In our document on Rosemary Nelson, we included an appendix that listed all known loyalist attacks from 1 January 1999 through 30 April 1999. Given the nature of the document the list focused on loyalist attacks. Since that time, we have continued to document attacks across the North, expanding our remit to include all attacks that might be considered sectarian (sometimes, however, the motives aren’t always clear.)
The following list of sectarian and race attacks is from 15 through 21 July 2000. Should any incidents have inadvertently been left off the list please contact us. The issue of inclusion/exclusion is very problematic. For instance this document does not include punishment beatings ‘within’ a community, attacks by the security forces on civilians or by civilians on the security forces or murders where the perpetrators are believed to be from the same community and the motive is not thought to have been sectarian. We have also not included violent incidents connected to feuding within loyalism. We will update this list each month.
Due to the upsurge in sectarian attacks during July 2000 we plan to release an updated version of this list on a weekly basis for the duration of the month.
Saturday 15 July
A Catholic man narrowly escaped injury when a bomb exploded as he got into his car outside his home in Castlewellan, Co Down, shortly before 9.00am. The attack is believed to have been sectarian.
An Orange Hall at Brackey, Co Tyrone, was badly damaged in an arson attack. The attackers bored a hole in the roof of the building and poured flammable liquid through.
Sunday 16 July
A quantity of bomb-making equipment was found by the RUC in a loyalist area of Larne.
The RUC found a sub-machine gun and 90 rounds of ammunition, along with three replica weapons and two balaclavas, in the loyalist Mourneview area of Lurgan. No one was arrested at the scene.
Monday 17 July
Three men and a woman were remanded in custody at Ballymena Magistrates Court on charges relating to the killing of Larne loyalist Andrew Cairns on 11 July. It was later reported that one of those charged is secretary of the Larne branch of the Ulster Democratic Party which is allied to the paramilitary Ulster Defence Association.
Four men from Derry were fined £50 each on charges relating to a riot in the Lincoln Courts area in support of the Drumcree protests.
The Catholic Church of our Lady at Harryville in Ballymena, scene of long running loyalist pickets, was badly damaged in an arson attack
Tuesday 18 July
It was reported that the RUC had identified a further 80 people involved in Drumcree related protests from photographic and video evidence and that there were plans to arrest and charge those identified.
A Catholic father of four who was intimidated out of his home in the Leckagh Drive area of Magherafelt blamed the RUC for the delay in getting him re-housed, claiming that their failure to produce a vital report was the main cause of the delay.
An Orange Hall on the Crumlin Road in Belfast was gutted in an early morning arson attack. Although the attack was initially believed to have been sectarian later reports suggested that the attack may have been linked to the ongoing loyalist feud.
Four men were remanded in custody at Armagh Magistrate’s Court in connection with a petrol bomb attack on a Catholic-owned home on 11 July.
Five masked men hijacked a van in the village of Castledawson, Co Derry, only to abandon it a short distance away. Local people claim the incident was the work of loyalists.
Wednesday 19 July
It was reported that the UDA/UFF in the north west had endorsed the Belfast leadership’s threat to return to violence and threatened to carry out similar action.
Three more people appeared in court in Larne charged in connection with the 11th night killing of local loyalist Andrew Cairns.
The Parades Commission ruled that a loyal order parade planned for Saturday in Castlederg, Co Tyrone, must stay away from nationalist areas. A similar parade caused controversy last week when the RUC allowed the bands to ‘walk’ through the nationalist Ferguson Crescent.
A number of classrooms were damaged in an arson attack on a Catholic school in Larne. St Patrick’s College on the Broughshane Road was attacked shortly after 1.00am.
A Catholic family escaped injury when a petrol bomb was thrown at their home in the mainly Protestant Lettercreeve Estate in Ballymena.
Thursday 20 July
Antrim SDLP Councillor Oran Keenan rejected claims that he drove through a loyalist roadblock (see last week’s list of sectarian attacks) as part of an electoral publicity stunt. The claims were made by Jim Sands, best known as the source for many of the claims made by Sean McPhilemy in his book The Committee.
A Catholic woman from the Markets area of Belfast was told by the RUC that her personal details were known to be in the hands of loyalists. She said she was not told why there was a file kept on her, or how loyalists had got hold of it, and criticised the RUC for not doing enough to retrieve her file.
A Catholic man from the Markets area of Belfast who has never been arrested or involved in any way in politics was told by the RUC that a file containing his personal details was in the hands of loyalist paramilitaries. The RUC would not reveal which organisation had the file or the nature or extent of the information contained. As with other similar cases the RUC refused to divulge how they came to know that the missing file was in the hands of a loyalist organisation.
Friday 21 July
A 21-year-old Portadown man was fined £200 for riotous behaviour relating to violence in Portadown on 11 July.
A Catholic secondary school in Ballynahinch was attacked by arsonists in the early hours of the morning. St Colman’s High School received only slight scorch damage, but a school mini-bus parked in the grounds was more seriously damaged.
Noel McCready and Stephen McClean, convicted of the Poyntzpass murders, appeared in court with three other men charged with attempting to murder a man who objected to them removing UVF flags while on pre-release home leave. They were remanded in custody amid appeals for their planned early release to be halted.
It was reported that the Mormon Church of Jesus Christ and the Latter Day Saints on the Old Cavehill Road in Belfast has been subjected to vandalism costing £8000 since the beginning of July. It is not known who the perpetrators are, or whether or not the attacks are in any way sectarian.
Portadown Orangemen vowed to continue their protests, with more marches and pickets planned for the coming weeks.