Web layout by SAOIRSE -- Irish Freedom
January 6, 1998
Send links, events notifications, articles, comments etc, to the editor at: saoirse@iol.ie marked "attention web-editor".
Seamus Dillon (45), a former Republican prisoner who worked as a doorman at the Glengannon Hotel in Dungannon, was killed when at least two masked men drove into the hotel car-park shortly before 11pm and opened fire.
Another security guard, a 39-year-old man, was described as serious but stable in hospital, while a third had injuries to his leg, elbow and shoulder. A 14-year-old boy, who suffered chest and arm injuries was taken to an intensive care hospital unit in Belfast where he was described as critical but stable.
The car used in the attack was found burned out about two miles from the hotel.
The intention of the death-squad appeared to be to carry out a mass killing of innocent nationalists in the wake of the killing of their leader Billy Wright. The actions of the doormen at the hotel in challenging the gunmen prevented mass slaughter inside the hotel where a disco was taking place.
Speaking at Seamus Dillon's funeral on December 30 in St Mary and Joseph's Church in Coalisland, Co Tyrone, Father Seamus Rice said that Dillon gave his life to save the lives of many young Tyrone people. "I have no doubt that when Seamus Dillon was brutally murdered he gave his life to save other people," Father Rice said. A British army helicopter hovered nearby as prayers were said at the grave.
The dead included five members of the Crown Forces; one British soldier and two British colonial police (RUC), killed by the Provisionals' military wing prior to the restoration of its ceasefire; one RUC reservist killed by the INLA; and one RUC member who was kicked to death by loyalists in County Antrim.
Apart from LVF pro-British death-squad leader Billy Wright, who was killed by the INLA on December 27, all those killed by nationalist armed groups were members of the uniformed Crown Forces.
Among those killed by loyalists there were a number of internal killings, most notably, Robert Bates, one of the Shankill Butchers, who was shot dead by a loyalist on June 9.
Eight nationalists were killed in random sectarian killings: John Slane (44), Belfast; Robert Hamill (25), Portadown; Seán Brown (61), Co Derry; Bernadette Martin (18), Craigavon; James Morgan (16), Anns Borough, Co Down; Gerry Devlin (36), Belfast; Seamus Dillon (46), Co Tyrone; and Eddie Treanor (31), Belfast.
One loyalist, Brian Morton (34), died in a small explosion on July 7. He was believed to have been handling a bomb when it exploded prematurely.
Brendan 'Bic' McFarlane was OC of the IRA prisoners in the H-Blocks during the second hunger strike in 1981 which claimed the lives of ten men. He escaped from the H-Blocks in the mass break-out of September 1983 and was later arrested in Holland along with another leading Provisional, Gerry Kelly, and extradited to the Occupied Six Counties at the end of 1986.
He was released finally from the H-Blocks only two weeks ago. The 26-County police said he had been arrested on the Dundalk-Newry road at 11.50am on January 5 under the Section 30 of the notorious Offences Against the State Act (OASA) and "was being questioned about firearms offences in 1983". In a gun battle with 26-County soldiers and police in December 1983 two members of the 26-County forces were shot dead in disputed circumstances. No inquests were held to prove who had caused their deaths. A Provisional spokesperson told the Irish Times (January 6) that she was "very surprised" by the arrest and found it "very difficult to understand it". Other Provisional sources told the Irish News of the same day that the arrest of McFarlane was "unhelpful" to the peace process.
As Wright entered the van, the INLA prisoners leaped from the roof, forced open the door and shot him, having taken their cue from the administrators at central control. He died instantly. Three INLA inmates later handed over two guns used in the attack to a priest and surrendered without a struggle.
The three appeared in Lisburn Magistrates Court, County Antrim the following day (December 29) at which Michael McWilliams, John Glennon and Gerard Kennaway were charged with the killing of Wright. They were also charged with possession of two firearms and a quantity of ammunition. All three remained silent. A detective inspector with the British colonial police (RUC) told the court that when charging the defendants, McWilliams told him: "Billy Wright was executed for one reason and one reason only, that he was directing and waging his campaign of terror against the nationalist people from his prison cell." They were remanded in custody to re-appear at a court in Long Kesh on January 14.
No nationalist will rue the death of Billy Wright. He is estimated to have been responsible for the killing of over 35 nationalists, many at his own hands. The Corpus Delicti of his psychopathic campaign includes the killing of 70-year-old pensioner Rose Ann Mallon, who was machine-gunned to death through her kitchen window in Dungannon. Spraying gunfire through people's homes seems to have been a preferred tactic of Wright's fascist terror gang.
Fifty-three-year-old Theresa Fox and her 63-year-old husband, Charlie, were shot through their living-room window outside Moy, County Tyrone. It did not matter the age or the sex of their targets as long as they were Catholics. Kathleen O'Hagan was a 35-year-old mother of five and expecting another child when she was machine-gunned to death in her bed. The catalogue of horrific murders carried out by Wright's gang spreading from Lurgan to Newry since 1990 and beyond would fill a volume. Billy Wright set up his own group in response to the loyalist pseudo-ceasefire. Long suspected of being an agent of British Intelligence, Wright allowed himself to be a knight in a silly chess game being operated by British Military Intelligence which has a controlling interest in all of the death-squads.
When it suits the likes of MI5 to bring loyalist death squads together, they will do so for the purpose of containing a nationalist revolt. They will also foster divisions in order to keep control of the death squads and to keep pressure on their government in Westminster. The Unionist elite also have an interest in allying themselves to Wright's group. It enables them to assert control over working class elements of loyalism and they can also use groups like the LVF as a bargaining chip when dealing with the British government. That is why when the CLMC imposed a death-threat on Billy Wright, the DUP MP of the time, the Rev Billy McCrea appeared on a platform at a rally in support of Wright declared that he was there to defend democracy and freedom of expression. The LVF are ready to pounce again with MI5 in the background keeping a close eye.
The death-squad has not only been involved in the killings of nationalists and the burning of their homes and places of employment but has also been involved in the burning of Protestant homes and churches in an attempt to ferment anti-Catholic sentiment among the loyalist community.
Meanwhile the sentinel British bulldog looks on and is manoeuvring Irish people into their appointed corrals.
"If, as we begin the year of 1998, we can claim an unbroken succession from the founders of our Movement 200 years ago, it is not because there is some natural inherent succession, but because there were outstanding people in each generation whose dedication was so ardent and so passionate that they advanced the cause of Irish freedom and handed on a living torch to the next generation.
"Dáithí Ó Conaill was one such person. His contribution to the cause of Irish freedom was immeasurable. His loss at an early age was equally immeasurable.
"Dáithí's vision of an ÉIRE NUA was clear and generous, yet he was no mere dreamer, but a practical man of great courage, physical and moral. Those of us who knew him are all the richer for that experience.
"It would seem that deviations from the Republican path and struggle are by now almost inevitable. They are best explained in terms of people who do not have in them what it takes to stay the course. That is understandable, but it is indefensible that such people, having abandoned the struggle, should seek to place our country in a straitjacket which buttresses and reinforces foreign rule and makes the achievement of a de facto 32-County Republic more difficult.
"The Irish Republic which the United Irishmen sought to achieve, and in the pursuit of which they invoked the right of recourse to arms, is still our objective, a democratic Republic of all 32 Counties.
"Each generation of Republicans has taken that objective and pursued it, refining and modernising it as appropriate, while always maintaining its essentials. In this we see a process of renewal and modernisation, which keeps the Republican Movement not just mature and steadfast but for ever young and vibrant. To Dáithí Ó Conaill we owe a lot for his development of the ÉIRE NUA concept of a free Republic comprising four autonomous provinces.
"The French revolutionaries sought equality and liberty, two worthwhile and valuable objectives, but seemingly contradictory. They had the wisdom to add the third aim of fraternity which would reconcile the two and provide a way forward to the emancipation of all people. The 1916 Proclamation spoke of ‘cherishing all the children of the nation equally’. The ÉIRE NUA programme in its own way promotes a practical structure and system for achieving the freedom of Ireland, and, simultaneously, giving every community in Ireland the autonomy to preserve and develop its own individuality.
"The year 1898 was a centenary year which served to inspire a new generation. This year of 1998 can be comparable in its importance. We have but to look back, pay our respects to our patriot dead, draw inspiration from their example and then plan for the future. There will be a lot of talk of peace.
"We all desire peace, but the only peace worth achieving is a permanent and lasting peace. The only basis for a lasting peace is justice. In this sacred spot it is appropriate to quote today from one of the psalms: ‘Justice shall march before you and Peace shall follow in your steps’. The peace we seek is not the Pax Britannica, an imposed peace. It is the peace agreed among Irishmen and women, Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter, without any foreign influence – Siochain na nGael. That was what Dáithí Ó Conaill sought. We will accept no less," he concluded.
A native of Cork city, Dáithí Ó Conaill (1938-1991) was the Vice-President of Republican Sinn Féin at the time of his early death on New Year’s Day 1991. More than one hundred Republicans gathered at his graveside, including his widow Deirdre and children Diog and Ciara. Also in attendance were former Republican Sinn Féin Ard-Rúnaí, Cathleen Knowles and Clr Joe O’Neill, Bundoran.
The pro-British gang burst into the Clifton Tavern shortly after 9pm. Revellers were met with a hail of gunfire sprayed from an Uzi sub-machine gun. Eddie Treanor was shot in the head and five other customers wounded. Witnesses said they saw a woman squealing with delight in the back seat of the white Vauxhall Senator car which was later found burnt out in Beechnut Street in north Belfast.
The attack is said to have been launched from the Shankill Road, a strong UDA/UFF base. The British colonial police (RUC) have so far failed to reveal the forensic history of the weapon used, which could confirm UDA/UFF involvement.
A spokesperson for Republican Sinn Féin said the attack highlighted the "bogus nature" of the ‘peace process’. "The nationalist nightmare is obviously continuing," he said. "It looks as if there will be more of these brutal, sectarian attacks in 1998. They have not been stopped by the ‘peace process’. There has to be an end to British interference in Ireland if there is to be true and lasting peace."
Billy Hutchinson of the PUP, associated with the UVF death squad, said that the current process could not survive an assassination committed by the UDA/UFF or UVF.
In a statement on January 1 designed to get the LVF off the hook the LVF claimed the shooting had been carried out by its West Belfast Brigade in retaliation for the killing of Billy Wright and threatened other attacks.
Meanwhile, shots were fired at the front of a nationalist house in Graymount Crescent in the Greencastle area of north Belfast in the early hours of January 1. The family escaped injury in the pro-British death squad attack.
He went on to state that the Republican Sinn Féin members should leave the car-park and if not he would raise the issue with two local Provisional Sinn Féin councillors, whom he named. Only then did he identify himself as the manager of the Northside Complex.
The following day the Keenan/Toner Cumann received a letter (a copy of which was included with this press release) from the Northside Development Trust, prohibiting the sale of SAOIRSE in the car-park.
In their statement the Cumann said: "However, as we were aware and several members of the public pointed out to us, copies of the Provisionals newspaper are regularly sold just inside the entrance doors of this shopping complex.
"It therefore seems that the management of the Northside Complex, or at least a few of its key executives, have become involved in an attempt to censor Republican Sinn Féin. Despite the Trust’s claim that the sale of political literature is forbidden within the complex, other papers and fund-raising sales do take place, and as recently as Sunday, December 21.
"It is clear that the Northside Development Trust is involved in the censorship of true Republicans. Sales of SAOIRSE have steadily increased in the Shantallow area, and given the preferential treatment of Provisional Sinn Féin’s paper sellers and fund-raisers, it is obvious the Centre has aligned itself with one particular political party," the Cumann statement said.
The Keenan/Toner Cumann of Republican Sinn Féin called for the resignation of Joe McLaughlin on the grounds of his inability to act impartially.
"We demand an explanation from the Trustees of the Northside Trust on key issues such as freedom of the press. Needless to say, newspapers from Britain which are pro-Establishment and anti-Irish are sold there on a daily basis.
"This incident is the latest in a series of refusals by public bodies to allow Republican Sinn Féin freedom of assembly and expression. Similarly, the facilities of Pilot’s Row centre were refused to Republican Sinn Féin on the grounds that the centre "does not take sides politically".
"Yet, the Pilot’s Row Centre is regularly offered as a venue to Provisional Sinn Féin and the Bogside Residents Group."
The Keenan/Toner Cumann of Republican Sinn Féin has vowed to fight any attempts to do away with freedom of speech and called on the management of the Northside Complex and the Pilot’s Row centre to respond publicly.
The move follows the death of LVF leader Billy Wright and the resultant killing of nationalists by that group. The move was announced after a meeting between direct-ruler Mo Mowlam and the Chief Constable of the British colonial police (RUC), Ronnie Flanagan.
Also in train was the transfer of INLA and LVF prisoners who were incarcerated in the same H-Block to separate prison accommodation . All exercise yards in Long Kesh were closed two hours earlier in the evening and block searches recommenced.
Crown Forces are set to saturate Belfast and other areas across the Six Counties in order to intimidate Irish people into a mood of compliance.
Britain’s military presence in Occupied Ireland has been currently estimated at 15,500 soldiers with a further 1,500 remaining under the command of the British GOC in the Six Counties but stationed in Britain. London’s cosmetic touch with the withdrawal of 250 troops in November 1997 can now be seen for what it is. We now see the futility of the Provisionals’ compromising with British army bases strengthened, troops saturating the streets and a loyalist Kristalnacht murdering and terrorising nationalists out of their homes.
In Kierkegaard’s phrase: "Life can only be understood backwards; but lived forward."
By dashing forward to an understanding with the British and their unionist underlings, the Provisionals have turned that truth on its head. It is axiomatic for this paper to inform its readers that to compromise with tyranny is to entrench and strengthen that tyranny. Our past has taught us that.
One of the men asked for directions to Altnagelvin Hospital. On hearing the youth’s Belfast accent, the man asked what part of Belfast he was from and if he had lived at Andersonstown, Falls Road or Finaghy.
After receiving directions the man asked him to get into the car and take him to the hospital. When the boy refused the passenger tried to force him into the vehicle but the boy ran off.
Róisín McAliskey will remain on conditional bail with her seven-month-old daughter, Loinnir, at a mother and baby unit at the Maudsley Hospital in south London while the decision is made on whether to extradite her.
McAliskey's extradition case was stalled several months ago when the magistrate, Nicholas Evans, refused to commit her in her absence as she was too ill to appear in court. Evans complied with a High Court decision before Christmas which allowed him to proceed.
Thirty-five loyalists took part in the ‘gauntlet’ which parishioners are forced to run every Saturday evening. The ongoing loyalist picket, which began in September 1996, has now passed its second Christmas and New Year. In the latest incident only the strong metal gates prevented a ram-raid on the church itself.
Meanwhile, fires in two buildings in the grounds of a Catholic church in Limavady, County Derry on the weekend of January 3-4 were started deliberately by loyalists. A building used by a community playgroup and as changing rooms by the local GAA football club at the Church of Christ the King was completely destroyed in the blaze.
Adams, from Belfast, a cousin of the Provisionals’ political leader Gerry Adams, is claiming exemplary damages in the High Court in Belfast for injuries he received in an attack by the RUC in February 1994.
Ann Begley gave evidence of examining Adams on his admission to the Ulster Hospital in Dundonald where she was then senior house officer. She said abrasions and grazing on Adams’ face and nose were consistent with being rubbed against a rough surface; the leg fracture with a direct impact; the punctured lung with a direct blow and facial injuries with direct blows like punches.
Begley said a V-shaped wound on Adams’ scalp indicated a hard force of impact and could be consistent with a blow from the barrel of a rifle.
A consultant surgeon, James Peyton, said Adams’ injuries were consistent with his claims and added: "The number of injuries to different parts of his body would indicate that he was struck a number of times".
A couple who lived in Belmont Avenue at the time of the incident gave evidence of being woken by the sound of breaking glass and someone being hit or beaten. "There was lots of groaning and I heard someone shout: ‘I hope you choke to death on your own blood’. That seemed to have been at the end of the beating," the woman said.
Her husband said he saw a group of men standing around a man who was kneeling and heard someone call out "Fenian bastard".
Ahern admitted he wanted the ban lifted and had spoken to the last two GAA presidents about the issue. He then said that "the LVF pride themselves on having killed two prominent members of the GAA. They get a certain satisfaction out of that achievement."
A spokesperson for Republican Sinn Féin said that if Bertie Ahern’s solution to attacks on members of the GAA by pro-British death squads was to drop Rule 21 then he wanted the GAA to "pay the blackmailer" and therefore encourage them to increase the pressure to obtain further capitulation.
"Does Mr Ahern really expect the GAA community and Six-County nationalists in general to believe that scrapping Rule 21 would end attacks on their organisation, its players and officials and members?
"Instead, it would only result in further unionist calls for surrender such as the end to the playing of Amhran na bhFiann and the flying of the Irish National Flag at GAA matches. Nor would it end there. Paying the blackmailers in this way only encourages them to return for more," the statement added.
Republican Sinn Féin compared Bertie Aherns call on the GAA to asking for the closure of Harryville Catholic church on the grounds that it was a "provocation" to loyalists in Ballymena.
"Simply being nationalists and breathing in the Occupied Six Counties is a ‘provocation’ to loyalism. Bertie Ahern should be ashamed of himself for such slavish remarks," the statement concluded.
One was a high-ranking member of the British army’s Royal Irish Regiment and the other three were from the Grenadier Guards Regiment.
The chairman of the east Down GAA board, James Magennis, demanded a meeting with the Ballykinlar club and described the presence of the British soldiers as an embarrassment.
The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) bans members of the British Crown Forces from playing Gaelic games and also bans members of the GAA from attending Crown Forces social functions. While there is no ban on members of the Crown Forces attending GAA functions it could be considered contrary to the spirit of Rule 21.
In 1995 members of the club were also involved in controversy when they took part in coaching British soldiers from the First Staffordshire Regiment in Gaelic football. The soldiers then played a full Gaelic football game against a team drawn from the Royal Irish Regiment.
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Web layout by SAOIRSE -- Irish Freedom January 6, 1998 Send links, events notifications, articles, comments etc, to the editor at: saoirse@iol.ie marked "attention web-editor". |