15 May 1997 Edition
Back issue: Toomebridge Ousts Loyalists
The Orange farmers who blocked Toomebridge at the Antrim/Derry county border last Tuesday got more than they bargained for when local people mobilised against the bigots, burnt their spick agricultural machinery and dumped the expensive rest into the River Bann.
The UDA's bombings and shootings, and other considerable activities, over these last seven days have still failed to intimidate workers from going to their jobs. The ``sensational'' arrest of Paisley in Ballymena last Tuesday also failed to swing Protestant opinion into an emotional backing for the strike.
Undeterred by condemnations of the murder of corporation busdriver, Mr Harry Bradshaw, the Loyalists went into action again on the same evening with a bomb attack on Mountainview filing station, Belfast. Ironically, they killed a UDR corporal whose father was a prominent figure in the Paisley/Baird Action Council.
Among those backing the strike has been big farming interests. The reactionaries who took part in the tractor cavalcades in Newtownards and Carryduff have little to complain about since IRA military activity nor the economic bombing campaign has ever (as of yet) disturbed their slumber in the lush fields of North Down.
Mason and the Brits have been keen to exploit the strike for all its worth. They have used the RUC as often as possible inc confrontation with the loyalists so that they can later claim how impartial and reformed this force is. The brits have been only able to do this because they have gauged that Loyalist sentiment isn't with the strikers and thus the domestic pressure on the RUC has been minimal. However, Paisley is fiercely struggling to inject life into the stoppage and Paisley has yet to lie down.
Before the day is over his fascist appeal, and the UDA's murderous intimidation, may prove irresistible to loyalists. In that event the relief committees set up in Republican areas will swing into action, and the mobilised people can take a leaf out of Toomebridge's book!
The UDA's bombings and shootings, and other considerable activities, over these last seven days have still failed to intimidate workers from going to their jobs. The ``sensational'' arrest of Paisley in Ballymena last Tuesday also failed to swing Protestant opinion into an emotional backing for the strike.
Undeterred by condemnations of the murder of corporation busdriver, Mr Harry Bradshaw, the Loyalists went into action again on the same evening with a bomb attack on Mountainview filing station, Belfast. Ironically, they killed a UDR corporal whose father was a prominent figure in the Paisley/Baird Action Council.
Among those backing the strike has been big farming interests. The reactionaries who took part in the tractor cavalcades in Newtownards and Carryduff have little to complain about since IRA military activity nor the economic bombing campaign has ever (as of yet) disturbed their slumber in the lush fields of North Down.
Mason and the Brits have been keen to exploit the strike for all its worth. They have used the RUC as often as possible inc confrontation with the loyalists so that they can later claim how impartial and reformed this force is. The brits have been only able to do this because they have gauged that Loyalist sentiment isn't with the strikers and thus the domestic pressure on the RUC has been minimal. However, Paisley is fiercely struggling to inject life into the stoppage and Paisley has yet to lie down.
Before the day is over his fascist appeal, and the UDA's murderous intimidation, may prove irresistible to loyalists. In that event the relief committees set up in Republican areas will swing into action, and the mobilised people can take a leaf out of Toomebridge's book!