Web layout by SAOIRSE -- Irish Freedom
June 13, 1998
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“Regardless of today's outcome in referendums in two geographical fragments of Ireland, Republican Sinn Féin will continue to campaign for British disengagement from Ireland and for a new four-province federation with maximum devolution to local level as the best guarantee of a permanent peace in our country.
“An entirely artificial means has been devised through a New Stormont to administer, under British rule, an artificial area carved out of Ireland and it cannot endure, no more than did the Sunningdale Agreement nor the original Stormont.
“The new Stormont Agreement is less than Sunningdale – and more has been give by Dublin for it – and the Provisionals in their new role as a fully constitutional party cannot justify their rejection of Sunningdale and their acceptance today of less. The sacrifices endured between 1973 and 1998 cannot be validated by them on that basis.
“The Stormont deal was railroaded through nationalist Ireland by scare-mongering that the alternative was war and it was not assessed on its merits. Nationalists on both sides of the Border were stampeded by the promise of peace after 30 years of sacrifice and suffering.
“RTÉ current affairs programmes were bereft of spokespersons from Republican Sinn Féin during the referendum campaign – the only All-Ireland political organisation which actually campaigned on the ground for a “No” vote.
“Taking the long-term view of an arrangement which cannot work the most benign scenario is as follows: as nationalists grow in numbers, self-confidence, economic power and the administration generally, loyalist fears are certain to be raised and they will react as they always have – by attacking the nationalist population.
“On the exact bicentenary by date (May 23) of the 1798 Rising we answer those commentators who state that Irish Republicanism has run its 200-year course and is at an end.
“In due course the euphoria will pass as the New Stormont fails to deliver and non-sectarian Republicanism will come into its own again as the last hope for Liberty, Equality and Fraternity with the “breaking of the connection with England”. Republican Sinn Féin will work and prepare for that day and be ready once more to give the lead.
“Those voters who resisted the media-driven stampede of a nation and voted “No” are to be congratulated. Every credit is due also to the Republican Sinn Féin workers and supporters for their unstinting work for a “No” vote in the Stormont and Amsterdam referendums, despite harassment from the 26-County police while postering and leafleting. We acknowledge and appreciate the financial contributions to the campaign received from individuals in Ireland and abroad. The work of many other individuals not attached to Republican Sinn Féin for a “No” vote should also be applauded. The stand taken by “No” workers and voters will be borne out in the future.
“The 38% “No” vote to the Amsterdam Treaty is very commendable and shows growing support for the idea that European Union integration has already gone far enough and that neutrality must be safeguarded.
“Public awareness and debate on these issues are of vital importance to our people and we deplore the holding of two referendums in the 26 Counties on the same day,” the statement ended.
Some Republican leaders supporting the Stormont Agreement had been bought off and were motivated by “the lure of the dollar”. He said that those who had recently resigned from the Provisionals were “honourable people”. He went on to say that the struggle against the British wouldn’t end if the referendum was passed. Republicans shouldn’t be deterred from voting ‘No’ because the DUP was urging people to do the same. The Rev Ian Paisley and his allies were old-style imperialists, reluctant to allow even tinkering with the State.
Those on the ‘Yes’ side were following the same line of the loyalist death squads, he said. “Would you be confident of an Agreement that the loyalist death squads had signed up to?”
Former IRA prisoner and hunger striker Marion Price called on nationalists to vote ‘No’ in the May 22 referendum. She said that the Stormont Agreement copperfastened Partition and strengthened British rule. She said the Agreement offered less than the Sunningdale Agreement of 1973. “I went to prison in 1973 and I’m now being asked to accept a deal which is less than what was available then.”
She said the Republican struggle had not been about securing “strawberries and cream on Stormont’s lawns or fine claret on the banks of the Thames”. In an implicit reference to the Provisionals, she said history was full of former Republicans who became “establishment lackeys and more unionist that the unionists”. Many former Republicans “rode to power on the backs of the IRA,” she said.
Michael Donnelly, Derry launched a scathing attack on the Provisionals. Referring to Gerry Adams and his allies, he said that those who refused to burn their cages in 1970 were now “carrying a torch for Stormont”. A ‘Yes’ vote was a vote for slavery, surrender and British rule. In the nationalist community only Quislings would vote ‘Yes.
Two of the loyalist death squad killers are dead since the book went into print. Billy Wright or King Rat was killed in the H-Blocks before Christmas by INLA members. The man known as the Jackal, Robin Jackson, died of lung cancer at his home in Donaghcloney, Co Down on Saturday, May 30.
Following Jackson’s death newspaper reports have linked him and the Mid-Ulster UVF to the British Crown Forces, and particularly the SAS and the British army’s 14 intelligence and security companies based at Castledillon, near Portadown. One of these British contacts was Capt Robert Nairac. Jackson, aged 52 at the time of his death, and Nairac were responsible for the killings of IRA member John Green in Co Monaghan in 1975. Nairac was supplying the UVF death squad with information and weapons to kill nationalists.
In 1997 Nairac was captured by the IRA in south Armagh and executed. The Jackal was involved in the Miami Showband Massacre, the Dublin and Monaghan bombings and more than 35 killings of nationalists. He was a member of the UDR up to 1974. In one killing, that of William Strathern in Ahoghill, Co Antrim the UVF killers were driven to and from the scene by an RUC member.
The 'Irish Times' reported on June 3 that Robin Jackson was taken abroad by the SAS for “specialist training”. Jackson features prominently in The Committee and he is linked to the killings of Sam Marshall in Lurgan, Co Armagh in March 1990 and the mobile sweet shop murder in Craigavon, Co Armagh in March 1991 which claimed the lives of three nationalists: Eileen Duffy, Catriona Rennie and Brian Frizzell.
Another “associate” of the Committee named is Alan Clegg, RUC Inspector and Head of Lurgan RUC barracks when Sam Marshall was shot dead as he left the building by Robin Jackson.
These revelations are strikingly similar to current events in Spain where a former minister in Felipe Gonzales’ PSOE government has been charged in a Madrid court with running an unofficial State death squad.
It was called the GAL (Grupo anti-Terrorista L—) and the charges, also levelled against other Spanish State officials of the highest rank, relate to the GAL killings during the 1980s of 27 Basque activists in the northern Basque country, ie within the French State. Like in the Six Counties it is another example of an imperialist state employing undercover units to kill political opponents.
The purposes of such death squads are spelled out by King Rat, Billy Wright, in the Sunday Tribune interview which was published after his death (January 4, 1998). In it he said his group “could do things the British army could never do” and that they had “made it that any nationalist, regardless of age or sex, could not feel safe day or night”.“Kill the fish and poison the water” is how it is described in The Committee. The book’s list of 28 members and “associates” is reproduced here.
It exploded half an hour later as the British bomb squad were approaching the device. Minutes after the blast a man who the British Colonial police (RUC) claimed was acting suspiciously was arrested at the scene. A second man was later detained in a follow-up operation.
A short time later, on May 24, morning commuters were ordered off a train by the RUC and had to continue their journey to Belfast by bus, as the British army cordoned off the Lake Road area around the railway line in Lurgan, Co Armagh, were a suspect device was found. The area remained sealed off for most of the day.
Shortly before 6pm on May 23, three armed and masked men commandeered a bus in the Derrybeg area of Newry, ordered the passengers off and ordered the driver to take the bus to Newry Court House. British bomb experts carried out a controlled explosion on a device left on the bus. It was later declared to be a hoax.
On May 26, west Belfastman Anthony Notorantonio was hauled before Belfast Magistrates Court accused of causing the explosion at the bridge at Finaghy Halt by means of a home-made device and possessing explosives with intent. An RUC detective told the court that when Notorantonio (40) was charged he replied: “Not guilty”. The RUC man also said he believed he could connect him with the charges.
Questioned by defence counsel, Philip Breen, the detective admitted there was no forensic evidence at this atage to connect Nootrantonio to either charge but added: "Forensic examinations are ongoing." He was remanded in custody to appear at a Long Kesh court on June 17.
As Notorantonio was being dragged down to the cells, a number of men and women in the public gallery waved to him.
The most intensified attack occurred outside the polling station at the Holy Child primary school in Creggan when youths surprised RUC members exiting the polling station with an avalanche of petrol bombs, many of the missiles were reported to have hit their targets.
Other attacks reported were at the RUC leaving polling stations at the Holy Family primary school in Ballymagroarty. Trench Road primary school in the Gobnascale area and at Melmount in Strabane, County Tyrone.
Two days earlier, on May 20, a caller using the recognised code word of the Continuity IRA told a Belfast newspaper that a rifle-propelled grenade had been fired at the Masonic British army base in Bishop Street at 9.30am that morning.
The Bishop Street and Magazine Street areas of Derry was saturated by Crown Forces after the attack. The caller told the Irish News that the incident was “hushed up” by the British government which did not want anything detracting from a ‘Yes’ vote. The active service unit involved returned safely to base after the attack, the caller said. The Crown Forces sealed off the area until 1.30pm on May 20.
Thirty plastic bullets were fired as the British colonial police (RUC) with military backing forced through a parade of the junior Orange Order on Saturday evening.
The violence which began around 3.30pm raged for several hours. A crowd of loyalists were allowed to carry ladders down the Garvaghy Road, which they used to remove Irish national flags flying from lampposts. They then attacked nationalist protestors and the RUC with stones.
Instead of keeping the Orangmen at bay, the British army and the RUC vented their anger on the 400 nationalist protesters. One man had to be treated in intensive care as he was struck in the chest by a plastic bullet. Two others were reported to be hospitalised with many more refusing to attend hospital for fear of being targeted by the RUC and their death squad allies.
Most of the trouble flared after 6pm, a television cameraman who was filming the scene had his arm broken by an RUC plastic bullet in a deliberate attack, according to eyewitnesses.
Three cars were hijacked and burnt out during the rioting. One youth said “They shot a boy from about ten yards and hit him in the chest.” Adam Ingram, security Minister at the British Colonial office at Stormont and himself a former Orangeman blamed the violence on Nationalist protestors describing their “actions” as “destructive and unacceptable.” While the Colonial police chief, Ronnie Flanagan claimed RUC actions were “absolutely appropriate” “what happened last night was that officers acted with tremendous restraint and in the most measured manner”, he said.
One resident described how he saw a man being brought down by a plastic bullet as he left a nearby bookies. “I saw him going down and there was blood coming out of his mouth”, he said “he wasn’t rioting, he just walked into the middle of it”.
Claims by the RUC that 15 of their members were hurt in the rioting including one woman RUC officer have been dismissed by the residents. The RUC said the RUC woman had been injured in the leg by a blast bomb.
Journalists who contacted local hospitals could find no evidence of RUC Personnel among the list of injured. Craigavon Councillor, Breandán Mac Cionnaith denied Crown Forces claims that the rioting had been orchestrated by nationalists, “if this violence had been orchestrated there would have been more than just two petrol bombs thrown at the RUC”, he said.
He denied that blast bombs had been carried or thrown by the nationalist protestors. The fact that no injured members of the British forces could be discovered made this unlikely. “The fact that a cameraman was hit with a plastic bullet less than 15 yards from police lines shows how indiscriminate they were”, Mac Cionnaith said and added “This makes you wonder about the agreement which we thought we had. I would say about ninety per cent of the people in this area voted for equality and justice and they certainly didn’t get any here.”
The initial attack on nationalists was by a large force of RUC in riot gear wielding batons. They had earlier allowed loyalists to go down the Garvaghy Road removing Irish Tricolours from the lampposts.
His friends, Colin Duffy and Tony McCaughey survived the murder bid. Duffy himself has been the subject of Crown Forces harassment since the attack. On May 21, Sam Marshall’s brother, John, said the family would continue to demand not only an inquest but a public inquiry.
John Marshall had just received notice of the coroner’s decision from family lawyer, Rosemary Nelson. He said a British colonial police (RUC) witness called to give evidence at the trial of an Irish political activist in San Francisco admitted that a red Maestro car, registration KJI 1486 which had been spotted following the three Lurgan Provisionals prior to the attack, was an RUC vehicle.
In a letter to the family lawyer, the coroner said he had received the full series of RUC statements regarding Sam Marshall’s death, including a certificate of conviction relating to a member of the pro-British death squad, the UVF, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for the killing.
“In light of the information before me, I do not consider any purpose in holding a coroner’s inquest and consequently I am minded to submit papers for the registration of this man’s death”, the coroner said. Although Sam Marshall was murdered nine years ago, his death was not registered by the British colonial authorities. Human rights groups have since been campaigning for a public inquiry into the circumstances of his killing.
Rosemary Nelson said she intends challenging the coroner’s decision in the British High Court at the end of May. “I am aware of the family’s concern that the death has not been registered and of their concern that the facts have not been explored,” she said.
The Committee for the Administration of Justice (CAJ) said in a statement: “There is significant evidence of collusion in this case and there has as yet been no public investigation into it. For the Marshall family the inquest is the only public means of investigating this so it is essential for them that this inquest goes ahead.”
Contents
A MAJOR driving force in the Provisionals cavalcade to Stormont, Martin McGuiness found himself in a spot of bother while motoring along the Melmount Road at Sion Mills near Strabane, Co Tyrone on May 9.
A British army check-point insisted he stop while they examined his vehicle. While the Brits were eyeing up his car (no doubt McGuinness assured them his low-down posture wasn’t the result of a flat tyre), the Provisional leader attacked them for their impudence and immediately contacted British supremo Mo Mowlam via a mobile phone.
McGuinness informed Mowlam it was not on for him to be stopped on his journey forward, after all he was one of her key persons (agreed at the Stormont talks last November), and promptly Mo obliged.
High ranking officers from the British Colonial police (RUC) in Strabane were immediately dispatched to the scene and told the Brits of Mowlam’s instructions to allow McGuinness free passage. A case of ‘Mo sez let my key persons go’.
A NATIONALIST family living in the village of Newbuildings outside Derry City came under attack from a loyalist mob over the weekend of May 22-23. It is the fourth time in as many years that the home of the Callan family in the Stoneypath area of Newbuildings has been targeted.
PLAYERS and spectators at a match in Forkhill, Co Armagh on May 5 were subjected to Crown forces harassment which included the occupation of the pitch for 20 minutes during the match.
As the match was about to start, a five man British army foot patrol moved away from the main road before turning on to the pitch. The patrol circled the playing field for 20 minutes. During this time a Crown forces helicopter hovered over head.
Majella Murphy, team manager of the Peader Ó Doirnín camogie club said: “The people of this area are not seeing signs of any peace deal if this type of harassment is going on. It was nothing more than a tactic to annoy and harass players and visitors to the game.”
Contents
Nationalist beaten by loyalist gang
A NATIONALIST youth who had just finished chatting to friends at Rathmore Gardens, Antrim on may 9 was set upon by loyalists wielding hammers and baseball bats. The 15-year-old youth who refuses to be named was making his way home shortly before 1am when a 15 strong gang emerged from the loyalist Ballycraigy Estate and charged into him. The Orange fascist mob immediately rained down their terror weapons on the boy before leaving him for dead. The youth was later released from hospital after being treated for his injuries which included cuts and bruises to his head, face, shoulders and back.
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Web layout by SAOIRSE -- Irish Freedom June 13, 1998 Send links, events notifications, articles, comments etc, to the editor at: saoirse@iol.ie marked "attention web-editor". |