Last Monday, the 2nd of December was the 25th Anniversary of the Bombing of McGurk's bar in Belfast in which 15 innocent people were killed. The bombinng, officially described by the Police and British Army as an IRA own goal, was in fact the work of Loyalists associated with the UVF and the Red Hand Commando, who claimed the attack using the name 'Empire Loyalists'. The the crater at the devastated site of the Tramore Bar, as McGurks was officially known, was bulldozed in by the authorities and the real culprits neither denounced nor blamed by either the authorities or the media. This despite the fact that it was claimed by Loyalists and that an eye witness saw them planting the bomb. In 1978 self confessed UVF member Robert James Campbell was given 16 life sentences for the bomb and the murder of a Protestant worker he mistook for a Catholic. He was released in 1993. At the time, the bombing was the worst single atrocity of the troubles, in spite of this it was never recognised as such. On Monday a plaque was unveiled near the site of the bar in rememberence of the 15 innocent people killed. They were; Philomena McGurk(46), Marie McGurk(14), James Cromie (13), John Colton (49), Thomas McLaughlin (55), David Milligan (52), James Smyth (58), Francis Bradley (61), Thomas Keane (49), Kathleen Irvine (53), Philip Garry (75), Edward kane (29), Edward Keenan (69), Sarah Keenan (58), Robert Spotswood (38). 16 people were also injured in the blast, one of whom died a year later as a result of it.
There will be a Bloody Sunday commemorative week end from the 31st of January to the 2nd of February 1997 to be held in Derry. The week end will mark the 25th anniversary of the murder of 14 innocent and unarmed civilians by a crack British Army Paratroop unit during a demonstration in Derry. Details of the atrocity and the subsequent British government cover-up can be found in the British-Irish Rights watch submission to the UN also to be found at this site. Details of the agenda for Bloody Sunday Week End 97 will follow shortly. Two of the events decided so far are entitled "Bloody Sunday : What happened and Why?" and "25 Years on : Why Bloody Sunday is still unresolved".
The London Borough of Camden has denied the London based Bloody Sunday Commemorative Campaign the right to hold a rally in one of its parks over the same week-end in London.
25 year old Roisin McAliskey, daughter of Bernadette, the Civil Rights leader and former MP, is being held in the English High security Belmarsh prison, (not Fulsutton as reported by us last week) where she has been denied a visit by her mother despite the fact that she is four and a half months pregnant. Ms McAliskey has been denied bail by Bow Street Magistrates court where she is facing an extradition warrant to Germany. Irish parliamentary Eamon O'Cuiv has expressed concern to the British government about the conditions under which Ms McAliskey is being held. Bernadette McAliskey said after she had been denied access to her daughter " I fail to be surprised at the racism and inhumanity of the British State".
Worse violence than over the previous eleven weeks erupted last Saturday at the Loyalist picket of Harryville Catholic Church in Ballymena. With violent sectarian attacks on Catholics and their property still going on in the early hours of this (Thursday 5th Dec) morning, when a Catholic primary school and two houses were petrol bombed and the young family of a woman whose partner is said to be Catholic were forced to flee, condemnantion has begun to trickle in from Unionists. Unionist politicians, including the Lord Mayor of Ballymena and a DUP councillor have pledged to join the Protestant clergy and members of the Protestant community already attending Mass in solidarity with the beleaguered Catholic worshippers. David Ervine, of the Loyalist fringe party the PUP has also said he would attend mass this Saturday if the violence continued. Mr Ervine has broken ranks with Unionism on a number of occasions before, most recently in his condemntion of the secret service generated tabloid smear campaign directed at a senior aide to US Senator George Mitchell, who is chairing the all-but-defunct all-party talks. The DUP's Ian Paisley Jr's condemnation of the violence at harryville has been described as hypocritical, given the inflammatory remarks made by him last week. Unionist politicians, and the DUP in particular have been accused in the past by working class Loyalists of wanting to fight "to the last drop of everybody else's blood", in other words of inciting loyalist violence, before codemning it with apparently clean hands. Last night (Thurs 5th-Fri 6th Dec) there were three more arson attacks on Catholic schools in the Ballymena area, after Police had given assurances that it would keep an eye on potential targets.
In the week since our last report a number of homes, schools and Churches have been attacked in what has been described by the Parish Priest of the besieged Our Lady's Chapel as naked sectarian hatred. Two people were also pulled out of their cars and beaten by the mob and an elderly lady thankfully escaped with relatively minor injuries when a brick thrown by the mob through her car window hit her on the shoulder. Loyalist leader David Ervine in the end pulled out of going to mass. It's believed that the motive for this is fear of causing a rift within Loyalism. There are reports that the mob outside the church comprises known ex-RUC officers as well as known Loyalist Paramilitaries. The belated and ambiguous response from church leaders to the crisis in Harryville has been condemned by a spokesperson for the Pat Finucane Centre: "Having finally been embarrassed into taking a public stand after a 12 week silence it would appear that leading churchmen in this community are more horrified at then scale of violence last week end and the bad name this gives to Ballymena rather than the actual fact of the ongoing 'protest' at the parish of Our Lady in Harryville"
A recent survey commissioned by the Police Authority in the aftermath of Drumcree has found that 63 percent of nationalists have no faith in the RUC when it comes to public order. A police spokesperson described this finding as "Serious".