Following two bomb and gun attacks in Dungannon and Armagh PSNI Chief Constable Hugh Orde has warned that dissident republicans may launch further attacks to disrupt today's assembly elections. The Guardian newspaper on the other hand quotes PUP leader David Ervine who reflects on the general 'atmosphere of calm' as the election unfolds.
"So there is much to play for, albeit in an atmosphere of calm. David Ervine, leader of the tiny Progressive Unionist party with deep roots in loyalist paramilitarism, says he is almost enjoying it - a political crisis free of violence. He looks at the world around him, at the bombs going off in Istanbul, and he relishes the task at hand: "We have to remember that peace has to be worked at. It's harder to be a purveyor of peace than a purveyor of war." (Guardian 26 November)
The Guardian journalist, the PSNI Chief Constable and the leader of the PUP all appear not to have watched last night's television news. Yesterday (Tuesday) 21 year old James Mc Mahon, a Catholic from Lisburn, was buried. On Thursday night he was savagely beaten by three masked men near his home. He died on Friday. The Chief Constable has admitted that a sectarian motive is suspected and that loyalists paramilitaries are believed to have been involved. Two weeks ago a Ballyclare man, John Allen, was murdered by the UVF. Loyalists are suspected of a number of other attempted murders in the past two weeks. Within the context of an 'atmosphere of calm' presumably... See related Irish News editorial below.
Irish News editorial 22 November 2003
Last week the UVF murdered Ballyclare man John Allen. Yesterday (Friday) Lisburn man James McMahon was viciously beaten to death by men wielding baseball bats - a favourite weapon of loyalist paramilitaries.
Earlier this week a north Belfast man lost an eye after a savage attack by loyalists who used hammers and machetes in their attempt to murder him. It is to be hoped that the police can bring the murderers of John Allen and James McMahon before the courts soon. Otherwise there is every possibility that these people will kill again.
With some exceptions, this catalogue of horrendous attacks has so far generated a muted response from unionist politicians. One can only wonder what their reaction would have been if the IRA had been responsible for even one such incident - particularly in the run-up to an election. There is no difference to the grief felt by the families of victims of loyalist paramilitaries as compared to that felt by families of victims of republican groupings.
Neither should there be any difference in the response to such attacks.