5 February 1998 Edition
``Here they come''
Laura Friel looks at how the media reacted to the truth from West and North Belfast
``What a sickener,'' ran the Newsletter double page banner headline; ``Rally marred by conflict as republican agitators unfurl one-sided propaganda slogans''.
Businesses closed, taxi services were suspended, community groups finished early as around two thousand people from West Belfast gathered on Friday afternoon to march to a rally in the city centre organised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions in response to the recent upsurge in sectarian killings. The crowd was a fair cross section of people who live and work in West Belfast. At 11am they unfurled their banners and walked out onto the Falls Road. ``End the nationalist nightmare'', ``Catholic lives - who cares?'', ``Sectarian murders - Sectarian state'' and ``Catholic hostages to the Union'' ran the messages they carried. In Castle Street they were joined by people from North Belfast.
In recent weeks, as in other nationalist communities, people from North and West Belfast have comforted grieving families, kept vigil at wakes, mourned at funerals and buried their dead with dignity. They were a community often terrified, but refusing to be terrorised. When they marched down Royal Avenue to the City Hall they should have been hailed as heroes; instead they were jeered. ``Here they come,'' said a voice, ``here they come to hijack the rally.''
``Sadly, [the] rally was marred...by the blatantly sectarian tone of a Sinn Féin-led group, who gathered with politically motivated banners to stridently push their narrow agenda,'' said the Newsletter editorial. ``Decent law abiding people'' were counterposed to ``those so closely aligned with the Provisional IRA terrorists''. A ``heartfelt desire for a genuine and lasting peace'' compared to ``cheap political posturing''. The people from North and West Belfast were ``belligerent'', ``strident'', ``cynical', pushy refusniks who did not belong to those ``ordinary people'', ``the greater number'' who ``wished to maintain their British citizenship and way of life.'' The Newsletter wasn't fighting shy of its own political agenda.
In the nationalist Irish News the message was: ``Banners spark row at rally for peace''. The people of West and North Belfast were accused of distracting attention ``from the real significance of the City Hall rally'' and introducing ``an element of disharmony'' which was ``extremely regrettable''. While the banners were ``totally inappropriate'', the Irish News praised people at the rally for ``making their voices heard'' and refusing to be ``intimidated into silence''.
``Republicans mar Northern Ireland's day of peace,'' claimed the London Independent, extensively and uncritically quoting David Ervine, political representative for the UVF. Television coverage by the British media repeatedly showed an outraged Billy Hutchinson of the PUP confronting Gerry Adams and accusing Sinn Féin of dancing on the graves of innocent Catholics. No journalist even mouthed a question. Only Dublin's Irish Times held its ground: ``Unionists accuse SF of hijacking Belfast peace rally''.
And what about the ordinary people of North and West Belfast? ``It is shameful that the trade union organisers of this rally refused our request to speak from the platform,'' said Liz Groves, spokesperson for West Belfast community groups. ``Our community is pointing the finger at those Unionist politicans who have been cheerleaders for loyalist violence. We are pointing the finger at Ronnie Flanagan and the RUC who have lied about the involvement of the UDA in sectarian terror and murder throughout their ceasefire.'' Marginalised, vilified, but here they come, Northern nationalists are out of the ghettoes, their voices will be heard.
``What a sickener,'' ran the Newsletter double page banner headline; ``Rally marred by conflict as republican agitators unfurl one-sided propaganda slogans''.
Businesses closed, taxi services were suspended, community groups finished early as around two thousand people from West Belfast gathered on Friday afternoon to march to a rally in the city centre organised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions in response to the recent upsurge in sectarian killings. The crowd was a fair cross section of people who live and work in West Belfast. At 11am they unfurled their banners and walked out onto the Falls Road. ``End the nationalist nightmare'', ``Catholic lives - who cares?'', ``Sectarian murders - Sectarian state'' and ``Catholic hostages to the Union'' ran the messages they carried. In Castle Street they were joined by people from North Belfast.
In recent weeks, as in other nationalist communities, people from North and West Belfast have comforted grieving families, kept vigil at wakes, mourned at funerals and buried their dead with dignity. They were a community often terrified, but refusing to be terrorised. When they marched down Royal Avenue to the City Hall they should have been hailed as heroes; instead they were jeered. ``Here they come,'' said a voice, ``here they come to hijack the rally.''
``Sadly, [the] rally was marred...by the blatantly sectarian tone of a Sinn Féin-led group, who gathered with politically motivated banners to stridently push their narrow agenda,'' said the Newsletter editorial. ``Decent law abiding people'' were counterposed to ``those so closely aligned with the Provisional IRA terrorists''. A ``heartfelt desire for a genuine and lasting peace'' compared to ``cheap political posturing''. The people from North and West Belfast were ``belligerent'', ``strident'', ``cynical', pushy refusniks who did not belong to those ``ordinary people'', ``the greater number'' who ``wished to maintain their British citizenship and way of life.'' The Newsletter wasn't fighting shy of its own political agenda.
In the nationalist Irish News the message was: ``Banners spark row at rally for peace''. The people of West and North Belfast were accused of distracting attention ``from the real significance of the City Hall rally'' and introducing ``an element of disharmony'' which was ``extremely regrettable''. While the banners were ``totally inappropriate'', the Irish News praised people at the rally for ``making their voices heard'' and refusing to be ``intimidated into silence''.
``Republicans mar Northern Ireland's day of peace,'' claimed the London Independent, extensively and uncritically quoting David Ervine, political representative for the UVF. Television coverage by the British media repeatedly showed an outraged Billy Hutchinson of the PUP confronting Gerry Adams and accusing Sinn Féin of dancing on the graves of innocent Catholics. No journalist even mouthed a question. Only Dublin's Irish Times held its ground: ``Unionists accuse SF of hijacking Belfast peace rally''.
And what about the ordinary people of North and West Belfast? ``It is shameful that the trade union organisers of this rally refused our request to speak from the platform,'' said Liz Groves, spokesperson for West Belfast community groups. ``Our community is pointing the finger at those Unionist politicans who have been cheerleaders for loyalist violence. We are pointing the finger at Ronnie Flanagan and the RUC who have lied about the involvement of the UDA in sectarian terror and murder throughout their ceasefire.'' Marginalised, vilified, but here they come, Northern nationalists are out of the ghettoes, their voices will be heard.