The following list of sectarian and other hate-driven incidents and attacks is from 1 through 30 April 2003. The criteria we use for inclusion is based on the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) criteria; if a person/organisation feels that the motivation for an attack against them was sectarian (or racist or homophobic), then it should be counted as such. We rely on a number of sources for our information, but this is by no means comprehensive. If you find incidents that have been left off the list please contact us.
April 1, Tuesday. Loyalists were blamed for a stone attack on a home in the St James' area of Belfast. A local community worker said, "Obviously we are now on a countdown to July and the beginning of the marching season and so loyalists are beginning their attacks on the Catholic community. (AN, CW)
It was reported that the north of Ireland leads the world in its attempts to improve community relations, according to research carried out by a Derry-based academic. Dr Clem McCartney claimed that the most effective work in the field was carried out by the voluntary sector. "Governments are not necessarily good at dealing with people's attitudes and state of mind. That, possibly, is best done by voluntary bodies and the non-governmental sector which have the flexibility and commitment to pioneer new programmes. Governments can encourage them through funding and support." (DJ)
On a visit to Derry, DUP leader Ian Paisley announced his intention to demand a meeting with Secretary of State Paul Murphy about plans to change the official name of the city from Londonderry to Derry. He branded the plans as "trying to legalise a sectarian attitude." (DN)
April 2, Wednesday. It was reported that SDLP MLA Eamon O'Neill had written to PSNI Chief Constable Hugh Orde following allegations that bullets used in the loyalist murder of six men at a pub in Loughlinisland in 1994 had come from Ballykinlar British army base. (IN, RTE)
Sinn Fein welcomed a statement from the electoral office that Orange Halls would not be used as polling stations in the next assembly elections. The electoral office said it "seeks to avoid using property which has sectarian overtones of any sort." (IN, NL)
SDLP leader Mark Durkan said he planned to raise the case of loyalist Darren Watson with British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Watson, who has a number of convictions for violent crime and had only been released from prison two months earlier, was caught in possession of a gun after PSNI officers rammed his car to force it to stop in April 2002. Though illegal possession of a firearm normally results in a custodial sentence, Watson was given a conditional discharge for possession of the gun. See also March list. (IN)
April 3, Thursday. Donegal County Council threw its weight behind a campaign to have the Morris Tribunal into Gardai corruption investigate the murder of Sinn Fein councillor Eddie Fullerton. Mr Fullerton was killed at his Buncrana home by the UDA in 1991. His family, who claim that the Garda investigation into their father's death was flawed in a number of key areas and that a cover-up prevented a proper investigation, now want to meet local TDs and government ministers. (UTV's Insight programme stated in a documentary broadcast in May that one of Eddie Fullerton's killers was a FRU agent, while another worked for MI5.) (IN, DN)
Posters appeared across Belfast urging people to oppose the scrapping of the singing of the British national anthem before Northern Ireland soccer matches. SDLP MLA John Dallat had claimed the scrapping of the anthem would mean the game "will be embraced by both communities." The posters contained the contact details for Mr Dallat's constituency office in an obvious attempt to intimidate the MLA. (IN, AN)
April 4, Friday. Joe Stewart, senior director of human resources for the PSNI, claimed that the Catholic Church was not doing enough to encourage young Catholics to join the PSNI. Mr Stewart also dismissed claims by some unionist politicians that under qualified Catholics were keeping qualified Protestants out of jobs in the PSNI as "sectarian". SDLP Policing Board member Alex Attwood described Stewart's remarks about the Catholic Church as "inaccurate and ill-informed", while the auxiliary bishop of Down and Connor, Donal McKeown, said the Church had clearly stated its support for police reforms, but could not "lever people into a belief." In a two page Irish News feature article on the PSNI Stewart admitted that targets for Catholic recruitment from nationalist areas were in the "small numbers" and that applications for the part-time force were "disappointing". (IN)
In County Donegal, the Dunfanaghy Community Action Group rejected allegations that opposition to a local businessman's plans was sectarian. The businessman, who had planned a number of developments in the Donegal town, had claimed that most of the objections had come from Protestants who owned holiday homes in the area and he reacted by painting a Union Jack and the words "A Protestant Town for a Protestant People" on the front of one of his premises in the town centre. SDLP MLA and native of the neighbouring parish of Gweedore, Brid Rogers, claimed that cross community relations in the area had always been "excellent". (DJ, IN, BT)
Ulster Unionist peer Lord Laird called for efforts to end a loyalist boycott of the Sunday World newspaper after it was revealed that the paper's editor, Jim McDowell, had been warned of two death threats issued against him and his family by the UDA. The loyalist boycott, which came about because of the paper's exposes of UDA activities, was supported by the Loyalist Commission, which is made up of unionist politicians, Protestant clergymen and loyalist paramilitaries. It was reported that some shops that stocked the newspaper had also been threatened by loyalist paramilitaries. The UDA denied it had made any threats against the editor. (IN, UTV)
April 5, Saturday. Ardoyne community workers reacted angrily after the area's boundaries were officially redrawn, leaving the area with less free space and removing three potential sites for a new community centre for the area. One community worker said the area would "lose out on much needed funding for community services because we do not have the space to build them as a result of this map." Sinn Fein councillor Cathy Stanton said that it was her party's belief that there was a "sectarian motivation" for the moving of the boundaries. (NBN)
Plans to build a new Protestant housing estate behind an Ardoyne Road neighbourhood that would create another sectarian interface were blasted as "pure madness" by local residents and SDLP representatives. Residents claimed their homes, which already face an interface with the Protestant Twaddell Avenue, would become sandwiched between two interfaces. A spokesperson for the Twaddell residents said he supported the planned development because housing was badly needed in the area. (NBN)
An SDLP councillor accused Newtownabbey Council of "triumphalism" over its insistence on flying the Union Jack outside council headquarters 365 days a year. (NBN)
April 7, Monday. Glen Stronge, a part-time member of the RIR, admitted killing Catholic man Colin Foy in Fivemiletown, Co Tyrone, in October 2001. Stronge, whose address was given as the regiment's barracks at The Deanery, Clogher, Co Tyrone, had been accused of murder but this charge was dropped when he pleaded guilty to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility. (IN, BBC, UTV)
Pro-troops' protestors, making their way to a rally organised by Unionist MLA John Gorman, attacked Catholics and Catholic-owned cars and businesses as they made their way to the rally from the Shankill Road through a nationalist area near the centre of Belfast. The pro-troops rally was held as thousands of anti-war demonstrators gathered across Ireland to protest at Tony Blair and George Bush using the Irish peace process to legitimise a 'war cabinet' meeting in Hillsborough Castle. Attitudes towards the US/UK invasion of Iraq tended to break down along 'traditional' lines. Broadly speaking nationalists and republicans were opposed while most unionists supported the war. In Derry the famous landmark, Free Derry Corner, was shrouded in black for the first time in over 30 years to show opposition to the Blair Bush war summit near Belfast. Both Sinn Fein and the SDLP came in for sharp criticism for their decision to meet the two leaders. (IN, BBC, PFC)
The Alliance Party said that community relations would form a central part of their election manifesto. Speaking at the beginning of Community Relations Week party leader David Ford said, "Unless we begin to seriously address the twin evils of sectarianism and segregation they will eventually destroy the agreement and everything that has been achieved so far." Sinn Fein's equality spokesperson Bairbre de Brun said, "We need strong legislation in place that upholds the right to freedom from sectarian harassment and the right to choose one's place of residence as promised in the agreement." (IN, NBN)
April 8, Tuesday. The businessman at the centre of the sectarian row in Dunfanaghy (see above) claimed that his children had been threatened and he was being forced to consider leaving Dunfanaghy for good. The gardai refused to say whether or not any threat against the children had been reported. (IN, DJ, BT)
April 9, Wednesday. Former loyalist supergrass Clifford McKeown was told he must serve at least 24 years of the life sentence he received for the murder of Catholic taxi driver Michael McGoldrick in 1996. McKeown announced his intention to appeal the sentence. McKeown is also serving a 12-year sentence for firearms offences. In the early 1980s McKeown offered, then withdrew, evidence against 29 suspected loyalist paramilitaries, including Billy Wright, and his own brother, Trevor McKeown, who is currently serving a life sentence for shooting 18-year-old Catholic girl Bernadette Martin dead while she slept in her boyfriend's home. (IN, PFC, BBC)
A 15-year-old youth was given six months probation after admitting throwing a brick at a school bus in an interface area in north Belfast. Two Protestant schoolgirls were injured in the attack on the bus (see February list). (IN, NBN)
A Co Antrim mother and her three children escaped injury when a petrol bomb was thrown at their home in the Rathenraw estate in Antrim in the early hours of the morning. The PSNI said they were keeping an "open mind" about the motive for the attack. (IN, PSNI)
Two petrol bombs were thrown at a home on the Stiles estate in Antrim at around 9.30pm. No one was injured. (IN)
April 10, Thursday. Darren Watson, the loyalist given a conditional discharge for possession of a gun, claimed his sentence was not too lenient (see above, April 2 and March list). In a letter to a local newspaper he insisted he did not have a paramilitary past, despite the fact that at the time he was caught with the gun he had only been released after serving a five-year sentence for a loyalist paramilitary punishment attack. In his letter Watson claimed that part of the evidence for an alleged IRA threat against him came from the Sinn Fein offices in Stormont, even though he was arrested with the weapon six months before the raid on Sinn Fein's offices in Stormont. Sinn Fein and SDLP sources again voiced concerns over the leniency of the sentence. (IN)
It was reported that unionist councillors in Enniskillen had objected to the chosen name for a new housing development, claiming that it encouraged segregation in the area. The new development is to be named "Céisil Na gCléite Glade" (Feather Bed Glade, derived from an old name for the area). (Impartial Reporter)
April 11, Friday. A Sinn Fein councillor claimed that sectarian violence outside a Catholic school in Antrim could get even worse if civic, religious and community leaders do not work to find a solution. Martin Meehan said that pupils from St Malachy's High School had to be escorted home by the PSNI, and that the situation had deteriorated further when pupils were confronted by a youth apparently brandishing an air pistol outside the school. According to Councillor Meehan, "Shots were fired at a passing lorry before the youth was restrained and the weapon seized by police. The situation here could end up worse than that at Holy Cross Primary School if people continue to be in denial that we have a problem here. Last summer there were a number of serious incidents outside the school and I hoped the situation had been resolved but now the violence appears to be recurring." Other public representatives in Antrim expressed fears that sectarian tension was rising following a number of "unprovoked" attacks on homes in the Rathenraw and Stiles estates. DUP councillor John Smith said, "There has been a lot of trouble on the estates in recent years but community groups have been working hard to pacify the situation and things have improved dramatically. However there has been an upsurge of incidents over the past few weeks and I am concerned that tension is rising once again coming towards the marching season." (BT)
A number of groups, including the Irish Football Association, the Community Relations Council, the American Consulate, the Sports Council and the University of Ulster, took part in a conference in Belfast to discuss ways of ridding sport in the north of Ireland of sectarianism. (IN)
The PSNI recovered guns and ammunition during a search in Glengormley, north of Belfast. (PSNI)
April 12, Saturday. Loyalists were due to take to the streets for the first contentious parade of the marching season. The north Belfast parade had been given permission by the Parades' Commission to pass close to two interfaces in the Whitewell area where serious rioting had erupted in the past. A residents spokesperson said, "It defies logic that a parade which is clearly a coat trailing exercise can be allowed to jeopardise what has been a few peaceful months for the majority in north Belfast." Other Parades' Commission determinations released barred the Apprentice Boys from the lower end of the Ormeau Road on Easter Monday, while two other contentious parades, one in Castlederg and another in north Belfast, were allowed to go ahead without route restrictions. (IN, NBN)
Six Catholic youths, two male and four female, were attacked by a gang of loyalists at the bottom of the Ligoniel Road in north Belfast. One of the males needed stitches to his head after the attack. A local community worker and father of two of the girls said that people in the area feared a return to the almost daily sectarian attacks of the summer of 2002. He also referred to five Catholic-owned cars being attacked over the weekend in the same area. (NBN)
It was reported that Newry and Mourne District Council had passed a motion "strongly objecting" to a proposed loyalist parade in the mainly nationalist town. The parade was scheduled for Friday April 25, and the Parades Commission had still to make a ruling on the march when the motion was passed. (IN)
It was reported that British soldiers had been banned from posing in front of loyalist murals after the Andersonstown News ran a photograph of members of the 'Prince of Wales' Own Regiment' posing in front of a UDA mural on the Shankill Road. The Ministry of Defence, in reply to a parliamentary question, said that instructions had now been issued to soldiers not to use paramilitary murals as a backdrop for photographs. Even the DUP condemned the soldiers for posing in front of the mural. The controversy follows a similar incident a number of years ago, when RIR members posed for photographs under a Drumcree banner. (AN)
April 13, Sunday. A bomb was defused outside an Ancient Order of Hibernians hall in Toomebridge, Co Antrim. Sinn Fein councillor Martin Meehan said he had no doubt the bomb was the work of loyalists. (IN, BBC)
April 14, Monday. A West Belfast Sinn Fein MLA slammed the PSNI for taking too long to inform republicans that their details had been found in the hands of loyalists. Sue Ramsey was speaking after a number of people were informed in early April that their details had been found in a PSNI raid on January 9. (AN)
April 15, Tuesday. Relatives of a Co Donegal couple murdered by loyalists in 1973 asked the Republic's Justice Minister to make all files on the case available to them. No one has ever been prosecuted for the murders of Oliver Boyce and his fiancé Breege Porter, who were stabbed, shot and their bodies mutilated on a remote road near Burnfoot, Co Donegal, in the early hours of New Year's Day 1973. Derry UDA man Robert Taylor, who confessed to involvement in the killings, was found not guilty at Dublin's non-jury Special Criminal Court. It was later reported that the gardai had begun a review of the case. (IN, DJ)
A school bus was stoned while it travelled along the Whitewell Road in north Belfast. Two Catholic schoolgirls were injured in the attack. Witnesses said teenage girls emerging from a loyalist estate had stoned the bus. Sinn Fein councillor Briege Meehan condemned the attack and said she hoped "it is not the start of another long hot summer." (IN, NBN)
Arsonists attacked Greencastle Orange Hall, on the Whitewell Road in north Belfast. Flammable liquid was poured over a hallway of the building, but failed to catch light. One man was later arrested by the PSNI. (NBN, PSNI)
April 16, Wednesday. Parents and teachers of young children attending a Church of Ireland primary school in Carndonagh, Co Donegal, were "sickened and disgusted" when the words "Oranage Bastard's" (sic) were sprayed on the wall of the school. (DJ)
It was reported that Belfast City Council's arts committee was considering a unionist proposal to grant listed building status to the home of former RIC Inspector John Nixon. Nixon, who entered politics and became a unionist MP after he left the RIC, (forerunner of the RUC) was linked to a series of infamous sectarian murders of Catholics in the 1920s. (IN)
An Ulster Political Research Group spokesperson stated that representatives of the UDA/UFF had met with the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning. (IN, UTV)
Ulster Unionist MLA Danny Kennedy said nationalist opposition to a loyalist parade in Newry was a denial of "civil liberties." The Parades' Commission had said 21 bands and 800 people were expected at the parade through the majority nationalist town. (IN)
The Orange Order released a new leaflet, "Know Surrender", which it said aimed to make it clear that the Orange Order was a religious rather than a political organisation. Grand Master Robert Saulters said that while the Order was "unashamedly Protestant" it was important to remember that, "there is no place for hostility towards the Roman Catholic Church or other faiths." The Orange Order oath bars anyone who is "in any way connected with the Church of Rome" from membership. (IN, PFC)
April 17, Thursday. Loyalists left a hoax bomb at the gates of a Catholic primary school in the Ballyhackamore area in east Belfast. East Belfast Alliance Councillor Naomi Long said, "When children are dragged into potential danger, it makes an utterly reprehensible act even more disgusting. Whether or not it's a bomb or a hoax, it is an extremely worrying development that anyone would even consider threatening, intimidating or attacking primary schoolchildren in this way." (IN, SBN)
North Belfast MP Nigel Dodds (DUP) said that a bomb defused outside his constituency office had "the capacity to kill and cause massive damage." The Continuity IRA claimed responsibility for the device. (IN, NBN, BT)
Windows were broken in a number of Catholic homes on the Crumlin Road in north Belfast. Housing officials said they were prepared to meet residents who were demanding the erection of a security fence. One resident said, "Instead of breaking down barriers here we find ourselves asking for more barriers to be erected. The fences we have now are too low to stop people from throwing things at our windows." (IN)
Loyalist paramilitary representatives called for calm in interface areas as the marching season approached. PSNI figures released claimed that 1161 people had been injured during sectarian clashes in 2002, and 340 plastic bullets had been fired by the PSNI and British army. (IN)
Nationalist councillors welcomed a Parades' Commission decision to curtail a loyalist parade in Newry. A Parades' Commission spokesperson said the parade "could have an adverse impact on community relations in the city and could give rise to public disorder." The march was banned from entering the centre of Newry. (IN)
Stevens III Report:
After numerous delays Metropolitan Commissioner Sir John Stevens published only a 15-page summary of the 3000-page report of his third investigation into collusion between security forces and loyalist paramilitaries.
Recommendations included in the summary are said to arise from "serious shortcomings [he has] identified from all three inquiries", while allowing "specific criminal investigations to continue". The inquiries highlighted "collusion, the wilful failure to keep records, the absence of accountability, the withholding of intelligence and evidence, and the extreme of agents being involved in murder." Stevens also said that his inquiry had been obstructed by the MoD, the British army and the RUC, and that an earlier fire at his team's offices had been a deliberate arson attack.
The inquiry found that loyalist paramilitaries were targeting murder victims with the help and encouragement of the British army's Force Research Unit (FRU) and RUC Special Branch, and that intelligence on threats against republicans and loyalists had been dealt with differently. He said that his inquiry "included examination and analysis of RUC records to determine whether both sides of the community were dealt with in equal measure. They were not." In effect, this means that threats against Catholics were treated less seriously than threats against Protestants, if dealt with at all. He reported that, "Nationalists were known to be targeted but were not properly warned or protected."
He also found that Government minister Douglas Hogg, who had made a number of references in parliament to solicitors being unduly sympathetic to the IRA just weeks before Pat Finucane was killed, had been compromised by false information from the RUC.
Specifically, this inquiry investigated the 1989 murder of Pat Finucane and the 1987 murder of Adam Lambert. Stevens stated that both murders could have been prevented had the security forces not been involved in them. The full text of this summary report can be found at www.serve.com/pfc including the reaction of the Finucane family and a statement from international NGOs.
Despite his findings, Stevens failed to recommend any prosecutions, and the DPP has not yet received any files on RUC officers who colluded with loyalist paramilitaries.
A number of families whose loved ones were murdered by UFF/UDA units that were being run by FRU and Special Branch have reacted to the publication.
Michael Finucane, son of the murdered Belfast solicitor, said that the report was "an embodiment of broken promises and dishonoured commitment" and that it carried "the hallmark of all Steven's work in Northern Ireland: secrecy and repression". He continued, "My family and I call upon the British government once again to establish a full independent judicial public inquiry into the murder of Patrick Finucane and the policy of collusion with loyalist paramilitaries." (NBN)
Bridie O'Hara, whose 18-year-old son Gerard was murdered in his living room in September 1992, three weeks after the RUC had raided their home, expressed doubts over whether the truth would ever be revealed, saying, "it runs far too deep". (NBN)
Ivy Lambert, the mother of 19-year-old Adam Lambert, the Protestant student murdered by the UFF/UDA when he was mistaken for a Catholic said, in spite of the finding of police involvement in the murder, that she did not blame the police or support calls for a public inquiry. "I think its time the whole thing was put to rest," she said. "You get the odd bad apple in teaching, in medicine, in every profession. But for the most part I think the RUC were a very formidable, great force. They suffered terribly at the hands of terrorists over 30 years". (IN)
Michael Power Snr, whose son Michael Power Jr was targeted by double agent Brian Nelson and murdered by the UDA, complained that the Stevens Inquiry team had ignored him even though there were many questions left unanswered for his family. (IN)
Teresa Slane, whose husband Gerard Slane was gunned down in front of his family in 1988, welcomed the finding that there had been collusion but expressed distress that the Stevens team would not listen to her questions. "A full independent inquiry into collusion is needed," she said. (IN)
The Ulster Political Research Group (UPRG), which gives "political expression to the thinking" of the UFF/UDA called for the exposure of the full facts of FRU, Special Branch and other secret service activities, whom it blamed for setting up loyalist paramilitaries to take the wrap for assassinations that they wanted carried out. However the UPRG said it did not want an inquiry, which it said would be "unhelpful" to the families of victims. (IN) Extensive press reaction to the report can be found on www.nuzhound.com
April 18, Friday. Hundreds of youths clashed in sectarian rioting at the junction of Limestone Road and Hallidays Road in north Belfast. A Sinn Fein representative said the trouble started after the UDA threw a pipe bomb at a Catholic home, while the DUP claimed republicans attacked first. (ST, PSNI)
The PSNI were accused of a cover-up after denying that pipe bombs were thrown by loyalists during the rioting on the Limestone Road. Local sources said three pipe bombs were thrown and a local councillor claimed he saw a PSNI officer lift one of them and take it away. The PSNI later admitted that "objects" had been removed from the Limestone Road. The trouble on the Limestone Road started at the same time as loyalists from the Westland area attacked Catholic homes on the Cavehill Road and Indiana Avenue. Loyalists claimed the trouble began when rival sides clashed in Alexandra Park. (NBN)
April 20, Sunday. A man escaped injury after a petrol bomb was thrown at his flat in Glebe Avenue in Coleraine. The PSNI said they hadn't ruled out a sectarian motive for the attack, and were currently "examining all avenues of inquiry." (IN)
April 21, Monday. Two controversial Apprentice Boys parades - one in north Belfast and one on the Ormeau Road in south Belfast - passed off peacefully amid a very heavy security presence. Residents expressed concern about what they described as the "saturation tactics" of the security forces. (IN, NBN)
The Apprentice Boys blamed "hangers on" for trouble that broke out following a major parade in Enniskillen, and said they would hold an investigation into the matter. Local SDLP MLA Tommy Gallagher said, "We have good community relations here…we see enough sectarian trouble on the television without it being imported into our community from Belfast, Portadown and other areas." (IN)
April 23, Wednesday. The PSNI issued a CD-fit of a man they wished to question in relation to the UFF murder of Catholic Gerard Lawlor in north Belfast in July 2002. The man, who was seen in a car at the entrance to Bellevue Zoo on the night of the murder, was said to be in his early twenties, of thin build with a long oval face and short black hair. His eyebrows were lighter than his hair and he was described as having "big round eyes…good teeth… clean shaven…wearing a dark T-shirt, light blue jeans and light coloured trainers." (PSNI)
Work began on removing loyalist paramilitary murals from the Tigers Bay area of north Belfast and replacing them with "more positive and neutral images". Community worker Eddie McClean said he hoped the move would be reciprocated in nationalist areas. (NBN)
April 24, Thursday. Two Catholic families were forced to flee their homes in the Ballynafeigh area of south Belfast after threats from the UDA/UFF that they would shoot the residents and burn their homes. (IN)
Foyle Sinn Fein MLA Mitchel McLaughlin revealed that the PSNI had confirmed a link between the murders of Eddie Fullerton and four Catholic workmen in Castlerock and a consignment of weapons imported from South Africa by British agent Brian Nelson. Meanwhile loyalists in the north west called for the Morris Tribunal to investigate allegations of Garda/IRA collusion. (DN)
Children were trapped inside a Dunmurry youth club as a gang of youths outside engaged in "an orgy of sectarian violence." Outside the club, a 12-year-old Catholic boy was attacked by three youths aged 16-18, while his Protestant friend was left unharmed. The attack stopped when a local man intervened and the attackers fled. The Catholic boy's father said his son was targeted simply because he was a Catholic. One youth club leader said she had to lock the door of the club, and that when the PSNI were called they said they could not attend because of other unrelated incidents in the area. (AN)
April 25, Friday. A controversial band parade in Newry passed off without incident after the parade was banned from entering the centre of the town (see above). (IN)
Sinn Fein representatives in Co Fermanagh claimed to be "at a loss" over Ulster Unionist claims that they had been erecting flags in border areas as part of a "campaign of provocation against Protestant minority communities." Councillor Thomas O'Reilly said that while some flags had been put up as part of the Easter commemorations, they had since been removed. (IN)
Sinn Fein Lord Mayor of Belfast Alex Maskey expressed disappointment at unionist calls to boycott an inter-denominational church service commemorating those who died in the First World War. The "Remembering Shared Sacrifice" service was being organised by Monsignor Tom Toner and Royal British legion Chaplain Dean Houston McKelvey to give recognition to the nationalists and unionists who died in the 1914-1918 war. (IN)
It was reported that Belfast City Council could be forced to end its policy of flying the union flag 365 days a year. An internal report warned that the flag flying policy could lead to political and religious discrimination cases. NIO guidelines allow for the union flag to be flown on only 15 days of the year. Other council offices that fly the union flag throughout the year include those in Antrim, Ards, Banbridge, Castlereagh, Coleraine, Newtownabbey and North Down. (IN)
April 26, Saturday. The UDA were blamed for shooting which broke out during disturbances at a sectarian interface in north Belfast. Two PSNI officers were injured by shotgun pellets, which a PSNI Superintendent said he had "no doubt" were fired by loyalists. (AN, IN, PSNI)
A 20-year-old man sustained serious head injuries when he was assaulted during a loyalist band parade in Carrickfergus. (PSNI)
An SDLP councillor claimed that tensions were already rising in Portadown ahead of this year's Drumcree parade. Councillor Dolores Kelly said that sectarian clashes in the area were now becoming a nightly event. "There are teenagers coming every night from loyalist and nationalist areas to throw stones at each other on the bridge. At the minute they are only teenagers, but I am concerned that if this is allowed to continue more sinister elements could exploit the situation…My biggest fear is that the nearer this gets to Drumcree, the more dangerous the situation will become." (IN)
April 27, Sunday. A west Belfast man claimed he had to endure sectarian abuse from Rangers fans while returning home on the ferry from Scotland. According to the man, who did not wish to be named, "The whole journey was an absolute nightmare from beginning to end. We were in a Free State car and as we drove on to the ferry they started chanting at us and shouting abuse at us… They had been drinking all day. As well as Rangers tops many of them were wearing t-shirts with paramilitary slogans. They sang sectarian songs and at one point the whole boat joined in a chorus of The Sash. It was completely intimidating and very frightening." The ferry company said they were investigating the incident. (AN)
April 28, Monday. The sister of Thomas McDonald, the 16-year-old Protestant knocked down and killed in September 2001, narrowly escaped injury when she and a friend were targeted by a gang who shouted sectarian abuse at them before trying to run them over in a car. The girl's mother said that this was the latest in a long line of sectarian attacks on her surviving children. According to one of the girls, "They called us Orange bastards and one shouted 'yous may get through there now, but when I see yous again in the morning I'll kill you both'." It was reported that it was not clear whether the girl had been targeted because of who she was, or whether it was a random sectarian attack. (NBN)
It was reported that some families of the victims of security force collusion with loyalist paramilitaries intended to sue the MoD for using taxpayers' money to pay for illegal weapons used in loyalist attacks such as Louglinisland and Greysteel. The weapons were imported from South Africa with the help of British agent Brian Nelson. Sectarian killings by loyalists increased dramatically in the aftermath of the importation of the South African weapons. In the six years prior to this, loyalists killed 71 people, of which 49 were sectarian/political in nature. In the following six years, loyalists carried out 229 killings, of which 207 were sectarian/political in nature. (IN, PFC)
An Inquest found that Belfast teenager Glen Branagh was about to throw the pipe bomb that killed him during sectarian disturbances in north Belfast in November 2001. Loyalists had claimed that nationalists had thrown the bomb and that Branagh, a member of the UDA's youth wing, was trying to throw it back. (IN, NBN)
East Belfast Alliance councillor Naomi Long said the "negative and sinister influence" of paramilitary murals close to schools must be removed. "For too long the authorities have turned a blind eye to offensive murals and sectarian graffiti. A start needs to be made to removing these symbols of sectarianism, starting with schools…Exposing children to such horrific images on a regular basis is a form of child abuse," she said. (IN)
Community Festival staff at Féile House on the Falls Road in West Belfast were forced to review their personal security after a loyalist death threat was posted to the office. The member of staff named in the threat, one of the organisers of the popular Feile an Phobail, has been threatened three times in the last three months. (AN)
An Alliance councillor in Newtownabbey warned of the growing influence of loyalist paramilitaries in the town after a paramilitary punishment shooting in the area on Saturday. (IN)
A couple escaped injury in a shooting attack on their home in Lurgan Co Armagh. The couple's home is in Sloan Street, a mixed area on the edge of the loyalist Mourneview estate. (IN, PSNI)
April 29, Tuesday. Loyalists beat up three 12-year-old pupils from St Malachy's School in north Belfast as they waited at a bus stop just yards from their school. One had to be rushed to the nearby Mater Hospital for emergency treatment, while another was treated in hospital overnight. Parents and school authorities have called for the bus stop to be moved further up the Antrim Road to deter attacks on pupils by loyalists. (NBN, PSNI)
Figures released by the PSNI claimed that Catholics would make up 29% of the force by 2011. Catholics currently make up 12.2% of the force. (IN, PSNI)
Sources:
AN: Andersonstown News
BT: Belfast Telegraph
BBC: BBC radio and television news, BBC online, Radio Foyle
CW: Local community workers
DJ: Derry Journal
DN: Derry News
IN: Irish News
IT: Irish Times
ITN: Independent Television News
LI: London Independent
LS: Londonderry Sentinel
NBN: North Belfast News
NL: Newsletter
OB: Observer
PFC: Pat Finucane Centre
RM: RM Distribution
RUC/PSNI: Police Service of Northern Ireland (RUC) press office.
SBP: Sunday Business Post
SBN: South Belfast News
ST: Sunday Tribune
UTV: Ulster Television