News Letter
16 July 2009

DETECTIVES re-investigating the Omagh bombing are trying to identify potential supergrasses in a bid to mount a fresh criminal prosecution, police said yesterday.

Officers are exploring whether individuals they believe had some part in the 1998 Real IRA outrage will turn Crown evidence, Assistant Chief Constable Drew Harris told a committee of MPs in Westminster.

"New legislation has come into play since the original offence around what is known as Socap (Serious Organised Crime and Police Act of 2005) where people can be brought in and admit their part in a crime and in turn provide evidence," he said.

"So we want to explore all of those possibilities before we come to our final determination around the criminal investigation (of Omagh)."
Mr Harris said eight people were fingered by detectives as being suspects in the days after the attack and that was still the police's opinion 11 years on.

The PSNI's current head of crime operations informed the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee the eight included the four men found liable for the bombing in a landmark civil case taken by victims' families last month.

The only man to stand criminal trial for the murders - south Armagh electrician Sean Hoey, 38 - was acquitted in Belfast Crown court two years ago.

Police decided to review all of the evidence in relation to the Omagh attack after two crime scene officers accused of lying in the Hoey trial were cleared by the Police Ombudsman.

Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde, who also briefed the committee yesterday, said the PSNI had already secured a murder conviction as a result of the provisions in Socap that gave weight to evidence provided by another suspect.

He said loyalist killer Steven Brown, also known as Steven Revels, who murdered teenage friends Andrew Robb, 19 and David McIlwaine, 18, in Tandragee nine years ago, would not have been found guilty if were not for evidence provided by Mark Burcombe - a suspect who turned Queen's evidence.

"We have been very successful already in using that new legislation to our advantage in one of the most appalling cases in the criminal history of Northern Ireland and secured convictions, substantial convictions on killers who previously would have got off, so I think there are some avenues there."

On the likelihood of a prosecution in the Omagh case, he added: "We should never say it will never end in a prosecution but I do think we need to be utterly honest with the families, as I have been after the Hoey trial and said it's highly unlikely, but you never know."

In Belfast High Court last month four men - Real IRA leader Michael McKevitt and three other republicans - Liam Campbell, Colm Murphy and Seamus Daly - were found responsible for the atrocity in a civil action.

BBC
16 July 09


Police in riot gear chased youths who had attacked them with scaffolding poles

A 17-year-old boy has been charged with riotous behaviour and is to appear at Belfast Youth Court on Friday.

The charges are connected to violence in the Ardoyne area of north Belfast on Wednesday night.

An 18-year-old man also arrested over the trouble has been released on conditional bail.

Wednesday was the third consecutive night of rioting in the area. About 100 youths gathered at Brompton Park and some threw missiles at the police.

At one point, officers in riot gear chased youths who had attacked them with scaffolding poles.

On Thursday night, Junior Minister Gerry Kelly met with residents at Ardoyne Library to discuss the violence.

Afterwards he said people had voiced their disquiet over the anti-social behaviour but also their continued frustration at Orangemen being allowed to parade through their area.

Meanwhile, a 30-year-old man arrested on Thursday by detectives investigating a shot fired at police during rioting in the area on Monday has been released unconditionally.

A 28-year-old man arrested on Wednesday remains in custody. Supporters of the arrested man staged a peaceful protest outside Antrim Road police station.

On Tuesday night, police were attacked again in Ardoyne by a crowd throwing petrol bombs and other missiles.

The trouble on Tuesday night was described by Sinn Fein as a "continuation" of the previous evening's rioting, which the party blamed on dissident republicans.

On Monday night, the trouble left a total of 21 police officers injured.

Blast bombs, fireworks, stones and other missiles were thrown by republicans during the disturbances.

Officers responded with 18 baton rounds and water cannon.

By Margaret Canning
Belfast Telegraph
Friday, 17 July 2009

**Photo gallery onsite


Trouble at Ardoyne shops in north Belfast. Trouble flared in the build up to the parade passing the shops on its way back from the main Belfast march.

A death threat from dissident republicans will not deter Sinn Fein junior minister Gerry Kelly from his work, he has vowed.

The North Belfast assembly member said police did not say who was behind the threat phoned to the Samaritans on Wednesday, but that he was warned to ‘watch his back’.

Mr Kelly said: “While I take this threat seriously, be certain that it will not detract me from my political work or from representing the people of north Belfast.”

He called on republican splinter groups Republican Network for Unity, Republican Sinn Fein, Eirigi and the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, to justify what he claimed was their role in three nights of rioting in Ardoyne.


Police came under sustained petrol bomb attack in the Ardoyne area of North Belfast for the second night running

He said the groups were “microgroups” who were “euphemistically called dissident republicans”.

“I am once again calling on spokespeople for the various dissident organisations to explain the rationale for leaving a loaded weapon in the middle of Ardoyne, which was found by children and worse again for firing shots and using pipe bombs in the midst of a riot situation, which is uncontrolled and where you have many children in the vicinity.”

He said the groups came to |Ardoyne early on Monday afternoon and displaced an official protest by residents.

“It is up to them to explain to the community why, for the third successive night, they have encouraged young people, many of them children, to bring havoc and untold disruption and trauma onto the community of Ardoyne.

“It is easy to start a riot, but very difficult to stop it. It becomes a magnet for all sorts of people.”

He said people in the area had become involved, “who are disaffected and at other times of year, threaten the area with area with anti-social behaviour”.

It would require “deep cynicism” to believe that dissidents wished to create a situation of such violence that a child might be killed. “But if you bring weapons into a riot situation, it’s not a controlled situation,” he said.


Aftermath

“With weapons and pipe bombs, then it is a miracle — and I don’t exaggerate here — and that we are sitting here and not dealing with that situation.”

But he also criticised the Orange Order. “Marching up through areas where they are clearly not wanted is a clear provocation”.

Two men arrested after a shot was fired at police on Monday were released unconditionally.

And the home of a Sinn Fein worker in north Belfast was petrol bombed on Wednesday morning, causing minor scorch damage.

THE TWELFTH OF JULY - REACTION

By Bimpe Archer
Irish News
15/07/09

DEPUTY First Minister Martin McGuinness has said voluntary rerouting of contentious marches would be “a sign of mature leadership” in the wake of the latest violence.

The Mid Ulster MP also called on the Orange Order’s leadership to meet Sinn Fein.

While condemning Monday night’s violence, Mr McGuinness said dissident republicans were “exploiting a sit- uation created by the Orange Order insisting on marching through Catholic districts where they are not wanted”.

“Out of thousands of Orange parades a very small number are controversial and risk bringing the sort of violence we witnessed last night on to our streets,’’ he said.

“There is no loss of face in the Orange Order making their contribution to the peace process by voluntarily rerouting five or six parades.

“Indeed it would be welcomed as a sign of mature leadership.”

An Orange Order spokesman said its leadership had made clear it “didn’t see a meeting with Sinn Fein until they apologised for the IRA murders of 275 Orangemen”.

“The Twelfth itself was attended by half a million who either took part or watched the parades and it was extremely successful,” he said.

“The only trouble was in Ardoyne, Derry and Rasharkin, with some alerts in a few other places.”

Culture minister and north Belfast Orangeman Nelson McCausland said marchers spoke to residents in the Ardoyne area and to community leaders through a local parades forum.

He said the major issue was the scale and ferocity of the violence.

Alliance assembly member Stephen Farry warned that “politicians from across our community [must] stand united in condemnation of these events and do their best to ensure calm”.

Parades Commission chairman Roger Poole said the “pockets” of violence “should not be allowed to mask the progress which had been made in dealing with contentious parades over the last four years”.

“There is unfortunately a tiny minority which remains wedded to thuggery and criminality,” he said.

“On this occasion they used parades as a vehicle for sectarianism, rioting and attacks on the police and the community.”

Shadow secretary of state Owen Paterson also stressed that “the vast majority of parades went off peacefully”.

“It is disappointing for all parts of the community that a small minority tried to mar the day,” he said.

“Northern Ireland has come a long way in recent years and small numbers of violent people must not be allowed to disrupt future progress.”

Presbyterian Moderator Dr Stafford Carson said it was “very disappointing that a day when the vast majority of parades passed successfully was marred by the unacceptable violence of a small group of people intent on dragging us back to days that most want to leave in the past”.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen told the Seanad yesterday that those behind the rioting “will not succeed” in destablising the peace process.

In an address about the north, Mr Cowen said the “democratic institutions and the peace that we all worked so hard to achieve are being challenged by a tiny and unrepresentative group of people with no mandate and no support for their actions”.

By Diana Rusk
Irish News
15/07/09

A FOUR-YEAR public inquiry into the murder of the LVF leader Billy Wright has cost £25.7 million.

NIO minister Paul Goggins released the figure following a written parliamentary question by the DUP MP Sammy Wilson.

“The cost of the Billy Wright inquiry to the end of May 2009 is £25.7 million,” he said.

The bill covers the cost of investigating claims of security collusion in the murder of Wright by an INLA gang in the Maze prison more than 12 years ago.

It covers the period from when the inquiry began in 2005 until final evidence was heard in May.

Wright – dubbed King Rat – was shot dead by the republican gang while he was serving an eight-year term for threatening to kill a woman.

While the murder was committed by a gang including the now deceased republican paramilitary Crip McWilliams, there were concerns about security lapses during the day.

In January the Northern Ireland Office said security costs alone for the inquiry chaired by Lord McLean were £577,000.

The overall costs have now been set at £25.7 million as the final evidence was heard in May.

A report is to be made public after the summer.

Last month DUP assembly member Ian Paisley jnr was fined £5,000 for contempt of court after he refused to disclose his sources to the inquiry.

According to Mr Paisley, he was told there had been a policy to destroy files within the prison service after the murder but the DUP man would not reveal the name of the prison officer who supplied the information.

The inquiry was recommended by retired Canadian judge Peter Cory in 2004 after allegations that security force members had colluded in the killing.

Similar public hearings have been held into the murder of solicitor Rosemary Nelson and Portadown man Robert Hamill.

All three inquires have been criticised in the past by outgoing chief constable Sir Hugh Orde who said they were a “huge money-sucking venture” because of the involvement of lawyers.

Northern Ireland’s most expensive public inquiry is into the events of Bloody Sunday, which Mr Goggins has said cost £188 million including legal costs incurred by the Ministry of Defence.

Wright’s father, David Wright, had campaigned for a public hearing into the death of his son days after Christmas 1997.

His son had not been raised in extreme loyalism and even played Gaelic football as a young boy growing up in south Armagh.

However, he had joined the UVF by the time he was a teenager and was the leader of the LVF in the Maze at the time of his death aged 37.

PLATFORM

By Martin Og Meehan
Irish News
15/07/09

I would like to comment about the recent rioting in Ardoyne on the Twelfth of July.

There has been much political and media speculation regarding reasons behind the outbreak of serious disturbances.

Firstly, the nationalist and republican community of Ardoyne and surrounding areas have had their human rights trampled on for generations by the British army, RUC, Orange Order and now the PSNI with completely unnecessary annual invasions of adrenaline-charged storm-troopers in order to force sectarian parades through our district.

In recent years, ordinary residents consider these unwanted marches as certainly not part of the new political dispensation promised in 1998.

Therefore, some 150 residents and supporters organised a peaceful protest for 4pm to take place on the Crumlin Road on July 12 2009.

As part of the proposed protest we intended demonstrating our opposition to yet another triumphalist march by sitting and blocking the road for a specified period of time.

Unfortunately when we arrived at the designated point to begin our protest, scores of baton-wielding PSNI riot team members occupied the area and surrounded residents.

The aggressive attitude by the PSNI eventually forced us to abandon our planned protest.

The people, particularly the youth from Ardoyne, suffer from high unemployment, major deprivation and a dearth of proper facilities, alongside the legacy that witnessed ninety-nine people killed during the recent conflict and the unforgettable Holy Cross blockade.

The aggressive presence of PSNI riot squads intent on facilitating sectarian parades inevitably caused a violent reaction from those same young people.

Whilst I respect Gerry Kelly’s electoral mandate, he needs to acknowledge that the majority of people in Ardoyne are angry that he or his party have not condemned the injuring of 10 people by plastic bullets, the hostile use of water cannons and antagonistic actions by the PSNI.

North Belfast Sinn Fein must also stop the felon-setting, accusing and naming of Ardoyne republicans to the media and others and accusing people of being behind the riot which followed the planned protest.

They must work with the majority of local republicans to end marches that foster sectarian division entering our area.

After all, its strategy on this divisive issue has failed time and time again.

By Ian Graham, Press Association
Independent.co.uk
Thursday, 16 July 2009

Police came under attack during a third successive night of violence which continued in north Belfast into the early hours of today.

One officer was injured and two teenagers arrested after the violence spread from the nationalist Ardoyne to the Springfield Road and Ligoniel Road areas.

Ardoyne was again the centre of the most serious trouble and around 11pm a group of up to 100 youths gathered in Brompton Park and attacked police in riot gear with petrol bombs and other missiles including bricks and bottles.

An officer suffered an injury to his head and foot, said a police spokeswoman.

A car was set on fire in the Balhone area and an attempted hijacking was reported in the same area.

Youths aged 17 and 18 were arrested during the violence which continued until calm was restored around 1.30am.

In the early hours of the morning police arrested a second man over a gun attack on police during rioting in the Ardoyne when republicans attacked police protecting an Orange parade on Monday.

The 30-year-old was taken to the Serious Crime Suite in Antrim where a 28-year-old man is already being held after being arrested for questioning about the shooting during searches of houses in the Ardoyne yesterday.

Dissident republicans have been accused of starting the trouble in a bid to disrupt the July 12 Orange parades on Monday and of continuing it since.

Sinn Fein claims dissidents bussed rioters in from outside the area.

Following the third night of trouble a Police Service spokeswoman said: "Police have been and continue to work closely with the community to end these disturbances. No one wants this kind of disorder and violence in their neighbourhood, preventing members of the community from going about their normal routine and causing damage to homes and businesses in the area."

She added: "We would appeal to all of those with influence in the community to work with us to bring this disorder to an end and allow the residents of Ardoyne to live in peace.

"We are asking anyone with information to bring that to us."

Coleraine Times
15 July 2009

SINN Fein councillor Billy Leonard has hit out after a road was blocked in Garvagh.

The councillor claimed that a group of Loyalists placed traffic cones across Main Street in the town in the early hours of July 14.

Councillor Leonard (pictured) that people were subjected to sectarian abuse. He said: “ It is clear that the marching season is when the lunatics take over the asylum.

“This is bizarre behaviour by sectarian loyalists with nothing better to do than try and abuse Catholics.

“When one driver moved the cones, she was subjected to sectarian abuse and obviously felt very threatened. Then as the young nineteen-year-old drove away a traffic cone was thrown at her vehicle. Other drivers re-routed when they saw the block and the behaviour of the loyalists.

“Is it too much to ask that this so called cultural festival could pass off without utterly bizarre and sectarian behaviour?”

A police spokesman confirmed that they did recieve a report that a number of young people had place a road works barrier across the carriageway at Main Street.

The spokesman said that at 3.45am the barrier was removed and no further incidents were reported.

Irish Examiner
Thursday, July 16, 2009

Police officers came under attack again last night during further rioting by nationalist youths in the Ardoyne area of north Belfast.

Bricks, bottles and petrol bombs were thrown at officers for a third consecutive night, but there are no reports of any injuries or arrests.

Last night's violence followed a PSNI raid in the area during which a 28-year-old man was arrested in connection with the firing of a gun at police during Monday night's trouble in the area.

Dissident republicans are being blamed for orchestrating the nightly rioting.

By Jimmy Woulfe Mid-West Correspondent
Irish Examiner
Thursday, July 16, 2009

AUTHOR Frank McCourt’s wife Ellen and other family members were maintaining a bedside vigil last night at a hospice where he is dying from cancer.

The Angela’s Ashes author had been in remission with a skin cancer melanoma, but recently contracted meningitis.

His actor brother, Malachy, said: "He’s not too good at the moment. He was doing fine but he got meningitis two weeks ago and it turned the whole thing topsy-turvy."

Doctors have told the family Mr McCourt could die within days. He would turn 79 next month.

Malachy McCourt said doctors had told them his brother could have another year or two but for the meningitis.

He said: "Other than that we would have had more time with him. Of all people he didn’t deserve that."

He said he had broken a leg recently and Mr McCourt had called to visit him a number of times.

The top New York literary journal The Southampton Review plans to dedicate its entire next edition on July 24 to Mr McCourt.

The State University of New York had also planned to honour Mr McCourt at a major gala on the same date.

Mr McCourt has been the main speaker each year at the university’s writers conference.

Over the past year, Mr McCourt had been receiving treatment for his cancer at the world-famous Memorial Sloan-Kettering hospital in New York, which specialises in cancer care.

He was due to return to Limerick last April to open an art school and gallery at the old Leamy’s school building in Har-stonge Street where he went to primary school.

In one interview some years ago, Mr McCourt said he would not like to die of a slow disease.

He said: "I don’t want to be beholden to anyone or have anyone wiping my mouth if I’m drooling. I’d just like to go. I don’t want funeral services or memorials. Let them scatter my ashes over the Shannon and pollute the river."

By Emily Moulton
Belfast Telegraph
Thursday, 16 July 2009

Publication of a report into the murder of former LVF leader Billy Wright will be left “in the hands” of the Northern Ireland Office, not the panel assigned to preside over the inquiry.

At the conclusion of submissions into the 156-day inquiry, Chairman Lord MacLean revealed it was the panel’s intention to publish their report next year “free of supervision” from the NIO but since that “can't be achieved” they will submit the completed report to Secretary of State Shaun Woodward while issuing a statement at the same time.

He explained discussions had taken place with NIO officials who had “expressed a wish” that the panel should “first submit the report to them in draft”.

“Our preferred option, for reasons I need not go into but they are fairly obvious, is to publish our own report free of supervision by the Northern Ireland Office,” he said.

“Since that, it would appear, can’t be achieved, we have decided to submit our completed report to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whenever it is ready and couple that with the issue of a public statement.

“Publication, as you will appreciate, will then be in the hands of the Northern Ireland Office and passes beyond our control and our timing, but we are very keen to bring this Inquiry to an end with as early a publication of our report as we can.”

Billy Wright was killed by INLA inmates at the Maze prison in December 1997.

The inquiry was set up to determine if there was any evidence of state collusion in relation to his death after claims by Wright’s father David in a book that a senior RUC officer made a remark that his son would be removed because he was a threat to the peace process.

The claim was made in Chris Anderson’s book The Billy Boy, and was meant to have taken place following the fallout from the 1996 Drumcree parade.

Since the inquiry began damning evidence has emerged that prison chiefs ordered the destruction of thousands of prisoner files following the LVF leader’s death.

It has also revealed that vital intelligence documents relating to plans by the INLA to murder Billy Wright were missing from police records.

Solicitors John McAtamney and Co, who are acting on behalf of David Wright, told the Belfast Telegraph last night their client had been campaigning for a long time to find out what happened and wanted all the evidence to be made public as soon as possible.

“Mr Wright wishes to see swift and complete publication of the contents of the inquiry report and hopes there would be no suppression of wrong doing by the Northern Ireland Office.

“He said hoped he would not have to resort to court action as he was forced to do with the Cory report to ensure publication of the Inquiries findings.”

A spokesman from the NIO said under the Inquiries Act, the Secretary of State was responsible for publishing the report.

“The Inquiry asked whether he would consider delegating that responsibility to the Inquiry Chairman. The Secretary of State was happy to do this in principle.

“But he has duties that he cannot ignore: he needs to ensure that publication does not put people's lives at risk or damage national security — he could not delegate responsibility for publication until he was satisfied that there were no risks of this kind.”

BBC
15 July 2009

Orange Order marches will continue in any future united Ireland according to the Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams.

Speaking in Westminster Gerry Adams told an audience that in his vision of a shared Ireland unionists would have equal ownership.

The West Belfast MP also appealed to unionists to consider how better off they would be outside the UK.

The Sinn Fein leader was speaking as part of an international campaign aimed towards achieving Irish re-unification.

Gerry Adams told the audience that a re-united Ireland must be a tolerant place.

"It must be a place in which there is political, social, economic and cultural equality.

"This means that Orange marches, albeit on the basis of respect and cooperation, will continue in a United Ireland if that is the wish of the Orange."

Arguments

He said he was politically at odds with those who support the union but it was important to listen to their arguments

"I am totally opposed to the union but I believe that democrats must listen to unionism about what they believe the union offers citizens," he said.

He added: "We need to look at what unionists mean by their sense of Britishness and be willing to explore and to be open to new concepts."

The Sinn Fein leader also appealed to unionists to consider what role they would have in a United Ireland.

"It is worth noting that within the British system, unionists are fewer than two per cent of the population; they cannot hope to have any significant say in the direction of their own affairs," he told the London audience.

"As 20 per cent of a new Ireland, unionists will be able to assert their full rights and entitlements and exercise real political power and influence."

Sinn Fein have organised two similar events in the United States in recent weeks and a major conference is expected to take place in Britain in February.

By Deborah McAleese
Belfast Telegraph
Thursday, 16 July 2009

A republican splinter group has defended the rioters who rampaged through north Belfast and has warned of further violence.

The Republican Network for Unity denied orchestrating the disturbances but said that the Ardoyne rioters were right to express their “anger and frustration” at the heavy police presence in the area on Monday and Tuesday night.

Ronan Moyne of the RNU said that a number of the party’s activists were in the area on Monday night to initiate a peaceful protest and to engage with youths who were “agitated” at the heavy police presence.

“The simple fact is that there were no ‘bogey men’ no ‘paramilitary godfathers’ encouraging, orchestrating or facilitating the youth of Ardoyne to riot.

“These youths were incensed at the encroachment of the PSNI/RUC and the imminent arrival of the Orange Order - and responded by attempting to force the RUC/PSNI out of their community,” he said.

Mr Moyne added: “If they felt this way, which they clearly did, then the Republican Network for Unity believes that they were right to resist.

“Until these youths are engaged with in a meaningful fashion, not demonised, until we have nationalist communities free from triumphalist, supremacist marches and a British paramilitary ‘police’ force, we will have scenes such as those witnessed not only in Ardoyne but throughout the six counties over the past two nights.”

Tensions remained high in north Belfast last night following two nights of rioting. Officers came under sustained attack during several hours of violence on Tuesday night and 21 officers were injured on Monday night.

North Belfast MLA Alban Maginness said those responsible offer nothing positive to communities.

“We have seen it all before and have witnessed the utter devastation that it caused to all members of the community.

“A clear message must be sent to them that they will not deter policing change or prevent the essential work of police men and women,” he said.

By Noel McAdam
Belfast Telegraph
Wednesday, 15 July 2009

Sinn Fein and splinter republican group Eirigi have bitterly clashed in the aftermath of violence in Ardoyne.

Sinn Fein blamed the Real IRA for Twelfth night rioting following a controversial Orange parade in which shots were fired at police lines. Twenty-one police officers were injured.

Condemning the violence, Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said the dissident factions responsible for orchestrating it were exploiting a situation created by the Orange Order insisting on marching through Catholic areas.

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams said the media should be asking groups such as Eirigi and the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, rather than his party, to explain their rationale.

The West Belfast MP said those who had come into the area had easily been able to exploit young people already incensed over the parade and warned they had no interest in the wellbeing of Ardoyne.

But Eirigi general secretary Breandan MacCionnaith said Sinn Fein suggestions it orchestrated the rioting were “a transparent attempt to divert attention away from the outrageous actions of the PSNI” and challenged Sinn Fein to produce evidence.

Confirming a small number of Eirigi members were present in the area in support of a planned peaceful protest against the parade, Mr MacCionnaith — a former Sinn Fein special adviser — said: “Sinn Fein needs to take a reality check and ask themselves why they are now acting as apologists for state violence against the nationalist community?”

The Garvaghy Road residents spokesman added: “It wasn’t so very long ago that Sinn Fein was encouraging its own members and supporters to mobilise in solidarity with communities in Ardoyne, Garvaghy and Ormeau. Sinn Fein would be do better to focus on the actions of their friends in the PSNI than attacking republicans.”

Mr Adams said he was not attempting to justify the violence but appealed to the leadership of the Orange Order to open up talks with Sinn Fein.

Speaking to the BBC, he said: “There is no support in Ardoyne for this parade. The only people who want to go into an area where they are clearly unwelcome... are the Orange Order.

“My biggest frustration is that the Orange Order has contributed nothing to the peace process and still refuses to talk to Sinn Fein at leadership level. Why on earth would they want to play into the hands of those who would want to orchestrate these situations?”

“The Orange Order says it is a Christian, neighbourly organisation... and if you are a Christain, you talk to your neighbour. I have written asking for meetings every year, even to be briefed.”

Mr McGuinness said: “If the Orange Order are serious about wanting to have a cultural festival then they need to act to remove the potential for trouble from the equation.”

Their comments came after Orange Grand Master Robert Saulters said the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland has no plans to meet Sinn Fein in the forseeable future.

By Laura Canning, on Comment is free
Guardian
15 July 09

Belfast shuts down for two days while drunken rampaging brings fights, riots and broken glass. 'Orangefest' is not family-friendly

The 12 July madness is over again, with this year's tally one death, more than 20 police officers injured and two nights of rioting. Since Drumcree started in 1995 with the Orange Order and thousands of hangers on insisting on their God-given right to march down the Catholic Garvaghy Road, the Twelfth has been shorthand for days of disorder.

It is now rebranded as "Orangefest", an alleged family and tourist festival complete with a £100,000 public grant. As Tim Footman pointed out last year, calling the annual countrywide meltdown by a different name does not disguise the fact that "the Twelfth" is triumphalist and tribal, and has no place in a Northern Ireland that is supposedly moving on. It is time to let it go.

Those who disagree say that everyone is entitled to their cultural heritage and to celebrate this heritage publicly if they wish. Live and let live, the mantra goes. But the problem with "Orangefest", and where it differs from genuine cultural events like Notting Hill Carnival, is that live and let live is the very opposite of how it works in practice.

If the parades were limited to one in the city centre or the Shankill, the Orange Order might have a point that all they are doing is celebrating their culture in an inclusive and family-friendly way. But no. The entire city, and most of the country, is shut down for 12 and 13 July every year. Those who do not want to take part either flee beforehand in the annual Twelfth exodus, or are virtually besieged in their homes as thousands of drunken people waving UDA and UVF flags cheer the marchers on. There are arrests, fights, riots, smashed bottles, litter and people urinating in the street.

For anyone who finds themselves trapped in the city over the Twelfth, as I did last year, even going out to try and find a shop open can mean running the gauntlet through this. I was called a Fenian bitch for walking past marchers and was genuinely scared I was going to be thumped, as happened a few years before while the police looked on.

As a two-day public holiday, the Twelfth is used as a get-out-of-jail-free card for anyone who wants to get pissed for days on end and go on the rampage. The Republican community is not immune to this either, as this year's riots in north Belfast show. Two days of public drunkenness and antisocial behaviour would not be tolerated for any other public event, and it has no place here in this supposedly new Northern Ireland.

The Twelfth needs to move to one main event, funded by the Orange Order and not Stormont, and to be properly policed. Ban the health hazards that are 11th Night bonfires and stop turning a blind eye to the burning of Irish tricolours or UVF flags fluttering from lampposts in mixed areas. Keep all shops and businesses open – four hours this year for the first time in 40 years was not enough. Most of all, don't keep 12 and 13 July as public holidays, and let those of us who couldn't care less about King Billy, the Boyne or swigging Buckfast at the side of the road get on with our normal days in peace.

By Sam McBride
News Letter
15 July 2009

A NEW traditionalist movement has been formed within the Orange Order as prominent dissenters from the Institution's modernising strategy seek to make their voice heard.

Leaflets promoting the Orange Reformation movement were distributed at 12 of the 17 Twelfth demonstrations on Monday and the Rev Stephen Dickinson, one of the Orange Order's Grand chaplains who has been heavily involved in the group, outlined its aims in a Twelfth speech.

The Rev Dickinson, a former Deputy Grand Master, told the News Letter that he and a number of other Orangemen all of whom are at district or county level officers and include representatives to Grand Lodge had been meeting for around a year to discuss launching the movement.

Under the banner 'Putting Protestantism Back Into Orangeism', the Orange Reformation leaflet handed out at demonstrations said that the movement would focus on spiritual, political, cultural and social aspects of the Order and set out 11 aims, among which are:

• 'Restoring the centrality of the Protestant faith'

• 'Retain the traditional Twelfth demonstration'

• 'Attract new members into the Institution who adhere to the qualifications of an Orangeman'

• 'Operate to give a clear voice to those discouraged by the current direction being taken on key issues'.

Last night a spokesman for the Orange Order said: "The Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland has received no official notification of this movement and is unable to comment at this time."

However, a senior Orange source said that there were "strong feelings" within the Institution's leadership that the Order's future should be debated within "the privacy of Grand Lodge meetings and not in public".

The Rev Dickinson, a Presbyterian minister in Glenarm, told the News Letter that the new movement would be primarily spiritual, rather than political and said that an information evening would be held in Ballymena's Braid Centre on September 4.

Addressing the crowds at Monday's Twelfth demonstration in Coagh, the Rev Dickinson launched a ferocious attack on the Orange Order leadership.

He denounced it's "modernisers" as "compromisers", using Biblical language to compare them to Old Testament idolators.

It is understood that there is a rift between the Rev Dickinson, a former Deputy Grand Master, and both Grand Master Robert Saulters and Grand Secretary Drew Nelson.

In his public speeches at the weekend and a letter to the News Letter last week, Mr Saulters attacked dissenters and on Monday told the Ballymoney demonstration that "the sun or the idea of the Twelfth seems to bring out the soap box argument" among some Orangemen.

But, speaking at the Coagh demonstration, the Rev Dickinson said: "We have got all sorts of other groups formed, Ulster Scots groups, community groups that are a cover up for the Orange Order to get funding from agencies that won't give funding directly to the Orange Order, that's why we need a movement called Orange Reformation to challenge more effectively the compromising modernisers."

Later in his remarks, the Rev Dickinson said: "We will seek to reclaim the Orange Institution for God and we will endeavour to put Protestantism back into Orangeism.

"After the Battle of the Diamond in 1795, the Protestants formed a circle, joined hands and declared their brotherhood in loyalty to the crown, the country and the reformed faith, brethren that's why we need Orange Reformation today, to reform the circle, to rejoin the hands and to oppose the betrayal of Protestantism within Orangeism today."

BBC
15 July 09

Another man has been arrested as part of the investigation into the murder of Kevin McDaid and attempted murder of Damian Fleming, the police have said.

The 60-year-old was arrested in the Coleraine area, on Wednesday.

Mr McDaid, a 49-year-old Catholic, was attacked by loyalists after a row over republican flags in the Heights area of the town in May.

A 35-year-old man was arrested in the town in connection with the murder and assault earlier on Wednesday.

Ten men have, so far, been charged in connection with the incident, six of them with murder.

A total of 25 people have now been arrested in connection with the incident on 24 May.

By Seanin Graham, Health Correspondent
Irish News
14/07/09

A SOUTH Belfast SDLP assembly member who criticised the siting of an illegal bonfire next a busy hospital has reiterated her concerns after the structure toppled across a main road early yesterday.

Carmel Hanna, a former nurse, last week criticised the 40ft tower of wooden pallets situated next to the Donegall Road entrance of Belfast’s City Hospital on health and safety grounds.

In an interview with The Irish News she also highlighted the intimidating nature of the bonfire for hospital staff, as well as patients and visitors.

No complaints were made to the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust about the structure, according to a trust spokeswoman. However, Ms Hanna said she believes local people and patients are “too afraid” to make objections.

The MLA received a barrage of abuse from a Donegall Road residents’ group and a DUP member, who said her claims were unsubstantiated.

Ms Hanna’s name was placed in front of the bonfire on Friday evening.

Following the lighting of the bonfire late on Sunday evening, the huge pile fell across the Donegall Road, leaving a trail of burnt debris strewn across it.

While the hospital entrance was not blocked, the road itself was reduced to one lane, with many motorists approaching the hospital entrance forced to turn back.

Ms Hanna said the situation about which she had expressed concern last week had come to pass.

“Once again we can see how potentially dangerous these unapproved bonfires

really are. I hope this will be the end of it,” she said.

“While most of us can get off-side during the Twelfth of July holidays, there are people such as staff, patients and visitors who must use the hospital. This bonfire is not acceptable.

“People can have their celebrations as part of their culture but they need to be at a site approved by Belfast City Council.”

The piece of wasteland on which the bonfire was built is owned by a private developer and neither the police nor Belfast City Council were able to impose sanctions, despite the fact that the fire was illegal.

“No-one really wants to take responsibility for what is going on here. There is a lot of buck-passing,” Ms Hanna said.

Derry Journal
15 July 2009

Claudy residents living in the Killycorr area say they feared for their safety when more than 100 people gathered for a bonfire just yards from their houses on Saturday, a local councillor has claimed.

SDLP Colr. Brenda Stevenson says several residents "feared for themselves and their properties".

"I spoke to local residents from Killycorr whose properties face onto the site and they say that more that 100 people were present at the bonfire drinking and carrying on," she said.

"The bonfire was very large and with the strong winds of Saturday night these residents feared for themselves and their properties. Indeed, many of the properties are still covered in dust and debris from the fire."

Colr. Stevenson claims the site where the bonfire was located belongs to the Housing Executive.

"I will be calling on it and the PSNI to meet with these residents to ensure that this site is secured and that there are no repeats of Saturday night in future years," she explained.

"All those I spoke to, and myself included, have no problems whatsoever with anyone celebrating the 12th July and, indeed, welcome the celebrations. However, those in attendance at this bonfire did nothing but display anti-social behaviour and do nothing to add to the good image of the Orange Order."

No one from the Housing Executive was available for comment.

BBC

**Video onsite

Police have arrested a 28 year-old man in connection with an incident during Monday's rioting in North Belfast when a shot was fired at police.

The suspect is being questioned at Antrim police station.

The trouble began on Monday after dissident republicans tried to disrupt a loyalist Twelfth of July parade.

On Tuesday night police officers were attacked again in the Ardoyne area by a crowd throwing petrol bombs and other missiles.

A crowd of up to 100 people rioted at Brompton Park.

Local Sinn Fein representative Margaret McLenaghan described the trouble on Tuesday night as a continuation of the previous evening's rioting.

"Young ones are being encouraged by adults, some of them from within this community," she said.

"These adults don't have any sort of a peace strategy, they don't know where they're going and they're going to end up getting one of these children killed."

Fireworks

On Monday night the trouble left a total of 21 police officers injured.

Blast bombs, fireworks, stones and other missiles were thrown by republicans during the disturbances.

Officers responded with 18 baton rounds and water cannon.

Police came under attack in north Belfast for a second night

Sinn Fein blamed the Real IRA but the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, which is linked to the dissident group, refuted the claim.

Elsewhere, on Tuesday night, paint was thrown at police investigating reports of stones being thrown in the Lower Newtownards Road area of east Belfast.

Some windows were broken at houses in the area as a result of the stone-throwing.

Ulster Unionist councillor Michael Copeland said a pregnant woman who lived in the house which sustained the most damage was left in a "shocked and distressed state".

"Occurrences such as this serve no purpose other than those who have formulated trouble in areas such as the Ardoyne, Randalstown and Ballymena over the past few days," he said.

Anti-social

Sinn Fein east Belfast representative Niall O Donnghaile said the attack had been carried out by a small number of nationalist youths.

"It was wrong and I condemn it. I saw the community in the Short Strand coming out like they never had before to tell an essentially anti-social element that residents wouldn't tolerate it," he said.

"What you have here is a small number of youths holding an area to ransom."

A bus bringing Crusaders Football Club supporters back from their Europa League match against FK Rabotnicki at Mourneview Park was attacked in Sloan Street, Lurgan.

A club spokesman said three petrol bombs and stones were thrown at the bus which was taking women, children and pensioners back from the game.

A total of 21 police officers were hurt during trouble in Ardoyne on Monday

"Two of the petrol bombs missed and one hit the rear passenger side causing scorch damage, two windows on the bus were also broken," he said.

"The people on the bus were not injured, but were left very shaken."