British Direct Ruler Mo Mowlam’s highly-publicised proximity talks between Orangemen and nationalist residents before the march were exposed as duplicitous on July 8 when Irish newspapers published a leaked British ‘Northern Ireland Office’ confidential document which showed that the British had decided at least by June 20 last to force the Orange parade down the Garvaghy Road as the line of least resistance.

Reacting to the decision, Republican Sinn Féin President Ruairí Ó Brádaigh said that it was “an abject surrender to loyalist violence and threat of violence as has happened in 1996, 1974 and as far back as 1912-14.”

The British banning of the Garvaghy Road Residents’ Coalition “Féile na mBóthar” (Street Festival) on Wednesday, July 2 (all but ignored by the media) showed the early bias of the English Establishment very clearly.

The decision meant that future prospects for the current process have been shown to be built on sand with the new British Labour Government yielding to violence much more easily than the Major-Mayhew Tory administration, he added.

In the aftermath of the British capitulation, aided by David Trimble’s threat to pull out of the Stormont talks and the Loyalist Volunteer Force’s threats against 26-County civilians, disturbances erupted throughout the Six Counties, and nationalists took over areas of Belfast and Derry.

The British Crown Forces have fired more than 1,600 plastic bullets at nationalists, including one 14-year-old boy, Gary Lawlor, from Lenadoon in Belfast who was shot in the back of the head by a plastic bullet. His family want the British soldier involved charged with attempted murder and called for the banning of plastic bullets.

More than 550 attacks were made on the British Crown Forces, there were over 700 bombings, mostly petrol bombs, 57 civilians and 46 RUC paramilitary police were injured and there were more than 600 call-outs by the fire and ambulance services.

At 3.30am on Sunday, July 6 the British Crown Forces moved on to the Garvaghy Road and forcibly removed nationalist protesters, causing many injuries to men, women and children. Residents were called “Fenian scum” and “Fenian bastards”.

Major rioting broke out all along the half-mile long road and more than 300 Crown Forces Land Rovers were deployed to overwhelm the local population. Unrest spread to other nationalist areas as news spread of the events in Portadown.

In Derry youths ignored Provisionals Martin McGuinness and Mitchel McLaughlin who attempted to stop them attacking the British Crown Forces before midnight on July 6. The attacks commenced after young Republicans burned the Union Jack at Butcher’s Gate.

The Provisionals and their supporters in the residents group were trying to ‘police’ the area all day to little avail. In areas of west Belfast such as Twinbrook and Poleglass, they hunted youths from the streets and ordered no attacks on the British Crown Forces.

On the following night, (Monday, July 7) the body of a UDA loyalist death squad member was found at Dunmurry on the outskirts of Belfast. A pipe bomb he was handling had exploded prematurely in the loyalist Seymour Hill area.

The Provisionals held a meeting in Belfast on July 7 where they announced that public buildings and roads would be blocked over the coming days, just as the loyalists did during the Drumcree stand-off in 1996.

However, the treatment of any such nationalist blockades by the Crown Forces would be of a totally different order to the protection given to loyalist protesters last year.

An RUC British policeman was shot and injured on the Garvaghy Road early on Tuesday morning, July 8. Hundreds of youths were on the streets of Derry as rioting continued.
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James Morgan, from Annsborough near Castlewellan, had been missing since lunchtime on July 24. He was last spotted walking with a man at 7pm on Thursday night on the Castlewellan Road. Three days later, on Sunday, July 27 James’s body was discovered by the British police (RUC) in a search of the Clough field. It is believed he was battered to death after accepting a lift while hitching home.

The RUC claim they received a phone call saying that a Morgan had been missing in the Castlewellan area. His father, Justin Morgan, speaking from his home in Ballybough Road, said “I don’t know who or why they did it, but I pity them because they have to live with it.” James Morgan was a soft target for the pro-British death squads. His elder brother Paul remarked that it wasn’t too hard to work out which door to knock, “We are the only Morgans in this area,” he said.

James Morgan was awaiting the results of his GCSE examinations in August, after which he hoped to return to St Malachy’s High School.

A 26-year-old man, Norman James Coopey was charged on July 28 with the murder of the young nationalist. He was remanded in custody to appear at the Maze prison on August 13 next.

These abominable tragedies must wake people up to the futility of seeking parity of esteem in a British colony created on a sectarian head-count. To those former revolutionaries who have surrendered to the dark spectre of fatalism – that evil thing that says “over 25 years of struggle has gotten us nowhere. It is best to try compromise within the British constitutional framework”, we say look what your fatalism has reaped.

“Pearse articulated the Republican spirit when he told the British court-martial in 1916 “. . . but we have not lost. To fight is to win, to fail to fight is to lose”.
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One lawyer confirmed that he had represented a number of clients who had taken civil action against the British police (RUC) and that the majority of these had been successful.

“I can also confirm that I am not aware of any disciplinary proceedings being taken against any police officer in those cases where clients have successfully received compensation,” the lawyer said. A legal company in Belfast also said it knew of no instance where an RUC officer had been disciplined following asuccessful civil action.

A lawyer in Portadown reported lodging “numerous official complaints” regarding allegations of assault by Crown Forces, however he was unaware of anyone being prosecuted. There was general concern from all the lawyers about the use of plastic bullets in nationalist areas.

A Derry legal firm recorded a large number of complaints and injuries which indicated that plastic bullets had been fired in breach of guidelines governing their use.
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The woman is an alibi witness who said she saw Colin Duffy a mile away from the scene of the killing of two British colonial police (RUC) officers on June 16 last. Colin Duffy was charged with the killings shortly afterwards. He was released on appeal in October 1996 after his conviction for the killing of a British soldier was quashed. He had spent three-and-a-half years in jail.

On Wednesday, July 23 her husband had found a note in the chalet summoning her to attend a meeting with the British police which she and her husband attended. “They put the wind up me. I thought I was going to be arrested. The reception was packed and everyone knew that the police were looking for me . . . People were looking at us. One of the Camp photographers came up with his camera and said in a joke that theCID want a photo of us.”

The woman said she was made to feel like a terrorist. The fact that the British imperial authorities chose a public place in Britain to harass and mark out an Irish citizen shows that the British will not tolerate those Irish people who refuse to perjure themselves on Britain’s behalf.

The incident reveals the pressure the British are under to sustain a case against Colin Duffy. Speaking to the Irish News outside Belfast High Court on July 4 when her client was refused bail, Duffy’s solicitor Rosemary Nelson said:

“Never, ever, have I come across a situation where such overwhelming numbers of witnesses have voluntarily come forward to offer not only an alibi but also to call into question the credibility of the witness statement taken by the police. Lurgan, in general, is outraged.”
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Josephine Hayden, the only Republican POW in Limerick jail, met with department official Brian Purcell on July 17 last. In a letter to supporters she says that she queried why she did not get temporary release while she was in Limerick Regional Hospital following her two recent heart attacks.

Temporary release is the practice where prisoners who are hospitalised give their word to return to prison when discharged. In the cases of political prisoners it has always been honoured.

Josephine had written from her hospital bed to the Dublin Department of Justice on June 2 asking for temporary release but received no reply. Three subsequent letters were also ignored. Purcell’s reply to this was that she was a ‘high-security’ prisoner and for security reasons could not be given temporary release.

This is contradicted by the fact that temporary release is regularly given to male political prisoners in Portlaoise jail who require hospitalisation. Portlaoise is the most ‘high-security’ prison in the 26 Counties.

Josephine Hayden told the department official that they could not have it both ways – she was a political prisoner when she had to be taken to hospital after suffering a heart attack but was not treated as a political prisoner in the jail itself.

She also raised the fact that the ambulance bringing her to hospital on May 30 last was delayed for a period of time while the armed 26-County police escort was summoned. She asked for a guarantee that such a delay in a life-or-death situation would not occur again.

The official denied any delay. In addition Josephine pointed out that she was not in a fit position to record the length of time she was kept waiting in the ambulance but even if she was, would not have been able – prisoners in Limerick are not allowed to wear a watch. This is another condition of imprisonment which does not apply in any other jail in the 26 Counties.

The Limerick prison governor Pat Laffan told Josephine several weeks ago that an inquiry was being held into the delay in the ambulance taking her to hospital on May 30. She has not been told anything about this since.

Other matters raised by Josephine were also dodged by the Department of Justice official. A request to be examined in prison by her own family doctor is being “discussed” by the department, as is a request that her doctor be allowed to examine the conditions in the women’s wing.

A request by another prominent Irish prisoners’ welfare campaigner to visit Josephine and see the conditions is also being “discussed” by the department.
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So said Republican Sinn Féin’s Michael Holden addressing demonstrators from the steps of the Dublin Embassy in London on July 5 in support of Josephine Hayden, a member of Cumann na mBan, currently serving a six-year sentence in Limerick’s Victorian-style prison for political offences. The demonstration was organised by Republican Sinn Féin.

Josephine, he said, had suffered a heart attack on May 30, was rushed to Limerick Regional Hospital for treatment but less than a week later she was taken from her hospital bed and re-incarcerated in the women’s wing of Limerick jail. This was against the advice of her cardiologist but the prison authorities and Leinster House politicians decided to ignore the medical advice available. As a result Josephine suffered a second heart attack on July 1 in her prison cell.

Republican Sinn Féin is organising a campaign throughout Ireland, Britain and the US to have her released on medical and humanitarian grounds.

“We are here today at this Embassy – which is a symbol of anti-Republicanism and Free Statism – to express our support for Josephine Hayden in Limerick. You in Leinster House, if you still dare to call yourselves Irishmen and women – or even human beings – release Josephine Hayden now, today, to be cared for professionally by her doctor. Do it before it is too late,” Michael Holden said.

Leaflets were handed out at the demonstration to passers-by – mostly visitors to London and tourists. A message of solidarity was read out from the Republican (Continuity IRA) prisoners in Portlaoise prison which said: “Solidarity greetings and good wishes for a successful picket at the Irish (Free State) Embassy in London today. We join you in condemning the ill-treatment of our comrade Josephine Hayden and demand her immediate and unconditional release.”

Republican Sinn Féin thanked all those who took part in the picket.
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