (Ulster Youth Movement, the youth wing of the UDA) on the doors and walls of St Mary's Catholic Church, Carnmoney, north of Belfast (see September 8, 14). (IN)
11 September, Thursday. The mother of one of the Holy Cross pupils who had to run a gauntlet of loyalist protesters in order to get to her north Belfast school began high court proceedings against the RUC/PSNI for failing in their duty of care to protect pupils and parents adequately on their way to school. (IN, BBC)
12 September, Friday. William Alan Hill, 21 from Southport Court, Belfast, appeared in court, charged with attempting to murder three people during a bomb attack on an SDLP advice centre on the Antrim Road. The three had been attending a Scouting Association meeting in the same building. Hill was also charged with membership of the Red Hand Defenders, a cover name for the UDA. (UTV, BBC, IN, NBN)
13 September, Saturday. In north Belfast, the PSNI visited the offices of the North Belfast News to warn a photographer employed by the newspaper that he was under a UDA death threat. (NBN, PA, UTV)
14 September, Sunday. 'Cemetery Sunday'; 200 loyalists hurled abuse and blew horns at Catholic worshippers and their priest, Fr Dan Whyte, as he performed the Blessing of the Graves service at Carnmoney Cemetery, in Newtownabbey, north of Belfast. A group calling itself the "Loyalist Action Force" issued a death threat against Fr Whyte. A PSNI Chief Superintendent said he believed the Red Hand Commando, a nom de guerre for the UVF, was responsible for the attacks and the death threat. The claim was denied by Billy Hutchinson of the UVF-aligned PUP (see September 8, 10, 28). (IN, BBC, UTV, PSNI)
Eight graves were desecrated at a Catholic Cemetery in Scarva, Co Down. (IN)
15 September, Monday. Loyalists planted a pipe bomb at St Mary's High School in Limavady, Co Derry, and another ten miles away at St Patrick's College in Dungiven. Security forces defused both devices. (IN, UTV, BBC)
Loyalists targeted two more Catholic homes on the Deerpark Road in north Belfast in a drive-by attack. While the PSNI said they were keeping an open mind as to the motive for the attack, local residents insisted that it was part of the UDA campaign to drive Catholic families out of the mixed-religion area (see September 3). (IN, NBN)
17 September, Wednesday. A caller claiming to be from the Continuity IRA claimed responsibility for a hoax pipe bomb left at the mainly Protestant Boys Model School in Ballysillan, north Belfast. (UTV, CW)
Martin Morgan, the Catholic Lord Mayor of Belfast, received a loyalist paramilitary death threat over his support for the Peter McBride Justice Campaign. Father Aidan Troy, chairman of the board of governors at Holy Cross primary School in Ardoyne had also received a number of death threats. (NBN, IN, BBC)
18 September, Thursday. "Elaborate hoax" packages were used in bomb scares against six Catholic Schools, five in Belfast, one in Larne, Co Antrim. (IN, CW, NBN)
20 September, Saturday. The UDA were blamed for petrol bombing four Catholic homes in Bawnmore, Newtownabbey, north of Belfast. An attempt had also been made on a fifth house in the area. In one of the homes, a 10-day old baby was rescued from a room that had caught fire. The father of the baby told the North Belfast News that he was told by a PSNI officer not to bother making a statement. He also said that fragments of bottle, large enough to take fingerprints from, were not taken away by the PSNI. (PA, IN, UTV, AN, CW, NBN)
Grown men from the loyalist Shankill assaulted a Catholic 14 year old boy on the Springfield Road in west Belfast, using baseball bats, before attempting to drag him through the gate in the "peace wall" at Lanark Way. (AN, CW)
Loyalists assaulted two Catholic men using an iron bar and a broken bottle as they were leaving Ballyskeagh greyhound track in Belfast. (IN)
22 September, Monday. A caller claiming to be from the "Catholic Reaction Force" claimed responsibility for a device left at the mainly Protestant Larne High School in Larne, Co Antrim, causing it to close for the day. The device turned out to be a hoax. Nearby Moyle primary and nursery schools were also closed. (UTV, CW)
In west Belfast the words "Kill all Huns, Kill all Prods" were daubed on the Westlink Slip Road, leading to the Falls. (AN)
25 September, Thursday. Loyalists were blamed for a pipe bomb, which was left at the gates of the Catholic Dominican College in Fortwilliam Park, north Belfast. (IN)
26 September, Friday. Nationalist youths on the Crumlin Road stoned a bus carrying pupils from the mainly Protestant Girls Model High School. A number of the children were injured. (IN, CW)
28 September, Sunday. Speaking about the desecration of Catholic graves in Carnmoney and the death threats against Fr Dan Whyte (See September 8, 10, 14) on the BBC Politics Show, Newtownabbey Ulster Unionist councillor Ivan Hunter said: "It's the Catholic Community have to accept responsibility for this… they have to realise that they have created this situation and it is up to them to try and prevent it happening again…The truth hurts and the Catholic Church have to take ownership of this problem which is their creation". Mr Hunter's comments were supported by NI Unionist Party representative Norman Boyd, who called on Fr Whyte to cancel the Cemetery Sunday services adding that it was a "scandal" that the nationalist community could be allowed to "take over" the cemetery. (IN, BBC, UTV, BT)
29 September, Monday. Loyalists were blamed for an arson attack on Sinn Fein offices in Omagh, Co Tyrone. (UTV)
11 year old pupils of Our Lady of Mercy Catholic School in Ballysillan, north Belfast, watched in horror as loyalists rampaged through the carpark burning out six cars and seriously damaging others. The attack happened minutes before the children were due their lunch break. (IN, CW)
In Derry, nationalist youths petrol bombed the "Peace Wall" separating the mainly Protestant Fountain estate from the neighbouring Bishop Street area. (IN, DJ, LS)
30 September, Tuesday. Nationalists were blamed for an attempted arson attack on the mainly Protestant Ligoniel Primary School in north Belfast.
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