Irish Republican Info Svc #192 4/7/97 =========== Posted to multiple newsgroups and lists =========== ===== Redistribute *only* with full header and signature! ===== Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit Irish Republican Information Service, No. 192 Teach Daithi O Conaill, 223 Parnell Street, Dublin 1, Ireland Phone: +353-1-872 9747; FAX: 872 9757 e-mail: saoirse@iol.ie or saoirse@indigo.ie Republican Sinn Fein homepage: http://indigo.ie/~saoirse View our SAOIRSE homepage: http://iol.ie/~saoirse 1. PROVOS TO 'FREQUENT' WESTMINSTER AS PROSPECTS OF A FREE IRELAND RECEDE 2. LIMERICK INTIMIDATION OF THOSE WHO REMEMBER THE EASTER RISING OF 1916 3. GROWTH IN NATIONALIST POPULATION RESULTS IN CHURCH ARSON ATTACKS 4. LOYALIST MOB BEAT NATIONALIST MAN 5. PETER McBRIDE'S MOTHER ATTACKS 6. LOYALISTS ATTACK BELFAST HOSTEL WITH IMPUNITY 7. H-BLOCK POLITICAL PRISONERS BEATEN BY WARDERS 8. PTA FIGURES BELIE REAL EXTENT OF HARASSMENT 9. VICTIM OF BRITAIN'S SECRET WAR CHARGED 10. CONGRESSMEN URGE THAT PEARSON BE ALLOWED TO STAY IN US 11. BNFL FINED AGAIN PROVOS TO FREQUENT WESTMINSTER AS PROSPECTS OF A FREE IRELAND RECEDE THE following statement was issued by Ruairi O Bradaigh, President, Republican Sinn Fein on April 3 as the British Labour Party dropped its commitment to "a united Ireland by consent": "The net result of the current process has been to push farther away than ever the prospect of a free and independent Ireland. "1. The process has relieved pressure on the British Labour Party which has even withdrawn its gesture to "work for a united Ireland by consent" in its election manifesto published today. "2. The Provos' promise if elected to attend at the Palace of Westminster "frequently" is described by the Irish News of Belfast on April 2 as "an important shift in strategy". Its leading article of the same day describes this as "another small step along the road to full participation" in the British parliament. Westminster has absorbed many a well-intentioned Irish person into its imperialist system and the Provisionals are seeking to tread a well-worn path in that direction and away from the objective of a British withdrawal from Ireland. "3. Mr Major, at the launching of his manifesto (April 2) "expects Northern Ireland always to be part of the United Kingdom" (sic). That of course ignores the tide of human progress. "4. The Leinster House political parties have been reinforced in their 30-year-old acceptance of the Unionist veto, thus protecting their cosy 26-County constituency. "The objective of the so-called peace process – which cannot deliver permanent peace because it does not provide for British disengagement from Ireland – is now clearer than ever. It aims to copperfasten British rule in the Six Occupied Counties through a New Stormont with cross-Border boards. Such measures cannot deliver a permanent peace here. For this reason it is not acceptable to real Republicans and never was." LIMERICK INTIMIDATION OF THOSE WHO REMEMBER THE EASTER RISING OF 1916 PEOPLE visiting the graves of their loved ones on Easter Sunday were confronted by Gardai demanding to know their names and addresses, a National Executive member of Republican Sinn Fein has said. Limerick-based Joe Lynch said that mothers with young children were stopped by plainclothes political police in the graveyard. "The harassment took place before, during and after Easter Sunday commemoration ceremonies in Mount St Laurence Cemetery. "A total of 17 plainclothes policemen were on duty and they scared a number of people who were in the graveyard paying their respects to the dead. The 26-County police demanded that people gave their names and addresses and did so in a confrontational manner. Like so many people in Limerick on a Sunday they were simply visiting the graves of young ones. "The 26-County police were nowhere to be seen when the graveyard was being vandalised the night before. As vandals destroyed headstones there was no sign of a policeman around to ensure respect for the dead. "Yet when people commemorate the Easter Rising of 1916 there are car loads of policemen on hand to intimidate people." GROWTH IN NATIONALIST POPULATION RESULTS IN CHURCH ARSON ATTACKS ON Sunday night, April 6, Mullavilly parish church between Portadown and Tandragee in County Armagh was razed to the ground, the third Catholic church in the Six Counties to be attacked by arsonists in 48 hours. Another Catholic church, due to celebrate its 25th anniversary, was burned to the ground at 4am on Saturday, April 5. Fire raged through St MacNissis's on the Magheralane Road in Randalstown, County Antrim as parishioners slept. The entire building was destroyed in the blaze. The fire had been so intense that steel girders had melted like plastic. The roof had fallen in and walls had collapsed, all that remained was either buckled or warped. Randalstown which was once an exclusively loyalist town has in recent years seen an increase in nationalist residents. Nationalists believe the growth in their population and recent Orange marches has led to a concerted effort by loyalist bigots to burn down their church. Approximately 30 minutes later on the same night St Comgall's church a short distance away on the Dublin Road, County Antrim came under arson attack, completely destroying a church. It is believed both buildings were burned using the building's own heating fuel. At St Comgall's church, arsonists had cut through wire fencing to gain access to an oil tank and had run a hose from it to the rear of the building. Vandals daubed paint on the walls of the Catholic church of Our Lady in Harryville, Ballymena the same night. Also on Saturday, April 5 the windows of St Patrick's Church of Ireland hall in Donaghmore, Co Tyrone were damaged in an attempted arson attack. The property suffered scorch damage to its window frames. As nationalists and loyalists jockey for position in a new Stormont these attacks are bound to continue. The Provisionals by seeking parity in a British/loyalist-controlled state and a compromise within a colonial situation instead of national liberation have led to the sectarianisation of the struggle. LOYALIST MOB BEAT NATIONALIST MAN A NATIONALIST man was chased and beaten by a 20-strong loyalist mob on the Shankill Road, Belfast on March 28. The man who was attacked had parked his car near the junction with Tennant Street before going shopping. He was approached by four loyalists who began asking him questions. The man tried to escape in his car. He struck several parked cars and other vehicles on the road while passers-by joined the four men in pursuit. At some stage the windscreen of his car was smashed by a man using a bread tray. After finding his car blocked by a bus, the man ran down the centre of the road, with the crowd chasing him. He was caught after a short distance and assaulted but escaped again, seeking refuge in a butcher's shop before being dragged outside and beaten by the mob, at least one of whom used a broom handle. British police (RUC) arrived and brought the man back into the shop until an ambulance arrived to bring him to hospital where he was treated for severe bruising and broken teeth. Several bystanders were taken to hospital in a second ambulance, suffering from shock. PETER McBRIDE'S MOTHER ATTACKS MP THE mother of Peter McBride, killed by British soldiers in 1992, reacted angrily on April 2 to the comments of British MP Phil Gallie that the two soldiers who killed him should be released. The campaign to free the two British soldiers has intensified in the run-up to the British general election and a decision to free him is expected from a Tory administration eager to secure votes. Gallie said that Scots Guards James Fisher and Mark Wright "made an on-the-spot decision that had tragic consequences for them and the person that died . . .Both feel extremely distraught at what has happened . . . the two boys have been in for four-and-a-half years. Enough is enough". Responding to Gallie's comments on April 2 Jean McBride said "He claims they are no threat to society – what threat to society was my son?" She continued: "He says the British army were here to protect people -- who were they protecting when they shot my son twice in the back." On April 2 a delegation from the campaign to release the two soldiers marched to 10 Downing Street in London to deliver letters of support from ex-British army members throughout Britain. The delegation included two retired British army generals -- a breed not normally associated with humanitarian causes -- as well as Phil Gallie, James Fisher's MP. LOYALISTS ATTACK BELFAST HOSTEL WITH IMPUNITY A LOYALIST mob attacked a hostel for women and children in Belfast over a seven-hour period on April 1-2 with only token interference by the British Crown Forces. The siege on the Ashmore Hostel, off Conway Street, began at 6pm on April 1 when loyalist youths began throwing bricks at the hostel, which houses 30 people. The British police (RUC) arrived and moved the youths on. They were back within minutes, shouting "We're coming back to get you" and "We're coming back to burn you out", and resumed the attack, which caused damage to the outside of the building. Another RUC patrol arrived at 8pm and moved the mob again without making any arrests. Again the mob regrouped and resumed the attack within minutes. Another RUC patrol arrived at 11pm but the attack on the hostel continued until 1.30am. H-BLOCK POLITICAL PRISONERS BEATEN BY WARDERS MORE than 40 political prisoners are believed to have been assaulted by warders in Long Kesh following the recent discovery of an escape tunnel built by Provisional prisoners in H-Block 7. The prisoners received the beatings during a week-long search of the H-Blocks which hold nationalist prisoners. Among those assaulted were Jimmy Smyth and Joe Doherty who were extradited from the United States with assurances from the British that they would not be ill-treated. (see IRIS FAX April 2, 1997) The new punitive regime implemented following the discovery of the tunnel means that prisoners will be locked up from 8.30pm to 9am and will be subjected to a total of four cell searches and four head counts each day. PTA FIGURES BELIE REAL EXTENT OF HARASSMENT FIGURES released by the British government in March show that 569 people were detained in Britain under the racist 'Prevention of Terrorism Act' (PTA) in 1996. Extensions of detention were applied for and granted in 60 cases with a further application being withdrawn. Of the total, 521 were held for less than 48 hours. Four hundred and ten were released without any charge. These figures disguise the true extent of harassment of Irish travellers to and via Britain as a record is not required to be kept of people detained for periods of less than one hour. The true figure for people stopped under the PTA has been estimated by human rights bodies as reaching several hundred thousand. VICTIM OF BRITAIN'S SECRET WAR CHARGED THE 19-year-old Coalisland man injured in an SAS shoot-to-kill attempt on March 26 was charged with attempted murder at a special sitting of a court in Belfast City Hospital on Tuesday, April 1. The accused, Gareth Malachy Doris, lay on top of his bed with a severe gunshot wound to his stomach and a collapsed lung which was being inflated by air from a tube at his bedside as charges of attempted murder of British forces and maliciously causing an explosion at the RUC barracks in Coalisland, County Tyrone, were read out. Doris, whose hospital ward is guarded by the British paramilitary police (RUC), was denied bail and was remanded in custody to appear at Belfast magistrates Court on April 29. His lawyer Patrick Mallon said his client is "vigorously contesting the charges and that he is innocent of the charges". Meanwhile, a second man who is alleged to have been shot in the SAS operation was discharged from Louth County Hospital on Tuesday night, April 1 and immediately arrested for 24 hours of interrogation by the 26-County police in Dundalk. Unnamed 26-County police told the media that the 18-year-old man was being treated for a groin wound and would be "kept under observation". Unionists have demanded that the man be extradited to Occupied Ireland for interrogation by the British Crown Forces. The man was expected back at the hospital but did not turn up. His family in Coalisland have said they were unaware of his whereabouts. CONGRESSMEN URGE THAT PEARSON BE ALLOWED TO STAY IN US A LETTER from an influential group of US Congressmen has urged the Clinton Administration not to seek the deportation of former IRA Volunteer Brian Pearson. In the final week of March a federal immigration judge blocked attempts by the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (INS) to deport Pearson because he had failed to disclose his conviction and 12-year prison sentence for his part in the IRA bombing of a British colonial police barracks in 1975. Judge Williams declared it to be a political offence and did not come under the new Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). He also stated that Brian Pearson was entitled to political asylum. The letter is signed by the Chairperson of the International Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives, Ben Gilman; Representative Peter King and Senators Chris Dodd, Alfonse D'Amato and Robert Torricelli. The letter asks Attorney-General Janet Reno "not to challenge Judge Williams' decision which is consistent with the public safety goals of the INA and furthers the Administration's goals of promoting peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland". BNFL FINED AGAIN BRITISH Nuclear Fuels was fined #20,000 on April 4 for breaching nuclear regulations. Whitehaven magistrates in Cumbria, England heard that for more than six years the state-owned company failed to act on a series of recommendations to carry out "urgent and immediate" repair work on a 100-metre long bridge carrying the main radioactive discharge from the plant over the Barrow-to-Carlisle railway line and out to the Irish Sea. There had been the risk that a collapse of the bridge could have caused the pipe to fracture with a leak of radioactive material, Steven Zdolyny, prosecuting, told the court. One of the reports prepared between 1990 and 1995 warned BNFL of the eventual "partial or total collapse" of the 50-year-old bridge which had been designed to last only 25 years. Chairman of the magistrate's court, Frank Hornsby, imposed the maximum fine allowable to magistrates for a breach of the Radioactive Substances Act. -end- Please circulate the information in IRIS and credit us if reprinting. We welcome your comments and ideas. 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