Reports obtained from:
(1) Republican News, (2) Irish News, (3) Irish Echo
(4) Sunday Business Post
Sunday, 1 August, 2003
Thursday-Friday, 15-16 July, 2004
Wednesday-Tuesday, 14-20 July, 2004
Tuesday-Wednesday, 13-14 July, 2004
An Orange voice of sanity on parades
By Paul T Colgan, Sunday Business Post
Fred Cobain, Ulster Unionist Party Assembly member and Orangeman, last week wrote an article for the Irish News in which he was scathing of nationalists in the Ardoyne area of Belfast who protested at last month's Twelfth of July march.
Nationalist youths attacked members of the British Army's Parachute regiment and PSNI officers after Orange supporters were allowed to pass through the area. Television pictures of scores of young nationalists engaging in hand-to-hand fighting with troops were beamed around the world.
Cobain, a representative for north Belfast, wrote that the march was legal, that the PSNI acted correctly and that the ensuing violence was ``inexcusable''. Needless to say nationalists and republicans disagree strongly with Cobain's analysis. However, he cannot be dismissed as your typical unionist.
Son of a communist and one of very few Ulster Unionists who openly calls himself a left-winger, Cobain is attempting to bring the Orange Order kicking and screaming into the 21st century.
He is currently involved in the north and west Belfast Parades Forum, an umbrella organisation that brings together the UUP, the DUP, the Orange Order, the Protestant churches and representatives of the various loyalist paramilitary organisations.
The group has pledged to begin talks with nationalists in September. Cobain has spent the last two years on the ground in an attempt to bring the Ardoyne dispute to an amicable conclusion.
``Some people in the Protestant community now actually understand that if there is going to be parading, then talking to nationalist residents is a must,'' said Cobain.
``It has taken a long time for that to sink in, but I think it's permeating all through the Protestant community.
``I think there are some people in the Orange Order who understand that too, but there's not enough of them - not at a high enough level. Not everyone has been convinced yet. I don't think people in the nationalist community realize how difficult this is for unionists.
``The unionist perception is that this is part of our culture and we are entitled to march basically wherever we want.
"The difficulty with that is this is 2004 and you can't march wherever you want - there has to be some accommodation between the two communities.
``Obviously the problem is the Orange Order which has a policy of not talking to the Parades Commission, not talking to nationalist residents. We are never going to solve this problem unless there is direct dialogue.
``Without direct dialogue, the scenes at Ardoyne could be repeated within the next three or four weeks.''
The forum has come under attack from various quarters.
Sinn Fein has questioned the DUP's willingness to sit down with loyalist paramilitaries while still refusing to talk directly to republicans. Some nationalist commentators have suggested that the forum is not seriously interested in dialogue. Cobain dismissed this.
`The loyalist paramilitaries realise that if there isn't some sort of accommodation that they're going to have to carry the can for this,'' said Cobain.
``If there is large-scale rioting in these areas, loyalist paramilitaries will be at the forefront of that.''
Cobain said the Ardoyne dispute flared up this year, as not enough work had been done on the ground.
He said a failure by the Parades Commission to make clear its determinations regarding Orange supporters had also been behind much of the tension.
``Last year, a huge amount of work went on behind the scenes,'' he said.
``That amount of work didn't go on this year. Last year, people worked very hard. Sinn Fein and the Ulster Unionist Party worked along with other people to reach an accommodation and that showed up. But it wasn't as concentrated an effort this year.''
He believes the problems surrounding contentious parades can be properly addressed by bringing the Orange Order in from the cold.
``Unionists are coming from a position where they have been in control here, because they have been in the majority for so long,'' he said.
``To move from that environment into one where you actually have to talk to people about issues you've taken for granted for the last 200 years is extremely difficult.''
Cobain said unionists were not difficult to predict and that nationalists had learned this over the years, but he said the difficulty for unionists was ``thinking afresh''.
``Nationalists have this mantra `no talk no walk', and unionists have never challenged that,'' he said.
``I'm not absolutely sure that behind that mantra there is any substance. And I think the quicker unionists test that the better.''
He said it was not unusual that contentious parades were exclusively a problem for working-class communities.
``When you look at some of the conditions people are living in, it doesn't matter if you're a working-class nationalist or unionist,'' Cobain said.
``Working-class people have got a raw deal out of this agreement.
``We're not going to have any contentious parades in middle-class areas.''
While Cobain rails against the failure by his and the other main parties in the North to address properly the needs of working-class districts, he believes the over-arching constitutional question has largely been settled.
``Whether it is the DUP or the Ulster Unionists leading unionism, there are fundamentals in the GFA that cannot be removed,'' he said.
``There can be no return to Stormont here, in an executive capacity, without Sinn Fein.
That's the reality that unionists here are facing.''
Copyright © 2004 Sunday Business Post
Thursday-Friday, 15-16 July, 2004
Paras would have killed
By Republican News
British paratroopers came within seconds of firing live rounds at nationalist protestors during a Protestant march in Ardoyne, it has emerged.
British army officials have said soldiers from the Parachute Regiment, who were engaged in hand-to-hand fighting with nationalist rioters on Ardoyne Road in north Belfast on Monday night, came close to opening fire.
Hundreds of unionist paramilitaries and supporters of the Orange Order were forced through a nationalist area in apparent contravention of a ruling by the Parades Commission.
Troops came under attack when nationalist residents learned that they legally binding determination had been overruled.
One British army source has claimed that the troops would have been entitled to kill.
"If a soldier feels that his life or the life of his fellow soldiers is at risk, he has the legitimate right to use lethal force.
"The soldiers involved found themselves in an extremely dangerous situation and did consider that their lives were at risk.
"They would have been within their rights to open fire if they had done so."
Another said: "It was an extremely violent situation and they came very close to using baton and live rounds on the crowd."
Senior republicans, including Sinn Fein's Gerry Kelly, controversially intervened in an effort to calm the situation.
Although their actions bolstered its reputation as a moderate nationalist party, republican hardliners have condemned what they describe as the intervention of "counter revolutionary elements intent on undermining resistance to British Rule".
In a statement, the 32 County Sovereignty Movement said it fully supported the nationalist community in Ardoyne in "defending the community against the British Army, RUC and pro-British elements".
"It is with a degree of regret however that we note that many of these people, instead of being praised for their actions, will recieve a black mark against their names or worse and will no doubt be labelled troublemakers..."
Mr Kelly defended his actions against the rioters.
"I am an elected representative. We are in a peace process. I was there to represent residents and sometimes that means arguing against some of them. I was there because I have certain principles," he said.
"I believe in what I am doing, and I will continue to do it, even if that means you end up falling out with people, maybe, that were friends with you the day before," he said, adding: "We managed to save lives."
The Parades Commission, which placed restrictions on the parade, has refused to comment on the PSNI's actions.
Mr Kelly insisted that a "dirty deal was done" involving the British government, unionist politicians, the Orange Order and the PSNI to allow the marchers to coat-trail past Ardoyne shops.
Orangemen had claimed the Commission's remit is limited to its own marchers and bands, and does not extend to the actions of parade followers.
POLICING BOARD SLAMMED
Meanwhile, the Policing Board, which was set up as part of the Good Friday Agreement to hold the PSNI police in the North to account, has been accused of 'going native' in its response.
Policing Board chairman Des Rea has been strongly criticised for saying that the PSNI was placed in a "no-win situation" during a contentious parade in north Belfast.
The statement appears to prejudge a report he himself
Professor Rea said yesterday that he had called on Hugh Orde to give the body a full report on the policing of this year's parades at its next meeting in September.
Gerry Kelly branded Prof Rea's comments "pathetic".
"Des Rea and his colleagues are increasingly seen as little more than a rubber-stamping body for PSNI operations. They are incapable of exercising effective accountability over the PSNI because they do not have the power to do so," he said.
"The activities of the PSNI in the past week in Ardoyne and Lurgan prove once again that the Sinn Fein assessment on policing is the correct one."
SDLP Policing Board member Alex Attwood said: "I don't know who Des Rea thinks he is speaking for, but it is certainly not the SDLP members of the Policing Board and the many thousands who support them across the north.
"He needs to stand back and see the damage that has been done by bad government and bad policing."
Sinn Fein's Michelle Gildernew has warned that the SDLP was in "disarray" over its stance on policing.
"The party leader tells us that the Policing Board is the vehicle for accountability, while other senior members are calling for the party to leave the current flawed policing structures entirely," she said.
Wednesday-Tuesday, 14-20 July, 2004
Watching a riot unfold
By Anne Cadwallader, Irish Echo, USA
The Woodvale Road began thumping to the sound of Orange drums. Loyalist politicians with dubious pasts like Billy Hutchinson, a former double-life sentence UVF man and Frank McCoubrey, with links to the UDA, strutted about importantly.
In the bright sunshine, Nigel Dodds of the DUP, the MP for North Belfast, wore his Orange sash proudly and smiled broadly. The atmosphere was relaxed. The police were dusting off the remaining few specks from the black helmets that complete their "Robo-Cop" riot attire.
We knew the Orangemen would be allowed to march past the Ardoyne shops flashpoint. But what of the loyalist bandsmen of the Ballysillan True Blues and the Pride of Ardoyne marching bands? And, more importantly, what of the group of about 500 drunken loyalist hangers-on, sporting heavy gold necklaces, large tattoos and union-jack bandanas?
What of the elderly loyalist lady clad in a mock nun's outfit? A bright orange nun's outfit?
The bandsmen climbed on board buses. The Orangemen lined up. So far so good. They made their way up towards Ardoyne where dozens of British army vehicles, equipped with 12-foot-high metal screens had penned its 7,000 inhabitants out of sight.
A few bottles sailed over each way. The Orangemen were up the road. What of the followers-on whom the Parades Commission had barred from the march. Would they stage a Drumcree-style stand-off? Would we see a tented village mushroom on the Woodvale Road?
Within seconds, we had our answer. Against all expectations - except those cynics who believed the Orange Order downgraded its threats on the back of a secret deal with the police - the loyalist crowd began moving through police lines, towards Ardoyne.
The hordes of waiting loyalists at the roundabout opposite the shops gave whoops of joy. Ardoyne's nationalists, caged like animals the other side of the impermeable screens, understood the message loud and clear. The loyalists were being forced past their doorsteps.
A hail of missiles flew either way. Loyalists joyfully waved UDA flags, sang "The Sash" as loud as they could, taunted Catholics in their gardens and on front doorsteps, inviting them to come out and fight. Two-fingered salutes and clenched fists were waved liberally in the air.
The raucous red-white-and-blue crowd made its way to where thousands of other loyalists were waiting in triumph. Ardoyne, realizing what had taken place, went berserk.
Leading republicans like Gerry Kelly and Bobby Storey, who have spent decades in jail for attacking the British state, found themselves desperately preventing furious youths assaulting soldiers and police.
Not for love of authority, but fearing that, given half an excuse, the police would love nothing more than a good, old-fashioned, unfair fight between bare fists and bottles - revolvers and plastic bullet guns.
One group of British soldiers, cut off from their fellows, were saved almost single-handedly by Storey, using his not inconsiderable bulk and political credibility to preserve them from a lynching. The water cannon came out, the riot lasted about 40 minutes.
At the end of it all, Gerry Kelly had a broken wrist, hit with a baton as he remonstrated with youths. Martin Morgan, the SDLP former Lord Mayor, was nearly in tears demanding a Police Ombudsman's inquiry. The streets were littered with glass, trees and flowers dragged from gardens.
The police withdrew, with Supt. David Boultwood explained to incredulous reporters that they had "policed the Parades Commission's determination" and enforced "human rights law".
The SDLP has a lot of explaining to do on how they can hold the police "accountable" for their actions. Sinn Fein is facing serious difficulties also, explaining how this could happen, 10 years into a peace process that was supposed to mean a new beginning.
The Orangemen, loyalists and their supporters had their victory, yet again. But at what cost to community relations?
Copyright © 2004 Irish Echo
Tuesday-Wednesday, 13-14 July, 2004
Same old story
By Republican News
Immense anger has lingered in the nationalist Ardoyne community after a Protestant Orange Order parade and a mob of followers were forced theough the area on Monday evening.
Monday was the pinnacle of the Protestant marching season with tens of thousands of Orangemen marching to commemorate Protestant William of Orange's victory over Catholic James II at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.
The Orange Order has repeatedly refused to talk to local residents about their opposition to the march.
As a compromise, the government-appointed Parades Commission ruled that only the Orangemen themselves, and not their loutish and drunken supporters, would be allowed to march past the nationalist Ardoyne shops on their way back from a central gathering in south Belfast.
However, an extraordinary and secret deal involving the Orange Order, unionist paramilitaries and the PSNI allowed the "hangers on" to march through the area in defiance of the Parades Commission ruling.
As the mob sauntered up the road, they waved unionist paramilitary flags, made triumphalist gestures and hurled sectarian abuse at nationalists behind the barricades.
Nationalists, pent up behind giant steel barriers, were predictably enraged. Street battles quickly ensued as locals vented their fury. Bottles, bricks and rocks began to fly in both directions and the situation rapidly deteriorated.
Briitsh Crown forces used water cannon and baton-charges to push nationalists back and protect the marchers.
Nationalist politicians, including former IRA man Gerry Kelly, were barracked and booed as they intervened to protect 15 British soldiers who were under attack. Kelly was assaulted by one republican and had his wrist broken by a baton-wielding member of the PSNI.
A 51-year-old man died of a heart attack as chaos enveloped the area for several hours.
One community worker said nationalist trust had been "smashed to smithereens". Holy Cross parish priest Fr Aidan Troy described the events as "a huge break down in trust" between nationalists, the Parades Commission and police.
Nationalists felt betrayed and felt the Parades Commission had "washed their hands" of the parade, he said.
The 26-County Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, condemned the violence and described it as "deeply regrettable and disturbing"
He expressed concern at the handling of the march. "It's now important to establish precisely what happened and to see what lessons can be learned," he added.
The position of the Parades Commission, which was introduced after the Drumcree conflagrations in the mid 90s and whose rulings were understood to have legal effect, is now uncertain.
Mounting frustration among grassroots nationalists will have repercussions for talks on the peace process planned for September.
Sinn Fein has been strongly criticised for the apparent failure of its peace efforts to win equality for nationalists, while the rival SDLP has come under immense pressure to follow through on a stated commitment and end its support for the PSNI.
Mr Adams praised Sinn Fein politicians for working to create calm in the area on Monday, but warned against underestimating the seriousness of the situation.
Mr Adams was accompanied by Mr Gerry Kelly, who had his arm in a sling as a result of the violence. They said they expected tough talking from Ardyone residents at meeting in the area today.
Mr Adams said residents had suffered from "the same old story".
"Nationalists were hemmed in, were beaten and the loyalists were shepherded through. Orange marches should not be permitted to go where they are not wanted.
"If they want to go somewhere they should come and talk."
He pointed out that a nationalist march would have been severely restricted. Unionists within the British system got their way, but he warned nationalists would not accept their triumphalism.
The number of protesters in Ardoyne illustrated the scale of the anger, he said. "Croppies are not lying down, we are not taking it any longer.
"We want to extend the hand of friendship, but we won't have it bitten off."
Two more loyalist parades are planned for Ardoyne next month.
TIMELINE OF EVENTS
5pm- Large numbers of police and British Army seal off Ardoyne residents from Crumlin Road in North Belfast. Two PSNI water cannon's on standby at junction of Woodvale Raod
6pm-Troops erect a 100m steel wall along the length of Ardoyne shops. Nationalist residents held behind heavy police lines, while 300 loyalist waiting for the parade to arrive at Twaddell Av stand behind crash barriers.
6.30pm-Senior north Belfast loyalist tells reporters that deal has already been agreed with police to allow parade supporters to march past Ardoyne.
7pm-Up to 800 loyalists congregate at Hesketh Road on upper Crumlin RD pushing soldiers back towards Ardoyne, Catholic families living in Summerdale Park and Ingeldale park now behind loyalist lines.
7.45-Three buses of loyalist bandsmen driven past Ardoyne, Bandsmen disembark and play the sash at loyalist lines.
8pm-Stones thrown from both sides as Orangemen march past Ardoyne. One steward physically assaults and threatens cameraman.
8.15-Up to 400 loyalist allowed to march past Ardoyne shops. Well known loyalist paramilitaries clearly seen in crowd, who chant paramilitary slogans.
8.30pm-Serous trouble breaks out on Ardoyne Road between residents and army as loyalist crowd gathers at Glenbryn.
8.45pm-Situation calmed down as senior Republicans position themselves between army lines and angry residents, Sinn Fein's Gerry Kelly struck by baton.
9pm-Police use water cannon against stone-throwers at junction of Brompton Park in Ardoyne Area calm but tense as community leaders try to bring youths under control.
10pm-Rioting dies down
Tuesday-Wednesday, 13-14 July, 2004
Outrage as march forced through Lurgan centre
By Republican News
For the second time this week, the PSNI police have ignored a Parades Commission determination and forced an anti-Catholic parade through a nationalist community.
Last (Tuesday) night, the PSNI allowed a mob of unionist paramilitaries and their supporters to blockade Lurgan in County Armagh following a parade by the Royal Black Preceptory, a quasi-religious organisation linked to the Orange Order.
From 6pm nationalists were unable to enter Lurgan town centre. The march through the Market Street area of the town was led by the local paramilitary LVF along with DUP Councillor Jonathan Bell.
After the blockade was finally lifted the PSNI wsere seen to attack nationalists congregating in the area.
Lurgan PSNI base was subsequently attacked by a crowd of nationalists throwing petrol bombs and bricks as anger lingered over the handling of the march.
Local Sinn Fein representative John O'Dowd said the events in Lurgan were a "mirror image" of the PSNI's actions in north Belfast on the previous night.
"Over the past two days the PSNI have on two occasions took it upon themselves to overturn Parades Commission determinations. On both occasions the nationalist community ended up being hemmed in and attacked by the PSNI," he said.
"It is clear that one law operates for unionists and another for nationalists and republicans."
Supporters of the Black Perceptory were also blamed for carrying out an attack on a female Catholic taxi driver in Lurgan on Tuesday morning. Despite a very heavy deployment of British forces in the town for the parade, her vehicle was stoned in the town centre. Locals said no effort was made to apprehend the attackers.
Mr O'Dowd said he and party colleagues later had to personally intervene to prevent PSNI land rovers "mowing down" a group of young nationalists.
He said the events raised "very serious issues both for the future of parading and the future of policing".
"Unionists within the PSNI with the support of unionists within the local British administration were once again dictating the parading and policing agenda.
"This is unacceptable and must raise questions for those parties and individuals who continue to promote the PSNI to nationalists as an acceptable and accountable policing service."
He also called on the SDLP to consider their support for the local District Policing Partnership.
"Over the past week two senior SDLP members one in Larne and one in Belfast have said that they are considering their positions with regard to DPPs and the Policing Board itself.
"I would now challenge the SDLP DPP members in Upper Bann to do likewise in the light of last nights disgraceful PSNI operation."
Tuesday-Wednesday, 13-14 July, 2004
Analysis: The sound of hands being washed clean
By Brian Feeney, Irish News, Belfast
So far blame for the return to the tactics of imprisoning a whole nationalist community to ease the passage of their tormentors has been more or less divided between police and the Parades Commission. There are other culprits.
First, the unionist politicos who interfered in the matter of the Orange march past Ardoyne and Mountainview.
They displayed everything that is wrong with the leadership unionist politicians provide.
United only in sectarian solidarity with Orangemen and their loyalist terrorist supporters, they are in reality completely divided in intense competition for the support of people who don't even vote for them. The Orange Order apparently nominated Nelson McCausland, currently of the DUP, to be their spokesman, a choice which says more about the Orange Order than Mr McCausland's political abilities. Be that as it may, it did not stop Don Quixote and Sancho Panza in the shape of David Trimble and Reg Empey from rushing off to Hillsborough to plead their case before our proconsul who happened to be in Ireland. Nigel Dodds MP, also DUP, also pestered the NIO and police. All Orangemen, so completely unbiased.
At least Dodds represents unionists in north Belfast.
Neither Trimble nor Empey represent anyone in north Belfast, nor had they been asked by the Orange Order to speak for them.
So what could they tell our proconsul? Perhaps report the latest information party colleagues had gleaned from meeting loyalist terrorist representatives on the so-called North and West Belfast Parades Forum? What we do know is that they wanted him to reject the Parades Commission's ruling.
Think about that. The Parades Commission had cravenly granted permission for marches back and forth past Ardoyne, thereby guaranteeing a massive security operation not just in Ardoyne but in Mountainview just across the Crumlin Road, which no unionist mentions is also a nationalist district. So the Parades Commission allowed an Orange march between two nationalist districts even though it has always caused trouble and the Orangemen have always refused to speak to anyone from either district.
However, there were to be no bands playing or camp followers who started the trouble on the route back last year. In fact the Parades Commission commended the good behaviour of the marchers but castigated the camp-followers, many of whom are traditionally paralytic by the time they reach the Crumlin Road. So what did Trimble, Empey, McCausland and co demand?
They had got their marches up and down the road but they wanted the troublemakers to be allowed to pass as well. Responsible leadership you see.
Now to our proconsul. Is he the weakest since Merlyn Rees, another Welsh wobbler? Word has it he didn't agree with the Parades Commission determination. We dunno. How would we? We're dealing with a jellyfish wafted to and fro by the currents. We do know he gave no clear political leadership. Would police stop the coat-trailers or not? What did our proconsul want? A peaceful Twalf. Yeah, well we know that. What did he do to achieve it? Nothing.
Nor do we know what assurances, if any, he gave Trimble and co.
All we can say is that they were remarkably quiet when they left Hillsborough, smug even, like men who'd been pacified somehow. We now know why. While nationalists continued to believe the Parades Commission determination barring coat-trailers still stood, the police had been advised it didn't because the Parades Commission had no authority over non-marchers. Indeed a raggle-taggle of supporters was allowed pass Ardoyne on the Twalf morning.
By the middle of Monday afternoon police and loyalists had agreed on how matters would proceed when the Orange march returned that evening. In all this toing and froing, the only people left out of the loop were the people of Ardoyne and Mountainview whose lives suffer the greatest disruption every year as police facilitate sectarian yahoos.
It was just like old times really when the RUC used to seal off Catholic districts without explanation and then suddenly out of a clear blue - has to be blue - sky, an Orange march would appear. The establishment of the Parades Commission was supposed to end this collusion between police and Orangeism. Residents were to be included in decision-making instead of being the only people who didn't even know what the decision was. The political blame for the return to this deplorable state of affairs lies squarely with our current lily-livered, weak-kneed proconsul who was silent and invisible on the Twalf itself and in the aftermath of the riots at Ardoyne.
He did not back the Parades Commission. He did not say what he'd agreed with unionists. He left it to the police. Pontius Pilate.
Copyright © 2004 Irish News