5 February 1998 Edition
RUC vendetta against Felons club
by Laura Friel
``It is a disgrace,'' says Liam Shannon, manager of West Belfast's Felons Club, ``at a time when there is a murder campaign against nationalists, that the RUC are more interested in harassing the Felons Association than pursuing loyalist killers.''
It was the morning of John McColgan's funeral, a West Belfast taxi driver murdered by loyalists, when a large convoy of the RUC accompanied by British paratroopers drove into Andersonstown.
A dozen armoured RUC Land Rovers and British army jeeps lined both sides of the road outside the Kennedy shopping centre. Only the day before known loyalists had been spotted taking photographs of the area. ``Another killing?'', ``A loyalist murder plot thwarted?'' Speculation was rife. As dozens of heavily armed paratroopers and RUC personnel emerged, local shoppers watched with disbelief. ``Are they raiding the Felons?''
A passer-by approached a British soldier. ``Hey, you won't find any loyalist killers in there,'' she said.
``This is the second time in the last six months that the RUC have raided the Felons,'' says Liam, ``removing financial records, documents and a considerable amount of personal money.'' At the same time the homes of five workers and club members were also raided. Summonses to appear at RUC barracks were issued to the Association Chairperson and Secretary.
``They also called to the city centre workplace of a former employee and arrested him,'' says Liam, ``the workforce is mixed and the RUC brought unnecessary attention to him by arresting him at work.'' A week later the RUC returned, raiding the home of a former club secretary. It was particularly provocative. At the time of the raid, the former secretary was at Woodbourne RUC barracks on club business. He was arrested and taken to Grosvenor Road Barracks after he returned to the Felons.
The Felons Association was formed in 1948 to ``foster and maintain among Irish Republicans friendships formed during imprisonment or internment as a result of their service to the Irish Republican cause''. In the last fifty years the Association has provided an important focus not only amongst ex-prisoners and the community in which it is located, but also within the wider nationalist community of the North. ``We are an important element in the community and integrity of Nationalist Belfast,'' says Liam, ``providing employment and supporting cultural, language, sporting and youth projects.''
Last week's raids follow a pattern going back over the past year and coincide with the appointment of RUC Inspector Bobby Parkes, an RUC officer renowned for his anti-republican attitude. ``When Republican prisoners and ex-prisoners are making a significant contribution to the current peace process,'' says Liam, ``sustained harassment of the Association is bound to be seen as an attack on that process.''
``It is a disgrace,'' says Liam Shannon, manager of West Belfast's Felons Club, ``at a time when there is a murder campaign against nationalists, that the RUC are more interested in harassing the Felons Association than pursuing loyalist killers.''
It was the morning of John McColgan's funeral, a West Belfast taxi driver murdered by loyalists, when a large convoy of the RUC accompanied by British paratroopers drove into Andersonstown.
A dozen armoured RUC Land Rovers and British army jeeps lined both sides of the road outside the Kennedy shopping centre. Only the day before known loyalists had been spotted taking photographs of the area. ``Another killing?'', ``A loyalist murder plot thwarted?'' Speculation was rife. As dozens of heavily armed paratroopers and RUC personnel emerged, local shoppers watched with disbelief. ``Are they raiding the Felons?''
A passer-by approached a British soldier. ``Hey, you won't find any loyalist killers in there,'' she said.
``This is the second time in the last six months that the RUC have raided the Felons,'' says Liam, ``removing financial records, documents and a considerable amount of personal money.'' At the same time the homes of five workers and club members were also raided. Summonses to appear at RUC barracks were issued to the Association Chairperson and Secretary.
``They also called to the city centre workplace of a former employee and arrested him,'' says Liam, ``the workforce is mixed and the RUC brought unnecessary attention to him by arresting him at work.'' A week later the RUC returned, raiding the home of a former club secretary. It was particularly provocative. At the time of the raid, the former secretary was at Woodbourne RUC barracks on club business. He was arrested and taken to Grosvenor Road Barracks after he returned to the Felons.
The Felons Association was formed in 1948 to ``foster and maintain among Irish Republicans friendships formed during imprisonment or internment as a result of their service to the Irish Republican cause''. In the last fifty years the Association has provided an important focus not only amongst ex-prisoners and the community in which it is located, but also within the wider nationalist community of the North. ``We are an important element in the community and integrity of Nationalist Belfast,'' says Liam, ``providing employment and supporting cultural, language, sporting and youth projects.''
Last week's raids follow a pattern going back over the past year and coincide with the appointment of RUC Inspector Bobby Parkes, an RUC officer renowned for his anti-republican attitude. ``When Republican prisoners and ex-prisoners are making a significant contribution to the current peace process,'' says Liam, ``sustained harassment of the Association is bound to be seen as an attack on that process.''