Philip O’Neill (32) from the Short Strand was walking with his girlfriend towards Clandeboye in east Belfast when they were met by a British foot-patrol. “They started yelling ‘This is the UVF on patrol, get out of my road’ and then a UDR soldier started calling my girlfriend names like ‘slut’ and ‘whore’,” Philip O’Neill said.

He then addressed one of the policemen, “You know my father was killed by the UFF. I want to make a complaint. All hell broke loose with a woman police officer beating up my girlfriend.” He went to the aid of his girlfriend when he was hit over the head with a baton. Philip O’Neill’s father, Harry was gunned down by the UFF British-backed death-squad in 1994.

A neighbour, John McLoughlin (28), with some other men, tried to intervene when they saw the attack. “We saw the police and the UDR laying into them so we went up to try and separate them. I was hit with a baton and fell to the ground. I don’t remember much after that,” John McLoughlin said. At this point Philip O’Neill who was lying on the ground got up to try and help his neighbour “when this UDR man came out of nowhere and hit him again.”

Two others who witnessed the event, Tony Murphy (30) and Colum Meabh (25) said of the attack, “It began to look like a game of ring-a-rosie with us in the middle and 21 of them surrounding us. No-one wanted to fight, we just wanted to go.” Philip O’Neill later received three staples to a head wound and John McLoughlin was treated for a broken arm and facial injuries in Dundonald’s Ulster hospital.
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Three local drug pushers were asked to come to the rally and sign an agreement to stop drug-pushing. Two of them did so, one did not, so the flat of drug-pusher Hughie O’Neill was marched on. Uniformed 26-County police protected his flat, while at the same time having let him deal openly and kill the young people of Ballymun for the past ten years.

In a sinister development local Workers’ Party representative Seán Ó Cionnaith, in conjunction with the police, circulated a letter to local business premises asking them not to advertise the rally. Ó Cionnaith runs a totally ineffective anti-drugs group himself comprising of about five members and has to resort to cheap stunts like this with the assistance of the local cops to block people power in action.

Local resident and Republican Sinn Féin member Tom Ryan thanked the crowd for coming out in the bad weather, and promised more such action against drug dealers in the future.
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This legislation will not be in place in time for this year’s loyalist marching season, meaning that this year’s Orange parades will again be overseen by the head of the British police (RUC) as it has in previous years. This legislation, announced at the opening of the new British parliament, will implement the recommendations of the North Report on parades. When the law is enacted, decisions on the routing of parades will be taken by the recently-created Parades Commission, headed by Alistair Graham.

The new British government announced on May 14 that it plans to incorporate the European Convention on Human Rights into British law. Britain has the worst human rights record in Europe, having been found in breach of the convention more than 40 times. Most of these breaches related to human rights abuses in the Six Occupied Counties. Civil liberties bodies in Ireland said the decision would have to be judged on the impact it has on the ground relating to the use of shoot-to-kill policies, plastic bullets and repressive laws such as the Emergency Provisions Act.

At present people in the Six Counties have to take a case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France which is extremely costly and takes an average of six years to obtain a judgement. If the convention was incorporated in British law a person could take a case to a British court first, while still retaining the right to go to Strasbourg.

Britain and the 26 Counties are the only States in the European Union who have not incorporated the European Convention on Human Rights into their domestic law. It is no coincidence that these two States also maintain the greatest amount of repressive legislation on their statute books of any European country. Human rights lawyers have maintained that the potentially repressive powers of the 26 Counties actually exceed those of Britain.
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The nationalist father of seven who declined to be named said the British police (RUC), who obviously have contact with the death squads, had warned him two weeks previously that loyalists were targeting him. The man regularly uses his car to transport his children to school.

“Luckily the kids were off school today because it was a teacher training day,” he said. Scores of families had to be evacuated to an adjacent community centre early on Wednesday when neighbours of the family spotted two men placing a bomb under the car. The death squad assailants fled on discovery.

“I’m definitely going to consider leaving here after this, not only for my sake, but my family’s as well,” the shocked father said. “I’ve lived in this area all my life, but now I want out.”

This is the latest in a series of incidents designed to force nationalists out of Bawnmore and other areas of the Six Counties as the pro-British loyalists move to gain ground and strengthen their grip throughout Occupied Ireland. Gary McMichael of the UDP, the MI5-controlled mouthpiece for the death squads insulted the intelligence of the nationalist population by saying of the attack “In the absence of a claim of responsibility by the CLMC, then we must assume that the ceasefire of the CLMC remains intact”.
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The advert, placed in the Guardian and Times newspapers was headlined ‘Intelligence. Use it to create waves and prevent repercussions.’ This is the first time that MI5 has publicly advertised for recruits.

The advert says applicants should have “three to four years of work experience and a good honours degree” and that its agents currently include “marketing executives, teachers, fund-raisers, overseas aid workers, academics and journalists”. It goes on to say it is “keen to recruit people from ethnic minorities or with disabilities. However you do need to be a British citizen to apply”.

MI5’s motives for recruiting “ethnic minorities” is probably less benevolent than a desire to offer “equal opportunities” and may reflect a concern to blend in better with social groups which could be potentially ‘disloyal’ to the British State.

The advert concludes with a warning to potential applicants to “try and avoid telling your friends about your application, because discretion is a serious part of working for the Security Service”.
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At 10.50am 26-County police received a warning from the death squads via the media that a device had been planted in the town and another in the car-park at Dublin Airport. After an extensive search of the Dundalk area, 26-County police and troops finally found a package left beside a wall in an alleyway.

The device, said to contain Powergel explosive and packed into a flask with an alarm clock covered by a plastic bag, was detonated in a controlled explosion by 26-County personnel. After an exhaustive search of Dublin Airport 26-County authorities declared the alert to be a hoax.

The Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) claimed responsibility on May 26 for planting the Dundalk device. They threatened more “no warning” attacks in the future.
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Witnesses to the attack claimed one of the man’s assailants returned to kick him again after the main assault had ended. As he approached the unconscious man, his accomplice told him to stop or he would kill his victim. “That’s the idea,” said the attacker according to the witness.

Six men have been charged so far by the British police (RUC) with the attempt to kill Ivan Heatherington. The three latest to be arrested appeared at Limavady magistrates court on May 13 and were remanded in custody to Derry magistrates court on June 6. Heatherington’s condition after the attack was serious, but has improved slightly.
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