Friday, 7 July, 2000
Saturday/Sunday, 8/9 July, 2000
Monday, 10 July, 2000
Tuesday, 11 July, 2000
Tuesday/Wednesday, 11/12 July, 2000
Wednesday, 12 July, 2000
Thursday/Friday, 13/14 July, 2000
Friday, 14 July, 2000
Saturday/Sunday, 15/16 July, 2000
Sunday, 16 July, 2000
Sectarian Attacks from the 1 July until the 7 July 2000
Pat Finucane Centre
Saturday 1 July
Nationalist protesters clashed with the RUC after a loyalist parade entered a nationalist cul-de-sac in Annalong. SDLP MLA Carmel Hanna condemned the erection of hundreds of loyalist paramilitary flags in south Belfast. She said that she considered the erection of the flags to be 'nothing less than sectarian harassment.' Two Catholic families were targeted in petrol bomb attacks in the loyalist Steeple estate in Antrim over the weekend. A petrol bomb was found outside the home of an elderly couple, who have since fled the estate, and a petrol bomb was thrown at a car parked in the driveway of a house at Birchill Park. The few Catholics remaining in the area are said to be afraid they are 'next on the list.'
Sunday 2 July
The Orange Order was once again prevented from parading along the nationalist
Garvaghy Road in Portadown. Speaking after the parade was stopped, District
Master Harold Gracey called for widespread protests across the north of
Ireland: "The people of Ulster will speak and they will come out in their
numbers. It is easy for security forces to contain us here at Drumcree,
but if you get out, if your friends get out in the towns and villages "they
will see what the Ulsterman is about." Stoneyford Orangeman Mark Harbinson
had earlier proclaimed that "the war begins today." (Harbinson has previously
been arrested, questioned and then released in connection with the 1998
sectarian murder of Catholic student Ciaran Heffron in Crumlin and the
discovery of loyalist death lists at an Orange Hall in nearby Stoneyford.)
There had already been skirmishes between loyalists and the RUC, and several
people had been injured, including camera crews and a thirteen-year-old
boy. No arrests were made.
Limited numbers of loyalists across the north of Ireland responded
to Gracey's call, beginning a week of widespread violence and sectarian
intimidation. A masked loyalist gang attacked a Catholic home in the Protestant Fortwilliam
area of Belfast. The gang tried to smash the front window of the house
with bricks. Protective plastic sheeting prevented the window from shattering, and
the men then attacked the window with iron bars as the occupants, a twenty-seven
year old man and his twenty-five year old partner were trapped inside.
The gang than broke down the front door of the house, and, after the occupants
barricaded themselves in the living room, they smashed up the hallway of
the house before leaving. The occupants claim that as relatives arrived
to help one of them was hit by an RUC officer. The couple have said that
they will not be returning to the house.
Overnight violence related to the Drumcree protest erupted in Portadown,
Belfast, Co Down and Co Tyrone. Seven RUC officers were injured at Drumcree,
an armoured vehicle was set alight and a crate of petrol bombs was seized
at Meadow Lane in the town. In Belfast the RUC came under attack in Templemore
Avenue and a group of loyalist women blocked the Shore Road. A group of around 40 loyalists blocked a road at Clough, Co Down. A
Catholic driver was stopped at the roadblock. He was asked where he came
from and was told to sing 'The Sash' before driving away at speed.
Monday 3 July
On Monday the Parades Commission released its determination once again banning the main Drumcree Parade on 9 July from entering the Garvaghy Road as violence related to the protest continued. A crowd of over fifty loyalists, led by Johnny Adair, appeared on Drumcree Hill behind a banner reading 'Shankill Road UFF Second Batt C Coy.' The group, in identical T-shirts carrying the UFF/UDA slogan 'Simply the Best' stood in silence for about twenty minutes less than fifty yards from British army lines. In the Corcrain area of Portadown LVF gunmen fired a volley of shots as a gathered crowd, including UFF/UDA leader Johnny Adair looked on and cheered. Windows in two Catholic-owned houses were broken in a late night attack by a loyalist gang at Hamilton Street, near the Markets area in south Belfast. The residents said they are now afraid to return in case of further attacks.
Tuesday 4 July
Drumcree-inspired loyalist protests continued across the north of Ireland. Roads in north Belfast were blocked and cars were hijacked and burned in North Queen Street. Other roads blocked included the Crumlin Road, Shore Road, Ballygomartin Road, Ligoniel Road, Woodvale Road, Doagh Road, Oldpark, Beersbridge Road, Old Holywood Road, Braniel Road, Linfield Road, Safeway, Dundonald and Grand Parade. Petrol bombs were thrown in the Ormeau Park area and the Milltown Road was blocked when a lorry was set on fire. Protests also took place in Coleraine, Armagh, Dungannon, Ballymena, Lisburn and the Waterside area in Derry. Catholic members of staff at Belfast City Hospital complained after a poster was placed on a staff notice board calling on other staff to gather at Sandy Row the next day in support of the Drumcree protests. The poster, which was in an area only accessible to staff, was removed after complaints from Catholic workers. A Swiss tourist and two young children narrowly escaped injury when loyalists stoned a taxi they were travelling in on the outskirts of west Belfast. A Catholic owned electrical shop was gutted in a sectarian arson attack in Ahoghill, Co Antrim Damage estimated at thousands of pounds was caused to Dougan's Electrics in Church Street in the town after flammable liquid was poured through a hole broken in the roof of the shop. A Catholic man and his Protestant girlfriend were forced to flee their home after a loyalist attack in the Ligonial area of Belfast on Tuesday night. The couple claimed that they called the RUC five times for help, and that RUC landrovers were sitting less than two hundred yards away during the attack but failed to intervene. They said they were "shocked and disgusted" at the attitude of the RUC. Every window in the house was smashed, paint was hurled at the brickwork and the couple's car taken from the driveway and burned. The couple, who have lived in the area for almost two years, have said they will never return. During the attack a neighbour came out and asked the rioters to leave his house alone because he was "a good Christian." Three of the mob then stood at his house to make sure it wasn't attacked. During the night an RUC officer opened fire after loyalists attacked a patrol. No one was reported injured. At around 1.00am the RUC fired a number of shots after masked men approached in a car from the loyalist Cambrai street area. Water cannon were used at Drumcree on Tuesday night, their first deployment in the north of Ireland for almost thirty years.
Wednesday 5 July
It was reported on Wednesday that members of extreme right-wing organisation Combat 18 had arrived in Portadown and were intent on orchestrating sectarian violence. Loyalist organisations in the north of Ireland have long held links with extreme right wing groups in England. It is believed that the same group was behind a series of sectarian attacks in Rathfriland. Fears were reported to be growing in the mainly nationalist Co Antrim village of Crumlin ahead of Friday night's Orange Order Parade. A spokeswoman for Crumlin Concerned Residents warned nationalists to be vigilant, claiming loyalist extremists were intent on "stirring up tensions." A group of international observers have been invited to monitor the parade. On Wednesday night the Orange arch in the town was damaged after a stolen lorry was reversed into it. On Wednesday night a petrol bomb was thrown at the living room window of a Catholic-owned house in Ardmore Crescent in Armagh, about two hundred yards from a loyalist estate. A woman and her three children were in the house at the time. The petrol bomb bounced off a wall and landed in a skip. Gareth Chambers (18) and Christine Lockhart (17) have been remanded in custody following the attack, the latest in a long line of attacks on the Catholic family. In Belfast a car belonging to a Catholic priest was hijacked and burned during a loyalist protest on the Donegal Road. The attack was caught on camera, and two masked youths could clearly be seen pulling the elderly man from his car. The priest is said to be "terribly shaken by the ordeal." Sinn Féin MLA Alex Maskey claimed that loyalists attempted to shoot two men in the Ardoyne area on Wednesday night. He said that a car approached two men standing at a road junction and opened fire with a handgun. The gun jammed and the two men escaped. One of the men said: " The gunman, who was in the back seat and wearing a balaclava, put the gun out the window and pulled the trigger "they reversed the car and aimed the gun at me a second time and it clicked twice. Thankfully it jammed." The car later approached another man but the gun jammed again. The car was later seen going into a loyalist estate. The UFF/UDA have since been blamed for the attack. Catholic residents in the Short Strand were trapped in their homes as around two hundred loyalists attacked houses at the corner of Bryson Street. Windows were smashed in several houses and one man battled to keep his door closed as a number of men tried to break it down. He later had to evacuate his family. The local Catholic Church, St Matthews, was also attacked Loyalists threw bricks and paint bombs at the home of a Catholic family in the Salliagh Park estate Larne, the latest in a long line of attacks against an extended Catholic family living in the estate. Nationalist homes were attacked and their cars burnt during a night of violence in north Belfast. Gunfire is also said to have been exchanged between rioters and the RUC.
Thursday 6 July
It was reported on Thursday that Catholic residents in north Belfast
were living in fear of their lives following a series of attacks on their
homes by loyalist gangs. It was also reported that nationalists had been
warned to stay away from the local health centre situated at North Queen
Street, which sits across the Tiger's Bay/New Lodge interface. Security
fencing had to be erected to protect new nationalist-owned houses in the
North Queen Street area. Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams called
for the closure of security gates at Lanark Way off the Springfield Road
to be closed to prevent further loyalist attacks. The security forces released figures showing the extent of violence
since Drumcree related protests began on Sunday. The figures show that
there had been 109 attacks on the security forces; thirty RUC officers
injured; 105 petrol bombs thrown; 37 homes attacked; 141 reports of damage
to vehicles and 34 hijackings. In response there had been 43 arrests; 29
people had been charged with 17 other cases noted with a view to prosecution
and 3 (three) plastic bullets fired. The official statistics must be treated
with extreme caution since many attacks are not reported.
A Sinn Féin spokesperson described the flying of loyalist flags
and the painting of kerbstones in a mixed area of Limavady as an "exercise
in sectarian intimidation." An Orange Hall was damaged in an arson attack outside Kilrea in Co
Derry. The Killygullib Orange Hall was gutted after petrol was poured through
the roof and set alight. St Mary's Catholic church in Bushmills was damaged when petrol was
poured through a stained-glass window and set alight. Minor damage was
caused to the building.
Friday 7 July
Members of a crowd accompanying an Orange Order parade through Crumlin shouted sectarian abuse at nationalist bystanders, including remarks about Bobby Sands, Rosemary Nelson and the Greysteel massacre. A Catholic man suffered a serious facial injury in a shooting that has been linked to the attempted removal of a Union Jack flag. The man was shot with a legally held shotgun on Friday night near Clough in Co Antrim. A 69 year-old man has since been charged with GBH in connection with the shooting. During an interview on Friday afternoon Harold Gracey refused to condemn the violence linked to the protests he had called for the previous Sunday. In response to a question from a BBC journalist he said " No I'll not condemn it. Gerry Adams doesn't condemn violence so I'll not."
Saturday/Sunday, 8/9 July, 2000
Orange disorder
Portadown Orangemen are urging loyalists to continue their "street protests" after their annual Drumcree parade was prevented from going down the nationalist Garvaghy Road in Portadown on Sunday. Following the traditional march to a giant reinforced barrier on Drumcree Hill, Portadown Orange Master Harold Gracey directed a lengthy tirade against nationalist political leaders and Protestant church reformers, while pointedly declining to condemn a week of violence.
After another night of chaos, loyalists today responded to the call by Gracey to take to the streets during rush hour this evening. Belfast and most other towns were deserted from early afternoon as businesses closed in advance of the predicted disturbances. Co-ordinated gangs hijacked cars and vans, blocking almost all major routes across the North, while the RUC looked on.
Dangerous stand-offs are currently taking place in flashpoint areas. In several instances, the RUC have moved in to protect illegal loyalist barricades, trapping nationalists behind what amount to joint RUC/UFF road-blocks. Rioting erupted once again last night at Drumcree as a mob attempted to charge through security defences into a nationalist enclave. In the early hours, scores of loyalists ran through fields into a graveyard behind the church rectory in an attempt to make their way into Catholic estates.
Today, defences were being strengthened as the siege of the Garvaghy Road continues. A bomb alert added to the tension in Portadown, with the town centre being evacuated today, while loyalist gangs have closed off all surrounding roads.
NIGHT OF VIOLENCE
Last night in Belfast the pattern of last week continued as car-jackings and road barricades blocked several major routes. Among the areas worst affected were in Belfast and east Antrim including Ligoneil Road, Holywood Road, Doke Road, Cloughfern Corner, Shore Road and the Milltown Road in Derriaghy. Nationalists continue to flee their homes in flashpoint areas of north Belfast, where sectarian attacks have been at their worst.
Elsewhere, blast bombs and petrol bombs were thrown in Cloughfern and Newtownabbey in County Antrim as cars were set alight. Close by in Carnmoney, a church bus was attacked, as was St Mary on the Hill's Catholic Church, which sustained an arson attack.
An attempt was made to burn down a vacant house in Greenisland, Newtownabbey, and two branches of a video chain in Bangor, County Down, and Carrickfergus.
Cars were also hijacked and set on fire in Derry's Waterside district and hijackers injured a passenger in a car which evaded them, after they threw a brick through the back window.
Car showrooms were set on fire in Coleraine, County Derry and Banbridge, County Down. Roads in Lisburn, Carrickfergus, Dungannon, Derry and Cookstown were also blocked. The most serious such incident was in Carrickfergus where four cars and a bus were hijacked and set on fire and RUC were petrol-bombed. A pipe bomb was later found.
Last night Garvaghy Road residents' spokesman Breandan Mac Cionnaith accused Orangemen of upping the ante in the dispute.
"Past experiences have shown that when the Orange Order call people onto the streets there is violence directed especially against the Catholic community that has led to death," he said.
"I think what the Orange Order should be doing, instead of trying to up the ante by organising confrontation and protests on the streets, is to actually apologise to the Catholic community in Portadown and to the Catholic community right across the north for the hurt, trauma and pain of actions already caused.
"Harold Gracey has to come off the hill and face reality and engage in dialogue."
The Drumcree march itself was smaller than usual, with the crowd including a considerable number of paramilitaries. Portadown nationalists, who have seen the murder of Robert Hamill, Adrian Lamph and human rights lawyer Rosemary Nelson, were forced to watch a display of banners by the paramilitary UFF, LVF and UVF as the parade passed the local Catholic church.
As the march made its way to the barricade on Drumcree Hill, a number of journalists and camera crews reported being intimidated. Some were forced to abandon their work as racism wixed with sectarianism and raw, unfocussed hate.
Saturday/Sunday, 8/9 July, 2000
Violence continues after Drumcree march to madness
MARCH TO MADNESS
Portadown Orange leader Harold Gracey took to a podium to blast his opponents—but not before the Book of Joshua was read out to assure the faithful that the "path of righteousness" leads down through the Catholic Garvaghy Road, over the heads of the residents.
In a rambling speech, Mr Gracey pointedly praised those who had already staged "protests", as he referred to a wave of loyalist violence earlier this week.
He was cheered on by around 1,500 wearing two alternative Drumcree fashions. the bowler-hatted, umbrella-wielding Orangemen and their shaven headed, tattooed supporters.
But as the day wore on, it became increasingly apparent that Portadown Orangemen had suffered another public relations setback and will struggle to emerge from this Drumcree with any dignity.
Lacing his comments with sectarian remarks and quasi-religious references, Gracey launched a wild attack on nationalist leaders. The crowd egged him on as he lashed out, visibly out of touch with reality.
"She would know terrorists," he said of the SDLP's Brid Rogers.
"She is with them all the time".
"The witch, the witch, the Garvaghy witch," a group of women responded.
He accused Nobel Prize winner John Hume of "starting it all" in 1969 with nationalist civil rights demonstrations in 1969. "And he has the cheek to say I am irresponsible."
Referring to the campaign against the poll tax in Britain, he pointed out that this tax had been abolished because of street protests. "So I say to our people: continue."
Mr Gracey criticised ecumenists in the Church of Ireland, to which he was "ashamed" to belong. The Moderator of the Presbyterian Church [Dr Trevor Morrow] was "disgraceful", he said, attributing this to Dr Morrow having "spent most of his time in the South". Such standards should not be allowed in the church, he said. "We're proud of our standards. Who does he think he is?"
In a signal that he does not plan any meaningful dialogue with the Garvaghy Road residents, he said that nationalists are all the same, including a group of republican dissidents responsible for an explosion on County Tyrone on Saturday night.
"They are all republican," he said. "They are all under the same banner of pan-nationalism, and the SDLP is no better. So let us stand fast. We're all in this together. Don't let the media misrepresent what this organisation is about."
MORE TROUBLE EXPECTED
Protests are set to continue tonight at Drumcree and elsewhere, with Portadown Orangemen refusing to accept responsibility for any violence that might result. Instead, Orange spokesmen called for further, random disturbances tomorrow.
Sinn Féin Upper Bann Assembly member Dr Dara O'Hagan described the call for an escalation of the Drumcree protests as "absolutely outrageous".
Dr O'Hagan said:
"One would have hoped that Harold Gracey and the Portadown district, having surveyed the damage caused as a consequence of their last call for protests, would at this stage have been prepared to use their influence in a calming fashion.
"It would seem, though, that in the considered opinion of Harold Gracey and his followers, there has not been enough disruption and destruction; there have not been enough Catholics intimidated from their homes or enough appearances of armed loyalists on the streets.
"Leading members of the Orange Order's Portadown district have clearly lost the plot. Their game plan appears to be one of pushing the situation as close to the brink as possible. It is essential that the Orange Order steps back and recognises the rights of all people in Ireland."
Saturday/Sunday, 8/9 July, 2000
Two Catholics escape death as gun misfires
Two north Belfast residents were extremely fortunate to escape a gang of armed loyalists who tried to shoot them in the early hours of Thursday in Drumcree-related violence.
The two Ardoyne men were approached by a Red Astra car near Brompton Park in north Belfast and a handgun was pointed at them.
Their handgun misfired on two occasions, according to one of the men, Patrick Bradley. "I was walking a friend home when a red car came out of Etna Drive on to Brompton Park. It suddenly braked when it saw us walking down the street. It reversed towards us. There were three men in the car. The back window was down and a man in a balaclava pointed a gun at us. The driver had a cap on and the passenger had a balaclava," said Bradley, a father of two.
"My friend jumped over a wall but I fell and I couldn't move. I just froze. The car moved forward and then reversed again. The shooter produced the gun again and shot. I heard a click and then another click. I got on my feet and ran.
"The most scary thing about it is that the guy with the gun was nice and cool. He seemed to be trying to get the gun working. He pointed it at me from just three feet away. The driver nearly crashed into a parked car when it went up the Brompton park towards [loyalist] Woodvale.
"I haven't slept since, even though the doctor gave me tablets. I haven't eaten. I am still shook up," said the survivor of what was almost certainly an attack by the loyalist paramilitary UDA/UFF.
The same car later approached another nationalist resident and the gun misfired once more. The nationalist pursued the Red Astra through the streets for some minutes before losing it near the loyalist Oldpark district. The previous night loyalists believed to be with the UDA/UFF exchanged fire with police in north Belfast while 16 shots were fired on nationalists from the loyalist Westland area, also in north Belfast, late on Thursday night. The home of a couple of mixed religion in Ligoniel in north Belfast was attacked by loyalists while many Catholics have abandoned their homes in the run up to the climax of the annual Orange Order parades on Wednesday.
Fourteen nationalist homes in Short Strand were damaged in an attack by up to 200 loyalists on Wednesday night after the RUC blocked access to one end of the estate but not the other.
The RUC were also criticised for failing to remove dozens of obstructions in Belfast and at various locations across the North including Coleraine, Armagh, Dungannon, Ballymena and Lisburn. Nationalist politicians also asked why only 29 people were charged by Friday following 109 attacks on security forces including assaults and shootings.
Saturday/Sunday, 8/9 July, 2000
Catholic man injured in shotgun attack
A Catholic man has suffered a serious facial injury in a shooting which sources have linked with the taking down of a union Jack flag.
Seamus McCloy (25), was injured when a shotgun was fired near Clough in County Antrim on Friday night. A second man suffered pellet wounds in the incident.
According to one report, the two men were removing a Union Jack flag when a shot gun was fired at the men on the Glenleslie Road at around 7.45pm.
Last night Mr McCloy, a joiner from the Magherafelt area, was being treated in Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry where his condition was described as "comfortable".
His distraught mother Ann Mullan said she was "totally shocked" by the incident.
"We are all absolutely devastated by what's happened," she said.
"Seamus has 12 pellets lodged in his face and so far only three of them have been removed.
"We have just been keeping vigil at his bedside in Altnagelvin and praying that everything will be OK."
Sinn Féin assembly member John Kelly last night said the incident was "very upsetting" for the family.
He warned that sectarian tensions were running high in mid-Ulster, claiming that masked men were patrolling a number of areas including Castledawson and Magherafelt.
"Across mid-Ulster we have ongoing problems particularly at this time of the year," he said.
"Masked men are roaming estates and loyalist flags are being planted outside Catholic homes heightening fears.
"Sectarian incidents seem to be endemic and the situation is becoming very dangerous."
News Update from the Pat Finucane Centre
Given the current circumstances the PFC will provide periodic updates over the coming hours and days. These updates do not provide a comprehensive overview of the situation by any means but rather reflect the information coming into our office.
The Orange Order has called for protests and blockades from 4pm to 8pm today throughout the North. In Derry businesses began closing at 3pm due to fears that employees would not be able to get home if the two bridges across the Foyle are blocked as has happened in the past. The University of Ulster at Magee sent all staff home at 1pm.The main Derry to Belfast and Derry to Dublin roads are blocked outside the city and various smaller roads in the Waterside are also closed. In Belfast there is widespread disruption with security alerts closing the M2 and loyalist protests on the Crumlin Rd and Oldpark areas. In Lurgan a large group of some 200 loyalists attempted to enter the nationalist area of the town in the past hour. The crowd had gathered at the War Memorial in Church Place where a minor confrontation developed. As word spread more nationalists gathered in the William St area. The latest information is that the RUC have baton-charged the loyalist crowd pushing them back up the High St. In Portadown the Garvaghy Rd is quiet though the centre of the town itself is presently off-limits to any Catholic given the protests.
Report from the Garvaghy Road
Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition - Update of incidents in Portadown
On Tuesday afternoon, a crowd of angry loyalist Orange Order members and supporters set out to block the main access routes to the Garvaghy Road area. Catholics travelling back from the town were caught in the angry crowd.
A mother travelling back from the town after having bought her daughter's birthday cake was attacked by 150 loyalists at the barricade on the bottom of the Garvaghy Road. The mother and her children sat, terrorised and trapped, as the car was rocked and sectarian abuse was shouted in their faces.
The RUC and British troops deployed in full riot gear meanwhile shut the gate leading to the Garvaghy Road, leaving the family at the mercy of the loyalist thugs. Despite her cries for help they refused to open the gates to let the car through. A car load of young women travelling back from the town were caught in a similar incident minutes earlier.
They described how RUC men in full riot gear deployed behind the barricade on the nationalist side of the road and did nothing to push the loyalist mob back. They also told described how nothing was being done to stop cars travelling towards the barricade. "No diversions were set-up. It is only when cars were in a position where they couldn't turn back that drivers were able to realise what was going on at the barricade."
Tuesday/Wednesday, 11/12 July, 2000
Murder, mayhem as Orangemen celebrate
Two men were killed overnight and two others seriously injured as the Protestant 'marching season' reached its climax, with bonfires, rioting and violent attacks marking 'the Glorious Twelfth', the anniversary of a 1690 battle victory over Catholics by Dutch King William of Orange.
One man was beaten and then shot to death in Larne, apparently the result of a loyalist feud. Another man was stabbed to death by others in Coleraine in circumstances which are still unclear. Two others were seriously injured in stabbings in a night of loyalist rioting and random violence.
The deaths of the two loyalists last night is being seen as a possible sign that marginalised unionist hardliners, faced with a peace process they cannot accept or understand, are turning on themselves as well as their traditional Catholic victims.
There was clear evidence of discord within the Protestant Orange Order at the marches and rallies it held today across the North to mark July 12, the anniversary of a 1690 battle victory over Irish Catholics by the Dutch King William of Orange.
Jim Rodgers, a high profile member of Belfast City Council, was subjected to a tirade of criticism over a speech at Ormeau Park when he called for a halt to ten days of violent protests and attacks, whichn he said was embarrassing the Order.
This year, Orangemen marched through the debris of ten days of rioting and strife which paralysed life in the North.
Last weeek, the Portadown district organised loyalist "street protests", leading to widespread mayhem, destruction and a ten-day pogrom against nationalist communites across the North.
While there is uncertainty over what might happen over the next few days, there is a growing feeling that Orangeism has suffered a mortal, self-inflicted blow this week.
By its embrace of the murder gangs of the loyalist paramilitary UFF, the Orange Order has revealed its shameful sectarian core for all to see.
The dramatic appearance at Drumcree last weeek of a gang of UFF paramilitaries and their West Belfast leader, Johnny Adair, publicly demonstrated the close relationship between the Orange Masters and loyalist paramilitarism. That relationship was demonstrated in the road closures and general disorder orchestrated by the UFF in co-operation with the Drumcree Orangemen.
Last night, masked UFF men staged primitive "shows of strength" at Eleventh night bonfires in various locations, with black-clad figures dancing around, firing off semi-automatic rifles.
And today, the Orange Order's Grand Master, Robert Saulters, firmly aligned himself with the Drumcree Orangeman and their unstable leader, Harold Gracey.
Addressing Orangemen at Killrea, County Armagh, Mr Saulters said:
"Let me reiterate my support for the brethren in Portadown and their District Master Harold Gracey."
Some nationalists have argued the Order Order should now be sued by businesses for causing the loss of trade over the past week. Others believe the Order's leaders could be prosecuted for inciting violence.
But the Order can no longer pass itself off as anything other than a violent, sectarian organisation, fuelling attacks on Catholics while being seen to take sides in a loyalist feud.
In the weeks leading up to recent orgy of violence, tensions within the loyalist paramilitary world saw gun attacks between rival groups. To enhance its position, the UDA/UFF backed the Orange Order, and leading Orangemen happily accepted their support.
It is against this background that the present loyalist pogrom should be seen.
The wave of violence that has swept the North has left Catholics homeless and many others terrified. And while leading members of the UDA have been coordinating these attacks and their flags and banners have been prominent everywhere, the fact remains that the Orange Order is the guilty party. It cannot escape the blame for its actions.
Throughout today, nationalists across the Six Counties have been phoning the main television networks, UTV and the BBC, to complain about their coverage of 'the Twelfth'.
The BBC has had most calls. Nationalists who have been subjected to a ten day pogrom, since Harold Gracey called for protest, expressed disgust that the BBC continues to claim that the Orange Order is a benign organisation.
The constant attacks on nationalist homes and property and the threat to their lives was brushed under the carpet as the BBC PR machine cranked into gear today, with sycophantic coverage of 'a great day out for all'.
But the parades followed and ten days of attacks against Catholics and a night during which two men were murdered, two more stabbed and dozens injured in riots.
In the mnost brutal incident, a man with links to the UVF was shot dead at an "11th Night" bonfire in Larne, County Antrim, last night in a shooting being blamed on the rival UFF.
Andrew Cairns, 22, from Wellington Green in Larne, was attacked by up to 12 men in front of hundreds of people, beaten, kicked and shot in the back of the head.
Another man, Robert McMullen, was stabbed to death in Coleraine, County Derry. Two more were seriously injured when they were stabbed at a bonfire in east Belfast. One was in a "very critical condition" with chest wounds and the other suffered a serious knife wound to the face.
Tuesday/Wednesday, 11/12 July, 2000
RUC collusion in disturbances slammed
Some believe the violence worsened during the course of 'Drumcree week' because of an unoffical RUC policy of permitting illegal loyalist road-blockings.
The Minister of Education, Mr Martin McGuinness of Sinn Féin, said there was disgust among nationalists at the RUC's response to the road-blockings, which paralysed the North on Monday and Tuesday. The RUC was clearly standing back and was prepared to "effectively consort with the protesters and collaborate with the closure of roads", he said.
Confusion over the law deepened after a senior RUC man claimed loyalists have a right to block roads, contradicting RUC Chief Ronnie Flanagan, who said such actions were illegal.
Chief Superintendent Roy McCune said people had a "legitimate right" to protest on roads for a limited period. When asked why officers could not remove small groups of young children and women who were keeping roads closed, McCune said the RUC was not in a position to "manhandle" protesters.
This was in stark contrast to the RUC's reaction to republican demonstrators in previous years, said Mr McGuinness, who predicted that the Drumcree protests would end as they had no support.
"It is very clear that very little support has manifested itself on the street except for the hijackings, burnings and intimidations that have taken place. I believe all of this is futile, that it will peter our eventually."
Tuesday/Wednesday, 11/12 July, 2000
Litany of violence continues
But as darkness fell last night, road-blockings held by women and children moved away and paramilitaries took over.
Some of the worst of the Night of the Eleventh flared on the Corcrain estate, Portadown, where a crowd burned effigies of an RUC man and a "Fenian" and showered the security forces with stones, blast bombs and petrol bombs.
Yesterday, a bomb was thrown from a car into a pub in the nationalist village of Dunloy, County Antrim and another was discovered in the grounds of an Ancient Order of Hibernians' hall in Rusharkin. Both failed to explode.
A woman and her six-year-old child escaped injury when a brick was hurled through their car window at Finaghy Road North in Belfast.
There were two attempts to burn down Catholic churches in County Antrim—St Mary's Church in Glenarm and the Catholic chapel in Ballyclare.
In a reprisal by nationalists, an Orange Hall at Aghalee was attacked by petrol bombs at midnight. A number of people were in the building at the time, three of whom were taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation. Yesterday afternoon, shops and businesses in Belfast, Portadown, Lurgan, Ballymoney, Kilrea, Coleraine, Downpatrick and Lisburn were forced to close under the threat of more trouble by loyalists.
A Dungannon restaurant was badly damaged in a petrol bomb attack, while a tyre depot in Armagh was hit by a similar attack. Six lorries and a storage unit were damaged in a malicious fire started in a Dungannon mushroom factory.
Tyres were set alight at the rear of a filling station on the Belfast Road in Ballynahinch, causing damage to a shed and garden furniture.
Four cars and the facade of a petrol station which doubled as a car showroom suffered in a malicious fire on the Dublin Road in Omagh.
A number of cars, a van, a lorry, and even a milk float were taken and set on fire in Derry, Craigavon, Dromore, Newtownabbey, Antrim, Derriaghy and Bushmills.
The Larne road at Ballynure was closed by a mob of 300 loyalists who blocked it with a barricade and managed to spill 45 gallons of oil across it.
Just after midnight, security forces and the fire brigade were petrol bombed during disturbances in Dromore, County Down. Petrol bombs were also hurled at a Catholic church on the Doagh Road, Ballyclare, causing scorch damage to a hall adjacent to the chapel. One person was arrested following the attack, which occurred at 1.40am. In Carrickfergus two houses had windows broken by stone throwers.
In Belfast, a blast bomb was thrown at around 1am. No injuries were reported, although minor damage was caused to a police vehicle.
The RUC reported seven shots fired at an RUC vehicle at the junction of Templemore Avenue and Albertbridge Road in east Belfast. No one was injured.
Petrol bombs were thrown on the Ravenhill Road in the city, at Drumcree and on the West Circular Road in Bangor. More were thrown on Irish Street in Derry.
Drumcree Hill, where Orangemen are gathered in protest at not being allowed to march through the Garvaghy Road, has been surprisingly quiet. There have been small numbers there for the past two nights, although it is predicted that violence might resume as Orangemen return from today's County Armagh rally at Killylea. The RUC said that over the past ten days, seventy-seven homes, 55 commercial premises and 358 vehicles have been damaged, and 88 vehicles hijacked.
But only 72 people have been charged—an average of just over seven per night.
Tuesday/Wednesday, 11/12 July, 2000
Bomb 'an attack on peace process'
Speaking after a bomb attack in Stewartstown, County Tyrone, on Sunday, 9 July, Sinn Féin Education Minister Martin McGuinness said: "This morning's bomb was a deliberate attack on the peace process. The timing on the morning of the Drumcree march will be seen as a deliberate provocation. It was carried out by people of no credibility who are opposed to this process. They are locked in the past and have nothing to offer the future.
"It is an ironic fact that the Orange Order, the unionist rejectionists and the group that planted this bomb are working to the same agenda. We must do all we can to ensure that they are not allowed to succeed."
Martin McGuinness has also called for end to attacks on Orange halls. Speaking after an arson attack on Kilrea Orange Hall, he said that such attacks have no place in republican politics. The Mid-Ulster MP said:"Damage caused to the property belonging to the Orange Order lends nothing useful to the current situation.
"I wish to state clearly that activity of this nature is sectarian, it is counter-productive, and it runs contrary to republican thinking. I appeal to anyone inclined towards such activity to immediately desist."
Tuesday/Wednesday, 11/12 July, 2000
Analysis: The struggle for a new police service goes on
By Gerry Kelly, MLA
As the bill reforming policing in the North of Ireland progresses through the Britsh parliament, Gerry Kelly MLA voices Sinn Féin's determination that the Patten report will not be watered down.
The Good Friday agreement signalled an agenda of widespread change, including significant change in policing which "is central in any society". At the centre of this is the agreed position of those who signed up to the agreement "that this agreement provides the opportunity for a new beginning to policing ... with a police service capable of attracting and sustaining support from the community as a whole."
This is the litmus test for Patten and the British government proposals.
Sinn Féin made its own detailed substantive proposals to the Patten commission on what, in our view, constitutes a new beginning to policing.
We have judiciously and (we believe with hindsight) correctly, withheld a definitive view on judgment of Patten or any other proposals.
While arguing for what we believe is required of a "new beginning", we will reserve and make our final call on what ultimately emerges.
For the Sinn Féin leadership, like all political or civic leaderships, will have to call on its constituency to support or join what emerges from this process - or reject what emerges.
Given the history in Ireland of the RIC and the RUC, that judgment for nationalists and republicans is an enormously significant matter.
At its launch in September 1999, the chairman of the commission, Christopher Patten, said:
"The recommendations form a package which we firmly believe needs to be implemented comprehensively. We counsel strongly against cherry picking from the report or trying to implement some major elements of it in isolation from others."
We have been consistent too, in demanding that the context in which a new policing service operates is correct. This includes an end to repressive emergency legislation and implementation of the conclusions of a thoroughgoing review of the justice system that embodies the principles of the Good Friday agreement - especially justice, equality and inclusivity.
Policing remains a key aspect of the transitional arrangements arising out of the GFA.
The British government's approach to the question of policing - evident in the Mandelson policing bill - has been to undermine the potential for a new police service by the adoption of a minimalist approach to change.
The outcome of the British government's deliberations and of the efforts of the RUC and securocrats, was to produce proposed legislation which bears little resemblance to Patten.
Since then Sinn Féin has been involved in intense discussions with the British government.
We have and are lobbying at Westminister and are in contact with senior figures in Washington, the White House and the Irish government.
Sinn Féin will make periodic assessments of the British proposals as they unfold in the legislative process. It will suffice for now to say that there is a gulf between what is proposed in the initial legislation and the Patten recommendations.
This is particularly true in the areas of:
the legacy of the RUC including its name, badge and symbols
The British government now see compromise as somewhere between their plans and Patten. This could undermine the potential for stable politics, safety and security in local neighbourhoods dependent on a new start to policing.
Many nationalist politicians have made clear that Patten was the compromise. There is widespread agreement that the British proposals are flawed.
The sooner we move the debate back to the ground outlined by Patten the more likely we are to achieve the intention in the agreement for the creation of new policing arrangements "capable of attracting and sustaining support from the community as a whole".
According to our assessment of Mandelson's policing bill and of the implementation plans, it:
subverts 89 Patten recommendations
Even worse: of the 175 Patten recommendations, 75 can be described as fundamental. When analysed we find that:
60 of these key recommendations are being subverted
Recent alleged concessions which Mr Mandelson has offered in relation to the powers of the policing board, the application of human rights to officers' behaviour, the powers of the ombudsman, and so on, do not go far enough.
Even with the Patten proposals, Sinn Féin is unsure whether sufficient momentum for transformation will be built up to ensure a new start to policing. Any movement away from Patten, however, will simply confirm that doubt.
The legislative process needs to redress this situation.
Pat Finucane Centre Update
The expected overnight violence connected to the continuing Drumcree inspired protests materialised across the North as the annual 11 July bonfires were lit last night. In Larne a man in his twenties was shot dead at a bonfire at Old Glenarm Road. News reports have suggested that the man had links with the UVF and that the shooting was part of an ongoing feud between the various loyalist paramilitary factions. In Belfast another is critically ill following a stabbing at another bonfire.
Shots were also fired near bonfires at Chief Street, Rockview Street, Sandy Row and the Shankill Road in Belfast and at Rathcoole and New Mossley in Newtownabbey. An ambulance crew was beaten up near a bonfire in west Belfast. A Presbyterian Church at Drumgor in Craigavon was damaged in an arson attack and there were attempts to burn Catholic churches at Glenarm and Ballyclare in Co Antrim.
Road blockages continued throughout the evening with 25 roads reported closed at 7.30pm last night. A woman and her six-year old child narrowly escaped serious injury when a brick was dropped from a bridge through the windscreen of her car. In Bushmills in Co Antrim a lorry was hijacked and set on fire. An explosive device was thrown from a passing car into a pub in the nationalist village of Dunloy and another explosive device was discovered at an AOH hall in Rasharkin. Both failed to explode. There were also security alerts at Orange Halls in Dungannon, Moira, Lurgan and Mageheralin.In Derry petrol bombs were thrown at the British Army/RUC in the Tullyally and Lincoln Courts areas in the Waterside.
The RUC yesterday released details of the extent of Drumcree inspired violence since the beginning of July. According to their statistics there have been 280 attacks on members of the security forces; 57 RUC officers and 5 soldiers injured; almost 300 petrol bombs thrown; 941 primed petrol bombs seized; 146 people arrested; 73 incidents of criminal damage to homes; 55 incidents of damage to other buildings (i.e. schools, churches etc.) 358 vehicles damaged and 88 vehicles hijacked. RUC statistics are notoriously inaccurate however and should be treated with caution.
Water cannon have been used at various points and 4 (four) plastic bullets fired as of yesterday afternoon.. (A unknown number of plastic bullets were fired in Portadown overnight during serious rioting in both the Corcrain area and at Drumcree Church.)The remarkably small number of plastic bullets used is in stark contrast to previous incidents, including a relatively minor incident in Lurgan a number of weeks ago when the RUC fired seven plastic bullets in a short space of time at nationalist protesters. During an earlier Drumcree related protest in 1996 almost 6000 plastic bullets were fired during a week of violence, over 5500 of which were fired at nationalists with over 3000 being fired in the space of three nights in the Bogside area of Derry. Over 300 people required hospital treatment for plastic bullet wounds after this. While the Pat Finucane Centre wholeheartedly welcomes restraint in the use of this weapon and fully supports calls for a complete ban on its use, we would question the apparent difference in the RUC’s attitude to the use of plastic bullets against loyalist and nationalist protesters. Of the 17 people killed by plastic and rubber bullets only one was killed during a loyalist protest.
Thursday/Friday, 13/14 July, 2000
Loyalists strike ancient church
A County Antrim priest has been shaken by an arson attack on his church—just days after loyalist protesters hijacked and burned out his car. St Patrick's church in Derriaghy suffered scorch damage when a tyre was placed against the front door and set on fire. The shocked parish priest, Fr Brendan McMullan is still expected to be able to take Mass in the church—among the oldest in Ireland—on Sunday. Fr John McManus, diocesan spokesman, said Fr McMullan was very distressed by recent events but was attempting to maintain pastoral care of his parish. The attack comes a week after Fr McMullan's car was hijacked in Belfast during the Drumcree protests which caused mayhem across the north. Loyalists forced him out of his car at Donegall Pass before setting fire to the vehicle. Twelve months ago the church suffered extensive damage when flammable liquid was poured through the front door. Meanwhile, a Limavady cross-community centre has been petrol-bombed for the second year running.
The Drumachose Cross Community Development Association building will be closed for at least a week as a result of the attack on the night of July 11. The building, owned by the local Catholic church, has suffered extensive scorch and water damage. It appears that those responsible removed an upstairs window grille to the rear of the property before setting fire to the premises.
Thursday/Friday, 13/14 July, 2000
Catholics forced out of Randalstown
Catholics are being forced to flee their homes in Randalstown in Copunty Antrim because of sectarian attacks and threats by loyalists. Sinn Féin councillor Pauline Darvey Kennedy said the situation had got so bad in the Neilsbrook estate that Catholics were unable to use public amenities.
"At one time there were a lot of Catholic families living here - now there are about 10 left and they are leaving by the day because they are being abused in the street." Mrs Kennedy said two years ago UVF and LVF paramilitaries started to put flags and murals up around the estate. Now the town's community centre, situated in the middle of Neilsbrook, is "completely out of bounds for Catholics," she said. "UVF flags and the like have been put up around the centre and the tennis courts outside. Catholics would not dare to go to there at night in case they were attacked.
"The Drop-In Centre down the road which is open to all young people from the area has also now been named Prod Corner because six loyalist intimidatory plaques have been put up on the gable wall. "Park benches in the town have also been daubed with the letters 'KAT' meaning Kill All Taigs." Catholic patients attending the health centre in the estate are also being put off going to their appointments by a paramilitary plaque of a masked gun man. "I have received numerous calls from Catholics in the area for something to be done about this dreadful and intolerable situation," she said. "They feel the police are doing absolutely nothing to help them out. The sooner community leaders respond positively to this situation the better."
Orangeman linked to 'white power'
By Valerie Robinson, Irish News, Belfast
A Portadown Orangeman who boasted of his 'white power' beliefs last night warned that loyalists may need to bring their "war" to Britain. Ivan Hewitt was featured on a Channel 4 documentary showing off tattoos featuring swastikas, white power and other neo-Nazi symbols.
The Drumcree supporter who was seen wearing a sash while praying with fellow lodge members this week said action outside Northern Ireland could be needed to bring the loyalist people to the attention of the British government. "It's really hard for the loyalist people to fight, to take their war to Britain," he stated. "But it might have to be that way. "If that's what's needed to persuade Tony Blair there are other people in Britain then that's what's going to have to happen."
Anti Fascist Action (AFA) group spokesman Brian O'Reilly last night said the documentary showed a "definite link" between British neo-Nazi organisations and loyalists. "Neo-Nazis in Britain are active. The organisation is a Europe-wide one. And they're well established in Northern Ireland." The 'Blood & Honour' tattoo displayed by Mr Hewitt was linked to a 'white power' skinhead music network - also used for gathering funds for neo-Nazi groups, he said.
Mr O'Reilly urged unionist politicians to use education to battle neo-Nazism within the region.And Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition (GRRC) spokesman Brendan Mac Cionnaith said his group had already warned of "extreme fascist connections" within the Drumcree protest.
Combat 18, a violent right-wing group, has an annual presence in Portadown.
Mr Mac Cionnaith added: "I would ask the question of the Orange Order, are they sincere about trying to resolve the situation here? "The reality is they're not sincere at all." His comments came as the Portadown lodge called for further pro-Drumcree protests across Northern Ireland to take place today from 3-6pm.
Meanwhile, lodge spokesman David Jones said he did not know Mr Hewitt, adding that Orangemen had not seen "any evidence" of neo-Nazis attempting to infiltrate the Drumcree standoff. "The Portadown lodge is very much in control," he said.
But he expected some lodge members who had seen the programme would ensure "something will be mentioned about it in due course".
The Channel 4 documentary is at http://www.itn.co.uk/c4news/ then click on 11th of July Programmes. You can view the video if you have the right software.
For more info on the links between loyalists and fascists see the AFA Ireland site at http://www.geocities.com/irishafa
Copyright © 2000 Irish News
Saturday/Sunday, 15/16 July, 2000
Nelson death threat man badly beaten by RUC
The man who first reported RUC threats on the life of human rights lawyer Rosemary Nelson was viciously beaten by members of the force last week, it has emerged.
Rosemary Nelson was killed by a car bomb in March last year, just three months after McCrory received the threats.
No RUC member has been charged in connection with the threats. Neither has anyone been charged with involvement in the murder of Rosemary Nelson, despite an extensive investigation headed by senior British police officer Colin Port.
At a press conference, Shane McCrory displayed the clothes which were left bloodstained after he was beaten by an RUC gang.
Mr McCrory has said that he was with a group of friends in the nationalist Taughnavon estate in Lurgan in the early hours of Wednesday morning when he was assaulted by a number of RUC men. He was taken to a Land Rover and beaten around the head, face and body, suffering a broken nose, a suspected hairline fracture of the skull and severe bruising.
"The LVF fired a volley of shots at the Eleventh Night bonfire a few hundred yards away, and there was a group of about 15 or 20 of us keeping an eye out in case of trouble. They threw me in a Land Rover and beat me severely around the head, arms and ribs," McCrory said.
McCrory, from the Kilwilkie estate in Lurgan, said that he was kept in the Land Rover for two hours at the RUC base before he was charged with assault, disorderly behavour and resisting arrest.
Three other Lurgan residents, Jim Boyle, Kathy Doyle and Terry Magee attempted to come to McCrory's aid but were then batoned by the RUC.
He was released after six hours in custody, and taken to hospital where his injuries were treated. McCrory, Mr Boyle and Mr Magee now face charges over the night's events.
McCrory featured on a BBC television programme last year, when he recounted how he had been told by RUC members in December 1998 that his lawyer, Rosemary Nelson, was "going to get it". Nelson acted for McCrory in connection with charges of being drunk and disorderly.
"I have been getting ongoing harassment since I appeared on the TV programme last year. I think the RUC patrol that beat me up were told to look out for me," said McCrory.
Lurgan-based Sinn Fein councillor John O'Dowd said the attack took place while controversial policing reform legislation was being debated in the House of Commons.
Mr O'Dowd said McCrory's bloodied clothes were "clear physical evidence as to why the policing bill will be a complete failure and why the RUC needs to go."
The future is not orange
Orangemen are deserting the order after the latest debacle at Drumcree.
Vincent Kearney and Chris Ryder, Sunday Times, Dublin
Sadie Logan has not been able to sleep at home since Monday night, when loyalist thugs attacked her house. A divorced mother who lives alone, she was in bed in New Buildings, a Protestant district three miles outside Londonderry, when they threw bricks through the window and vandalised her car.
Logan's crime, in the eyes of the loyalist hooligans, was to attempt to mediate between demonstrators and the RUC. As a member of the local community police liaison committee, believing it was her duty to ease tensions last week, she had spoken to officers at a blockade close to her home.
To the protesters, this was traitorous behaviour, hostile to the Orange cause. In fact, Logan, 45, is steeped in the tradition, and her credentials go back three generations. Her father, William McClintock, was a worshipful master and a lay chaplain. Her grandfather, William McKeegan, was a senior member of the Orange Order. Other relatives still are.
While proud of her heritage, Logan believes Harold Gracey, the district master in Portadown, has sullied the name of the organisation her ancestors held dear.
"My father would turn in his grave at the thought of members of the Orange Order attacking the police," she said. "He would not believe the way some members are behaving; that the same people who are supporting the campaign to save the RUC's name are throwing blast bombs at them. I still can't believe that loyalists did this to me.
"I blame Harold Gracey and the others who called these people out on to the streets. They opened a can of worms and it got out of control."
There is plenty of support for her analysis. William Brown, a former grand master in Co Down, told BBC Radio Ulster last week that he had not attended a meeting of Grand Lodge, the order's supreme policy-making body, for two years because he believed things were going the wrong way.
"When I see people blocking traffic, with pints in their hands - that's not the institution I joined," he said. One senior Grand Lodge official spent last week's Twelfth in his garden, the first time he had missed the annual parade for more than 30 years, while in Co Antrim, a former district master resigned after 40 years. There have been reports of resignations from lodges throughout Northern Ireland, including Portadown, the town considered to be the headquarters of the institution.
It was not supposed to be like this. Gracey and David Jones, his press officer, had predicted massive crowds would descend on fields outside Drumcree church, believing their call for protests last week would result in the province being paralysed. Instead, the once mighty Orange Order has been humbled, enduring one of the worst weeks in its 205-year history.
Since 1795, when it was formed after Protestants routed Catholics at the Battle of the Diamond, near Loughgall, Armagh, the order has cut a triumphalist path across Northern Ireland.
As prime movers in forming the Ulster Unionist party in the early 1900s, it was politically invincible. In 1932, Lord Craigavon, then prime minister, said he was an Orangeman first and prime minister second, and for years the group's intolerance of others was encouraged by the religious and political establishment.
But as Northern Ireland has changed in recent years, the order's power and influence has diminished. It was in Portadown, a few miles from its Loughgall birthplace, that the order faced what has become its defining trial of strength.
Gracey and his supporters are Orangemen from the old school, harking back to the days of Craigavon, when the organisation had immense political power in a country where Catholics knew their place and stayed in it. Throughout the past year, the leader of the Portadown protest has ignored signs that support was declining. When senior members of Gracey's own lodge were quoted saying the protest had degenerated into a farce, he rubbished the claims and insisted that support was as strong as ever.
Oblivious to criticism, the officers of Portadown district announced plans for a series of marches and called for the order to take to the streets to support them. The move was not cleared in advance with either the Armagh County Lodge or the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland in Belfast.
This year's Drumcree was very low-key. Only 500 turned up for the first march to the hill on Saturday, June 29, and a second on July 2 was stopped, without trouble.
When the Parades Commission announced on July 3 that, as expected, there would be no march along the nationalist Garvaghy Road on July 9, growing numbers of protesters gathered at Drumcree. But not in the numbers Gracey and Jones had predicted. In previous years they had summoned more than 20,000 and boasted that this number could be trebled. This time they struggled to reach 3,000.
Many Orangemen were horrified to hear Gracey on Downtown Radio and the BBC refusing to condemn violence. Jones later claimed that Gracey had been caught unawares, but that was not the case. The interviews were prerecorded and realising the significance of Gracey's remarks the reporter had asked: "Do you realise what you're saying? Are you sure you want to say that?" Gracey nodded.
The next day, Saturday, July 8, the Portadown Orangemen issued a call for a province-wide protest on Monday, urging protesters to close roads from 4pm till 8pm. Once again they ignored advice from senior members of the organisation and gambled everything.
Among those few who turned up at Drumcree last week were members of loyalism's most sinister terrorist groups. As predicted by police and many members of the order, the extremists hijacked the protest, orchestrated disorder on a grand scale, staged gun-firing propaganda stunts and briefly plunged Northern Ireland into fear and disorder.
Johnny "Mad Dog" Adair received a hero's welcome when he first appeared on Drumcree Hill. Surrounded by minders, the former leader of the Ulster Freedom Fighters on the Shankill Road shook hands as he pushed his way triumphantly through the crowd. He had not been invited by Portadown district, but nor was he asked to leave. Adair openly aligned himself with the protest and formed a coalition with the Loyalist Volunteer Force in Portadown. He has little interest in Drumcree; his participation was motivated by a turf war among terrorists. Extremists believed Adair's support would tilt the balance in their favour and stretch the security forces to the limit. After all, it was loyalist violence that led to Sir Hugh Annesley, the then chief constable, overturning a ban on the parade in 1996 and forcing it along the Garvaghy Road.
But the orgy of violence never materialised last week. There was trouble, most notably in Portadown and Belfast, but nothing like on the scale of previous years. The leaders of the Ulster Defence Association and Ulster Volunteer Force had decided to boycott the protest and Adair could not deliver what his supporters had hoped for. Credited with the murders of at least 20 Catholics, Mad Dog contributed to tensions within the Orange Order. While the institution had received a bad name because of the Drumcree protests in recent years, the majority of its members were law-abiding and opposed violence. In their eyes, Adair was as bad as Gerry Adams in his heyday. One senior Orangeman from Belfast said: "Johnny Adair should have been told to leave the hill. The order should not let people like him have anything to do with it. I think that was the final straw for many people." Brian Currin, the South African human rights lawyer attempting to mediate between Portadown district and the nationalist residents, slipped quietly into the fields at Drumcree on the morning of the Twelfth.
Gracey and his lodge had left to take part in the parade in Killyleagh, Co Down, and Currin wanted to sample the atmosphere. The fields, usually packed on the Twelfth, were empty.
Currin returned to Portadown on Thursday for further discussions with Breandan MacCionnaith and other members of the Garvaghy Road residents' coalition, and was back at Drumcree on Friday to meet the Portadown Orangemen before flying back to South Africa.
The mediator will return to Northern Ireland early next month, when he hopes to begin intensive talks aimed at preventing the standoff from continuing for a fourth year.
The omens are not good. Having gambled and lost, the Portadown Orangemen will enter talks weakened. They closed down much of the province last Monday afternoon, but through intimidation and threats rather than by consent and solidarity.
At the height of the demonstration, dozens of roads were blocked, but many of the protesters were women and children, and in some areas just five or six people took part. The majority of Orangemen stayed away. Most of the unionist MPs at Westminster, who in previous years had supported the protest, criticised the tactics. By Thursday evening, Robert Saulters, the Grand Master of the Orange Order, had disowned it and criticised Portadown for acting unilaterally.
It was clear that he realised the future of the entire institution, not just a 10-minute walk in Portadown, was now in question. The next 12 months could be among the most crucial in the institution's history. Many believe the damage is already irreversible.
A secretive organisation, the order has never published membership lists, but did not demur at reports that it numbered about 100,000 just 20 years ago. A more realistic figure might have been 60,000. Some insiders say it has since dwindled to about 40,000.
There has been a parallel decline in its influence. Top people in business, government, the churches or the public service are no longer all members.
For 30 years, republicans have criticised British governments for caving into "the Orange card". One former member of the Grand Lodge, who left the order this year, believes the card has been played too often. He said: "I don't think republicans will have to worry about us in the future because we don't have any aces left in the pack.
"We have played our hand very foolishly and left our enemies holding the trumps."
Copyright © 2000 Sunday Times