A report on sectarianism in East Antrim

AS THE IRA CESSATION came into force at noon on Sunday 20 July An Phoblacht talked with Catholics from the East Antrim town of Larne about their experiences over the past numbers of years at the hands of loyalist paramilitaries. The test of a new peace process will be how such communities fare in the future.

The IRA cessation of August 1994 coincided with a campaign of terror against Larne Catholics that was orchestrated by known members of the UVF, some of whom had moved to Larne from Rathcoole in Belfast.

Because of their fear of loyalist retaliation, and their vulnerability, the people we spoke to chose to remain anonymous. They spoke of their distrust of the RUC and their lack of willingness to protect Catholics in the town, turning a blind eye, rather than challenging loyalist paramilitary power.

Centred mainly on the Craigyhill and Antiville areas of Larne the attacks have seen groups of men armed with baseball bats with nails in them and iron bars break their way into the homes of Catholics and beat the occupants severely.

The homes of many Catholics have had their windows broken and their cars damaged, but the most serious of the recent attacks has seen a bomb planted under the van of a local man. The bomb exploded under the passenger seat where the man's partner and their child were seated; they were lucky to escape injury in the attack on January 20 this year.

Two months later in March a young nationalist was wounded in a shooting carried out by loyalists at Bawnmore in Belfast. It turned out that the car used in the attack, a silver Ford Sierra, was seen three days before the attempted murder in Carnlough which is ten miles from Larne, being driven by two known loyalist gunmen from Rathcoole. Although the RUC were aware of the presence of the gunmen they took no action.

Since the first Drumcree crisis in 1995 when the port of Larne was blocked for two days by Orangemen the marching season has, especially at the Drumcree period, seen an increase in tension.

In the past couple of months the tension in Larne has again increased, leading to an intensification of the campaign against Catholics.

Bars and night clubs in the town have been put under pressure by loyalists to employ their members as security and door staff. This, according to one source, has seen Catholics being ordered out of these premises or else the bouncers just refuse them entry. In another instance a poster saying, ``no dogs or Fenians'' was put up in a bar. ``Those Catholics who have not heeded these warnings have been beaten'', said our sorce.

Of the people we spoke to one was speaking from abroad where he emigrated after a series of attacks by loyalists. Despite living away from Ireland the man was afraid for his family and asked that we ensure his identity be kept secret and said the the RUC had told him specifically that loyalists, connected to the UVF, tried on at least one occasion to kill him with a bomb.

Just prior to the attempt on his life he had been hospitalised in an attack the previous Christmas and it was these attacks that finally left the man in his thirties with no option but to emigrate.

Emigration, however, has not given the Larne man the security he would have hoped for. One night he received a phone call from someone who asked for him by name. ``A man's voice said, `we know you are there' and then hung up. The number is ex-directory so I would be worried about this.''

Since May of this year there have been nine seperate attacks on Catholics in Larne, most of these have been physical attacks on people in their homes. However, one man who lives close to the local RUC station was awakened one night by the sound of two men climbing over his back wall. He noticed that one of the intruders was carrying a gun, but when he turned on a light the pair fled. The man is now living in England; like many of his neighbours he chose the emigration boat rather than live with the threat of loyalism in a town that embodies the bigotry and anti-Catholicism on which this statelet was built.

JOHN'S STORY

John is the fictitious name of a young man who was born in Craigyhill in the 1970s although his family moved out when he was seven.

``Around that time they called it Taigyhill because there were a lot of Catholics in the estate then, but over the years as a lot of loyalists moved out from Rathcoole they targeted Catholics'', said John.

``The Catholics were always isolated, they could be easily attacked. They never really got the chance to pull together and defend themselves. I moved back in to Craigyhill four years ago and lived in a flat. I always got verbal abuse from the local loyalists but then last year, about March, a gang of about ten tried to break their way in. They were at the door for an hour and we called the RUC who came out but didn't actually do anything. When the RUC left, the loyalists who had just walked away, returned and warned me that they wouldn't come in that night as my girlfriend and child was there, but they would get me again.''

Before they left the loyalists pushed pieces of lighted paper through his letter box.

John moved to another flat shortly after this incident but ended up in hospital when in February of this year six men broke into this flat and beat him severely.

``I was in bed when they arrived. There was six of them and they had baseball bats with nails through them and an iron bar. I jammed myself between the wall and the wardrobe so they could not really get at me. I still ended up in hospital with multiple puncture wounds and severe bruising. They were from the UVF.''

John was ordered out of Larne and now lives in a town further up the coast.