Masked unionist mob attacks Whitewell homes

Masked unionist thugs armed with crossbows, hatchets, iron bars and baseball bats attacked up to five homes in Catherine Court off the Whitewell Road in Belfast late on Sunday night 23 July. In one of the houses attacked the terrified mother of a six day old baby told of how she and her husband barricaded themselves in as they feared the mob was about to break their front door down.

Speaking to the media 12 hours after the attack the woman, who would only be identified as Danielle, said she was nursing six day old baby Emin on the sofa beside the front windows of the house when the loyalists struck.

"They were beating the windows and doors with iron bars. We just barricaded ourselves in", said Danielle.

In June Danielle's 91 year old grandmother was in her Crumlin Road home when it suffered a similar attack. "What kind of people attack a 91 year old woman and a six day old child", asked Danielle.

As the 40 strong loyalist gang rampaged its way through the small cul-de-sac smashing windows of homes and windscreens of cars, mother of two Kelly O'Kane came out of her home.She was confronted by a masked man who pointed a crossbow at her head. Her nine year old son witnessed the incident and according to O'Kane the boy couldn't sleep afterwards.

Sinn Féin councillor Tierna Cunningham, speaking to An Phoblacht at the scene said the PSNI took a number of crossbow bolts away on Monday morning. She described these as eight inch steel bolts. "Clearly the attackers fired a number of these bolts during this incursion. I dread to think of the consequences had one of them struck a resident".Other residents maintained that at least one of the gang was armed with "some sort of air rifle".

60 year old Teresa Knowles who lives in the first house on Catherine Court confronted the gang as they smashed her windows in. "I was so angry that I went out to confront them but they threatened me". The pensioner had to be treated for shock by paramedics who were called to the scene of the attack.

Tierna Cunningham demanded that the NIO seal off the alleyway between the Whitewell Road and the unionist Graymount area from where the attackers came.

"All people want is some kind of gate so their homes are protected", said Cunningham. The NIO maintain that to erect the gate at the adjacent Methodist Church would be to create a fire hazard but unless something is done someone along the Whitewell Road will be killed".

Meanwhile sectarian tensions in North Antrim remain high after two Catholic churches in Ballycastle and Bushmills were targeted by loyalists. The Church in Glenshesk near Ballycastle suffered smoke and fire damage after intruders started a fire in the sacristy last Tuesday 18 July. In a second attack, on Saturday 22 July Bushmills Church had a tar-like substance thrown over the front of the building.

It has also emerged that a teenager who witnessed the killing of 15 year old Michael McIlveen in Ballymena in May is under threat. 16 year old Christopher Graham's parents took their son out of school in June after the PSNI warned them he was at risk of attack.The teenager's father Danny said he feared for his young son's safety after the warning and after his 27 year old son Paul was badly beaten by loyalists close to where Michael McIlveen was attacked.Graham said that his family gave the PSNI witness statements about the McIlveen killing and since then, "they [the PSNI] have left us on our own".

UDA gang behind Derry sectarianism

A community activist involved in monitoring the Fountain 'peaceline' in Derry has told An Phoblacht that the UDA is behind the catalogue of attacks on nationalists in the city in recent months. These revelations come as 29-year-old Paul McCauley fights for his life in Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital after being savagely beaten by a loyalist mob in Derry in the early hours of Sunday morning 16 July.

According to the activist a well known UDA man, originally from the Waterside area of Derry, moved into the Fountain Estate and moved a number of other men - originally from Scotland - into the estate with him. This man, whose name has been given to An Phoblacht, has been seen at the scene of a number of attacks yet the PSNI have taken no action against him or his gang.

We have also been told that the man and two accomplices were arrested by the PSNI at Horace Street, which runs off the Fountain Estate, armed with iron bars, gloves and masks yet no action was taken against them.

Paul McCauley suffered serious head wounds after he and two friends were set upon by an eight strong loyalist gang as they attended a barbecue in the Chapel Road area of the Waterside. The gang launched their attack, which has been described as "attempted murder" from the loyalist Irish Street estate and as they escaped afterwards witnesses said they were laughing.

During the incident McCauley was beaten to the ground where he was repeatedly kicked, suffering a fractured skull. Speaking to the media McCauley's father Jim said that his son died clinically twice in the aftermath of the beating and had to be resuscitated by medical staff.

Of the two men attacked with Paul McCauley one, a disabled man suffered a broken jaw and was also treated in hospital for cuts and bruising to his body.

The attack on Paul McCauley was the most serious in a litany of sectarian attacks carried out by loyalists in Derry in recent months.

Between June and Thursday 13 July upwards of 15 incidents attributed to loyalist gangs have been recorded across Derry by community workers who have been working to stop trouble at the Fountain/Bishop Street interface.One of those assaulted was a community activist who intervened to prevent a number of young nationalists being attacked by loyalists. The loyalists turned on the 38 year old and struck him with a baseball bat, breaking his arm.That attack occurred on 24 June. An English visitor was set upon by a 15 strong loyalist gang earlier that day. The gang escaped into the Fountain after the attack.

Speaking to An Phoblacht the community activist stressed that it is only a minority of people living in the Fountain who are responsible for the sectarian violence.

"Most of the residents are elderly and do not want the violence but the UDA, for whatever reason, are intent in stirring up trouble".

Sinn Féin's Peter Anderson said that on two occasions eyewitnesses to assaults offered to accompany the PSNI and identify the assailants but the PSNI refused.

He also pointed out that incidents occurred within range of cameras in the British Army's Masonic Hall base yet the attackers seem able to act with impunity.

Sectarian monster sated with blood

BY Dr. Anne McCloskey

In the garden of my neighbour a young man was kicked to death. He was resuscitated, and remains fighting for his life on a life support system in the Royal Victoria Hospital. Two of his companions, one of whom is disabled, were beaten and kicked, sustaining serious injuries from which they will hopefully recover, at least physically. The monster that is sectarianism came, on the most beautiful evening of the year, to a group of friends having a party in a garden. It was looking for blood, and left sated.

This was not, as reported by some, a "tit for tat" fracas in an interface area. It was a cold blooded, heartless, hatred-fuelled assault on innocent victims by people who are loyal to God only knows what. Isn't it KAT-kill all taigs which they print on their banners-those ones they carry on the family fun day out which only the mean spirited could call other than a bit of pageantry and culture!

But these thugs do not exist in a vacuum. They are given succour and support from the putrid posturing that passes for politics among the Unionist parties. Worse, this studied stagnation is underwritten and excused at the highest level by the British Government. So keep your crocodile tears and platitudes and distortions. Instead of empty expressions of sympathy, call the monster which you created and continue to nurture to heel.

The sick joke that passes for politics in this state is over. The subversion of democracy, when the British Parliment suspended the elected government of this state on the basis of a pile of lies cannot continue. The result is inevitable and grimly predictable. The blood of the victims of sectarianism is on the hands of all those who refuse to make politics work. The suited politician who refuses to make peace is as guilty as the drug-fuelled hood who jumps on his victim's head. The man of God who twists the truth is as culpable as the shaved lout who throws the pipe bomb. They are the same in purpose and intent. Until we name the problem, there will be no solution.The young man fighting for his life in a Belfast hospital deserves better.