30 August 2001 Edition
Derry UDA abduction attempt
Sinn Féin Derry Cityside Councillor Barney O'Hagan has accused the UDA of attempting to abduct a man in the Abercorn Road area of the city in the early hours of Friday morning.
Barney O'Hagan said: ``I was contacted on Friday by a local man who had escaped an abduction attempt at the junction of Wapping Lane and Abercorn Road.
``The man, who was extremely upset as a result of the ordeal, was confronted by two loyalists and what appears to have been a weapon was put to his head and he was forced go up Wapping Lane.
``Only his quick reactions and sheer luck prevented Derry looking at a sectarian murder'' added O'Hagan.
The Sinn Féin councillor said he was in no doubt that the UDA was orchestrating these attacks.
Fourteen households were evacuated from the Waterside area of Derry after a pipe bomb attack on a Catholic family on Saturday morning.
On Sunday morning, a number of families were again forced to leave their homes when an elderly Catholic couple were targeted just yards from the scene of the first attack.
Local people have described the attacks as ``pure intimidation''. These latest attacks come after sectarian tensions escalated during the July Orange Order marching period, when windows were smashed, cars were damaged and UDA flags and banners saying `Kill All Taigs' adorned the once mixed area.
Barney O'Hagan said: ``I was contacted on Friday by a local man who had escaped an abduction attempt at the junction of Wapping Lane and Abercorn Road.
``The man, who was extremely upset as a result of the ordeal, was confronted by two loyalists and what appears to have been a weapon was put to his head and he was forced go up Wapping Lane.
``Only his quick reactions and sheer luck prevented Derry looking at a sectarian murder'' added O'Hagan.
The Sinn Féin councillor said he was in no doubt that the UDA was orchestrating these attacks.
Escalating Waterside attacks
Fourteen households were evacuated from the Waterside area of Derry after a pipe bomb attack on a Catholic family on Saturday morning.
On Sunday morning, a number of families were again forced to leave their homes when an elderly Catholic couple were targeted just yards from the scene of the first attack.
Local people have described the attacks as ``pure intimidation''. These latest attacks come after sectarian tensions escalated during the July Orange Order marching period, when windows were smashed, cars were damaged and UDA flags and banners saying `Kill All Taigs' adorned the once mixed area.