The north Belfast soccer team, Cliftonville called off its away match at Portadown at half time on Saturday after hearing that buses containing Cliftonville fans had been attacked and prevented from going to the match by a large crowd of Portadown supporters hurling missiles and sectarian abuse. A number of civilians and 5 police officers were injured as the crowd threw bricks and stones, one of which weighed over 12 kg.. Petrified fans including children as young as four, crouched behind seats as the missiles smashed the windows. "We had to rip up the seats and hold them to the windows to try and protect ourselves. There was panic, everyone was hysterical" said one fan. "At one point this guy stepped away from the crowd and pulled a gun. It was probably a replica, but we didn't know that, we just saw him and hit the deck".
The RUC were criticised by fans for neglecting to warn them fully of the danger that lay ahead when they had the opportunity of doing so. The attack is seen by many as being part of an attempt to intimidate the mainly nationalist supported Cliftonville out of the Loyalist dominated Irish League. Belfast Celtic and Derry City, both 'nationalist' teams, have left the League following loyalist sectarian violence.
David Trimble, leader of the Ulster Unionists, the main unionist party in Northern Ireland, has met with prisoners from the UDA, UVF and Red Hand Commando paramilitary organisations in a bid to "safeguard" the loyalist ceasefire. Mr Trimble and party colleague Jeffrey Donaldson emerged from two hours of talks confident that the ceasefire would hold but warned "there is a risk that further republican violence would destabilise the situation".
Mr Trimble's UUP and the other unionist parties have consistently refused to talk to Sinn Fein on the grounds that they support paramilitary violence. His decision to have talks with loyalist paramilitaries because they have threatened to break their ceasefire is seen by nationalists as hypocritical and inconsistent.
Despite calls from some Protestant clergy for a halt to pickets on Catholic churches a crowd of over 150 right wing fundamentalists again picketed the Harryville chapel in Ballymena on Saturday night Mass goers were forced to walk a gauntlet of abusive loyalists. The continuing pickets are receiving virtually no media coverage.
Members of the Pat Finucane Centre will be touring southern Germany, giving a number of talks about the Human Rights situation in Northern Ireland between the 28th of October and the 2 nd of November.
In last weeks update we had an article in which we carried a statement from the press conference given in Belfast by the New York based Lawyers Committee on Human Rights (LCHR). If you would like their address for further information, you can write to them at:
Lawyers Committee on Human Rights 330 Seventh Avenue, 10 th Floor New York, New York 10001 USA (212) 629 6170
COPEX, the British company which organises 'exhibitions' selling 'internal security, counter insurgency and special operations equipment and services' to repressive regimes worldwide, is holding a fair at Sandown Racecourse, Surrey on November 5 th. The Campaign For Nuclear Disarmament are holding a Blockade
Two people who exercise considerable influence on southern Irish opinion are Suzanne Breen of the Irish Times and Ed Moloney of the Sunday Tribune. Both are perceived (down south) to have their ears close to the mythical ground in West Belfast and South Down.
Last Saturday Suzanne Breen carried an article in the Irish Times on the "Trimblistas-the bright young things who wanted to create a dynamic, vibrant party which would take unionism into the 21 st century..." Young followers of Unionist party leader David Trimble. On the Sunday Ed Moloney also scripted a piece for the Sunday Tribune on the "new breed of right wing unionism". Same topic, same target but somebody got it wrong.
According to Suzanne Breen today's young unionists want a "modern, progressive approach, free from crude sectarianism". The article leaves the reader in no doubt, these guys are the epitome of liberalism, young blood, radical reform etc.
Ed Moloney has a different story to tell. His "Young Turks" are, by all accounts, "disturbingly right wing". One liberal unionist is quoted thus," These guys would frighten me. They are astonishingly right wing. You know the sort of thing: the old Stormont back, the B Specials back on the border, put the Fenians (Catholics) back in their place..." The comparison was fascinating. The question is...which of these 'northern correspondents' got it right?