Irish Republican Info Svc #236 7/13/98 =========== 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. 236) Teach Daithi O Conaill 223 Parnell Street Dublin 1, Ireland Phone: +353-1-872-9747; FAX: +353-1-872-9757; e-mail: saoirse@iol.ie July 13, 1998 Internet resources maintained by SAOIRSE - Irish Freedom: http://iol.ie/~saoirse/rsflinks.htm THREE CHILDREN KILLED IN LOYALIST FIREBOMBING IN CO ANTRIM THREE young children died in a sectarian arson attack on a house in Ballymoney, Co Antrim in the early hours of Sunday, July 12, as the Drumcree stand-off continued into its eighth day. A petrol-bomb was thrown into the home of Christine Quinn (29), a Catholic, and her Protestant partner, Raymond Craig (31) in the mainly loyalist estate of Carnany, Ballymoney, Co Antrim around 4.30am. Neighbours reported hearing a loud bang as it exploded in the back sitting-room of the house which was swiftly engulfed in flames. Fire engines arrived quickly but the house was well alight. Three of the couple's four children, Richard (10), Mark (9) and Jason (7) Quinn, who were in the house died in the flames. Their eldest son, Lee, was staying with his grandmother in Rasharkin, Co Antrim, a few miles away. The parents escaped from the house and Christine Quinn was treated in hospital for minor injuries and shock, while Raymond Craig sustained cuts. Both parents tried to return to the house to save their children but were beaten back by what firefighters at the scene described as "ferocious flames". When fire crews using breathing apparatus managed to reach the children they had already perished in the flames. Local people said that sectarian tension had been rising in the area since the start of the Drumcree standoff and some nationalist families had received bullets in the post. The Quinn family, who have lived in the Carnany estate for 20 years, had been targeted by loyalists in the past. They left the Six Counties and only returned last year when they believed it was safe. Relatives said they had suffered intimidation since and were awaiting a housing transfer. They had previously moved to different parts of the estate but had not managed to escape intimidation and on one occasion Raymond Craig was shot by loyalists. The children's grandmother, Irene Quinn, was ordered to leave the estate last week and her home was petrol-bombed. A local person who asked not to be named said that every night last week there had been shouting and running noises in the estate as local loyalists intimidated the last few Catholics out of the place. The children had been raised as Protestants but their mother has decided to give them a Catholic burial in her home village of Rasharkin on Tuesday, July 14. * As a mark of respect to the bereaved family residents on the lower Ormeau Road in Belfast did not block the path of the Orange parade which marched through their area on Monday, July 13 but instead held a silent, black flag protest as the Orangemen passed by. TRAGEDY IN BALLYMONEY THE RESULT OF BRITISH MISRULE SAOIRSE-Irish Freedom stated in its editorial (published July 9, 1998) that nationalists would pay a heavy price for the continuing Drumcree standoff (see story below). This prediction has been sadly vindicated in the arson attack on the Quinn family in Carnany, Ballymoney, Co Antrim on Sunday, July 12 which resulted in the deaths of Richard (10), Mark (9) and Jason (7) Quinn who died in the loyalist attack on their home of mixed religion. Republican Sinn Fein extends heartfelt sympathy to the bereaved family on their terrible loss. This horrific incident could have happened many times in the past years. Thousands of nationalist homes, as well as the homes of people of mixed religions, have been petrol-bombed by loyalist death squads. IRIS has reported these incidents week after week and in most cases it has been luck that prevented death or injury. These attacks were not taken seriously. In the past week loyalists mounted more than 130 arson attempts on nationalist families throughout the Six Counties and the British Housing Executive there is in the process of rehousing more than 70 nationalist families. It has been reported that 25 years ago 40,000 nationalists lived in the predominantly loyalist area of east Antrim, between Carrickfergus and Belfast. This has now been reduced to around 5,000. There has been a sustained policy of ethnic cleansing in areas where nationalists are in a minority. The methods used to reduce the numbers of nationalists living in these areas have been intimidation, stoning, petrol-bombing, attacks by armed gangs on houses and killings by British-backed loyalist death squads. Estates like Rathcoole and Ballyhackamore in Belfast have been cleansed of nationalists in the last few years. Many who have called for mixed education in the Six Counties have failed to react whenpeople of mixed religious relationships have been murdered or intimidated in their homes. Rpublican Sinn Fein said that the current process would not bring peace in Ireland because it did not address the root cause of the conflict. Neither does the process address the sectarian nature of the Orange State. The new assembly elected its First Minister, David Trimble and Deputy Minister, Seamus Mallon on July 1 but they have been impotent in the face of the Drumcree stand-off and the loyalist violence which has ensued. David Trimble and Seamus Mallon left it until the deaths of three young children to publicly ask the Orangemen at Drumcree to disperse. The Orange bigots who continue to hold the people of the Garvaghy Road and nationalists throughout the Occupied Six Counties to ransom have been treated with kid gloves by the British government. They have been allowed to assemble at Drumcree in thousands, while convoys conveying food, medicines and other necessities to the beleaguered people on the Garvaghy Road were searched three times by British Crown Forces and some of the badly-needed goods confiscated. Why were they allowed to congregate in such numbers at Drumcree? If it had been a nationalist protest the might of the British army and their colonial police (RUC) would have been used to break it up without delay. In 1996 after the British government used 1,000 RUC to force 1,300 Orangemen down the Garvaghy Road, protesting nationalists were batoned off their own street and 6,000 plastic bullets were fired in the ensuing nationalist protests throughout the Six Counties. The 'Irish Times' (Dublin) has been publishing a list of incidents from Sunday, July 4 and up to July 10 reported 1,867 public disorder incidents, 55 attacks on British Crown Forces, including 15 shooting incidents and 33 bomb attacks, 151 arrests for public disorder incidents, 53 RUC injured, 548 petrol bombings, 1,901 petrol bombs recovered, 103 buildings damaged, 133 other buildings damaged, 367 vehicles attacked. The figures for the weekend are not available but will have added to the above figures considerably. Up to July 9 only 216 plastic bullets were fired at loyalists. The Stormont Agreement has been proved in the past week to be totally irrelevant. As Republican Sinn Fein has said, it cannot bring peace because none of the issues were addressed by it, in particular the British presence. The Drumcree standoff is about power and who wields it. Until the British leave Ireland and all the people on the island come together to build a new Ireland the marching season will be used by sectarian loyalist elements to impose their British-supported control on the nationalist people of the Six Occupied Counties. Incidentally, nothing has been heard from the Peace Train organisation who were so vocal against nationalists during the Drumcree standoff. Why are they not running "peace trains" to Portadown in an attempt to end the Orange standoff at Drumcree? DRUMCREE STANDOFF: NATIONALISTS WILL PAY AS SAOIRSE-Irish Freedom went to press on Thursday, July 9 the Drumcree standoff was in its fifth day and the Orange Order and loyalists were steadily increasing their campaign of intimidation and pressure against the nationalist residents in Portadown and throughout the Six Counties. For the fourth year the British government looks set to back down in the face of Orange threats as the Tories did in 1995, 1996 and Tony Blair and Mo Mowlam did (even quicker) in 1997. Once again the consequences of British capitulation to Orange thuggery will have to be paid by the nationalist communities. They will be beaten up by British Crown Forces outside their own homes if they protest against the forcing of Orange parades through their areas. They will be imprisoned within their homes for lengthy periods to show them who is in charge. The issues of the Garvaghy Road and all the other nationalist areas where Orange parades are not welcome is one of power and control. The Orange Order seeks to remind residents that their power extends into the Garvaghy Road. The same build-up of pressure as July 12 approaches is evident as happened in 1996 when the Six Counties were brought to a standstill in four days and the Major government caved in.The ease with which Orangemen are allowed travel into Drumcree from all over the Six Counties shows the complicity of the British army and RUC in the standoff. Similarly the Orangemen can man roadblocks, intimidate motorists and prevent nationalists going to work or to the shops ithout interference from British policemen for several hours. The Orangemen are eventually "pushed back". However, in the event of nationalist protests at yet another British capitulation to the Orange card the kid gloves come off. Nationalists are baton-charged, plastic bullets are aimed to kill them and armoured vehicles are driven at speed at crowds of people on the streets. Also similar to the 1996 standoff is the arrival of 1,800 extra British troops (to a total of 18,000) with the intention of dealing with nationalist protests against the fourth climbdown by the British government. The co-ordinated and synchronised attack on ten Catholic churches on the night of July 1-2 shows that there is a guiding hand behind the loyalist protests. Mo Mowlam is fooling nobody when she acts the innocent and seeks "evidence" of any loyalist death squad involvement. The role of the constitutional nationalist parties sitting in Stormont is worth examining. The SDLP sought to convince the Garvaghy residents to allow a 'token' march through their area. This was the 1995 "compromise" which resulted in Ian Paisley and David Trimble hand-in-hand dancing triumphantly in the streets of Portadown. Trimble won the UUP leadership contest as a result of these antics. Siamus Mallon, the 'Deputy Minister' at Stormont was jostled and jeered by Garvaghy residents after trying to sell them another such "compromise" on July 7. The Provisionals proved themselves a throwback to their predecessors in the Officials who insisted in April 1969 that they would "put it up to" the British Crown Forces to defend the nationalist population. In July 1998 the Provisionals are likewise telling nationalists to stay off the streets as "the British army and RUC can deal with it". The nationalists are paying the price of the sectarian state once again and all Tony Blair's talk of equality will be exposed if and when he backs down. Drumcree 1998 proves that it does not matter what rearrangements of British rule are put into place  be it Sunningdale 1973 or the Stormont Agreement 1998  it is still not going to bring a permanent peace.It is still a sectarian statelet built on a sectarian headcount and the Orangemen know that the numbers always add up in their favour. With Orangemen winning once again in 1998 they will draw the obvious conclusion that all they have to do is keep the squeeze on the nationalists and they will win more concessions. This is the very rotten foundation on which the Stormont Agreement is built. The sooner it collapses the better for all of us. DRUMCREE STANDOFF TO CONTINUE PORTADOWN Orangemen decided on Sunday, July 12 to continue to occupy the area around Drumcree as they have done since they were refused permission to march down the nationalist Garvaghy Road on Sunday, July 5, despite calls to abandon their standoff following the murder of three young children in an arson attack by loyalists on a home in the Carnany estate in Ballymoney, Co Antrim (see story no 1 above). The Church of Ireland Archbishop Eames was amongst those who appealed to the Orangemen to call off their protest at the Church of Ireland chapel in Drumcree. Stormont 'First Minister' David Trimble and 'Deputy Minister' Seamus Mallon also called on the Orangemen to end the standoff as did the Orange Order's Grand Chaplain for Co Armagh, William Bingham. However, the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland said it supported a "peaceful and dignified" protest at Drumcree and the Portadown district spokesman, David Jones, said that the Portadown district of the Orange Lodge had decided to "maintain a presence at Drumcree until such time as the way is clear to return to the Orange Hall on Carleton Street by the traditional route" [ie, via the Garvaghy Road]. Breandan Mac Cionnaith, spokesperson for the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition, said that the decision to remain at Drumcree showed that the Portadown Orangemen were completely "beyond the control of anyone". On Friday, July 10 British Prime Minister Tony Blair initiated so-called "proximity talks", convened by a member of his staff, Jonathan Powell. These talks, to take place on July 11, consisted of delegates from the Portadown Orangemen and the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition meeting at an agreed venue and negotiating, through two "facilitators" who would "shuttle" between the two groups, who would remain in separate rooms, in an attempt to end the impasse. The "proximity talks" began on Saturday, after some delay, with Peter Quinn, former President of the GAA, acting as facilitator on the nationalist side and the Rev Roy Magee facilitator on the unionist side. However the "talks" broke up without any agreement and at 11pm on Saturday, July 11 the residents of the Garvaghy Road met to hear a report from their delegates. The propositions put forward by the Orange Order included allowing 1,000 Orangemen down the road (instead of 1,400) with three bands. Another suggestion was that they walk the Obins Street area (the Tunnel area of Portadown, a small nationalist enclave), which was banned by the British government in 1985 who said at the time that it was morally wrong to march that area. The Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition expressed disappointment at the failure of the Orange order to engage in good faith with them and called on the British government to implement the decision of the Parades Commission and to lift the siege on the Garvaghy Road community. While these "talks" were going on the Portadown Orangemen filed with the RUC and the British Parades Commission to hold another march down the Garvaghy Road on July 12. The request was rejected on the grounds that it did not give the legal requirement of 28 days notice. It has also been reported that the County Grand Master of the Orange Order of Armagh, Denis Watson, Orange chaplain Rev William Bingham and Provisional informer Sean O'Callaghan met in the Seagoe Hotel in Portadown in the past week, and on July 10 David Jones, Orange spokesperson for the Portadown District Lodge, warned British Prime Minister Tony Blair, to "be careful that Drumcree doesn't become his Bloody Sunday" as the Parachute regiment was deployed at Drumcree. On July 9 an editorial in the 'Belfast Telegraph' called for the British government to force the Orangemen down the Garvaghy Road if nationalists failed to compromise. Garvaghy Road. Residents' Coalition spokesperson Breandan Mac Cionnaith said that the 'Belfast Telegraph' knew nothing about the situation on the Garvaghy Road. He said that just because the Orange Order didn't like the decision not to allow the parade down the road they believed everything should be scrapped and started all over again while convoys of food and supplies had to be organised into the Garvaghy Road in case the roads were blocked off. The nationalist population of the Garvaghy Road have been besieged for eight days. During that time they have experienced difficulty in getting in and out of the area to their place of work and to the shops. They have been subjected both to loyalist intimidation and abuse from the British Crown Forces. Following the Twelfth of July marches (held on July 13, because the Twelfth fell on a Sunday) it is feared that many Orangemen will converge on Drumcree and the nationalist people will continue to be beleaguered as the British government refuses to address the worsening situation. BROAD WEB OF INTIMIDATION THE pro-British death squads with the aid of their colleagues in the British Crown Forces have embarked upon a campaign of ethnic cleansing across the Six Counties while their Orange allies act as decoy on the hill of Drumcree. The official announcement of a plan already in operation, was made on Tuesday, July 7 by Pastor Kenny McClinton who served sixteen years of a life sentence for murder and who is now associated with the LVF. With the religiosity of a praying mantis, McClinton warned of a "balloon going up" and referred to pro-British death squads which he named as the "Loyalist Patriotic Front, the Protestant Freedom Fighters, the Protestant Reactionary Army, and the Ulster Loyalist Action Force". He said he feared the "very worst for this province". The death squads are allegedly on ceasefire and use the cover names when it is not considered convenient to use their known monikers. Meanwhile the UVF death squad's Mid Ulster Brigade warned that the death of any Orangeman at the hands of Crown Forces at Drumcree "would be regarded as an act of war". Nationalists have been forced out of their homes across occupied Ireland in this pro-British Orange Kristalnacht. Residents of Collingwood estate in Lurgan came under siege from a gang of 30 loyalists firing petrol bombs at their homes early on July 8. Two houses were extensively damaged and three people treated for shock as the Orange fascists threw nail and petrol bombs and fired shots. Residents of the area which borders of the loyalist Mourneview estate have called on the Orange Order to "catch itself on". The Orange Order says it has nothing to do with them, but it's fairly and squarely on their shoulders, said Sean Dowds who suffered an angina attack while trying to hose down his blazing home. Nationalist schools were targeted by arsonists on July 8. In Belfast, a car was rammed through the gates of Holy Cross girls' primary school on the Ardoyne Road and set ablaze, causing minor damage. In Larne, St Anthony's primary school suffered minor damage when inflammable liquid waspoured through a window. In east Belfast a hostel for the homeless was damaged when it came under attack from a loyalist mob. Also on July there were petrol bomb attacks on houses in Garvagh and Lurgan; in the latter case the resident was taken to hospital with a heart attack. St Joseph's primary school in Lisburn, Co Down came under attack from loyalist mobs who threw paint and petrol bombs at the school. On July 11 three nationalists were injured in a shooting incident in north Belfast. One of the men is said to be in a serious condition after being hit in the knee, while another man was said to be grazed. A youth in their company suffered a minor leg injury. Across the towns and villages of the Six Counties nationalists remained in fear for their lives as Orange thugs went on the rampage. A house in Carrickfergus was petrol-bombed on July 11, while on the same date a family were forced to flee their home of 27 years after a second petrol bomb attack on their home in Birchhill Park. In Whitehead, Co Antrim, ten petrol bombs were hurled at Ulidia Integrated School on the Islandmagee Road. Several windows were smashed in the attack but only a few of the devices ignited. And in Craigavon on July 11 a blast bomb was thrown through the window of a house at Enniskeen causing extensive damage to the kitchen area. The compromisers in our midst, some who now have seats in the colonial assembly at Stormont have allowed this situation to develop where Orange fascists feel emboldened. We have said in the past that compromise with tyranny reinforces that tyranny. Whereas compromise among equals in a free federal Ireland can be truly ennobling. McALEESE ENTERTAINS ORANGEMEN WHILE NATIONALISTS UNDER SIEGE IN 6 COUNTIES THE 26-County President, Mary McAleese, herself a nationalist from Belfast whose home was burned out by loyalists during the 1970s, held an official function at her residence in Dublin on Saturday evening, July 11 for over 100 Orangemen, as the Drumcree standoff continued. One hundred and thirty people attended the reception, including Orangemen from eight counties in the 26 Counties. None attended from the Six Counties. The reception was also attended by the British Ambassador, Veronica Sutherland. The Sash was plated as McAleese welcomed the Orangemen to her residence, one of them wearing an orange lily. A spokesperson for McAleese said that "this is not about the North" and that she will not regret holding the reception, this in the face of widespread intimidation, disruption and attacks on nationalists throughout the Six Counties. The journalist Anne Cadwallader, writing in the 'Ireland on Sunday' newspaper (July 12), said that McAleese's invitation was "spectacularly ill-timed" and that for nationalists Orange marches were "grotesque displays of domination and ritualised insult". CATHOLIC CHURCHES BURNED IN WAVE OF ATTACKS THE oppressed people of occupied Ireland have been allowed the choice of voting their overseers, who are looking on while pro-British death squads embark on the old divide and conquer campaign. The long-suffering nationalist population were once more put to the test when Catholic churches were attacked in the early hours of July 2. Of the most seriously damaged were St James, Aldergrove, near Belfast, which was reduced to a blackened shell after a midnight attack; St Joseph's church at Kilcorig near Lisburn, Co Antrim and the Church of the Immaculate Conception at Leitrim near Castlewellan, Co Down, which were completely gutted. It is understood the north Antrim LVF formulated a "tour of destruction" policy to be putinto effect if Britain's Parades Commission should re-route the Orange march away from the nationalist Garvaghy Road. While Orange boot boys were allowed to camp in the grounds of Drumcree, they could use themselves as a decoy while their fascist allies in the pro-British death squads could embark on realdamage. In this burning hatred instigated by British Military intelligence, St Colmcille's on the Upper Newtownards Road received scorch and smoke damage; Mary Queen of Peace, Blackscull, Dromore received minor smoke damage ; the roof of the church at Mullavilly Tandragee, Co Tyrone was burned; St Columba's, Clanmore Road, Dungannon, Co Tyrone suffered smoke and water damage, Glen Church, Glen Road, Banbridge, Co Down had minor damage, while Killyman Church, Dungannon, Co Tyrone received scorch damage. Intruders who broke into Our Lady of Lourdes church, Grange near Kilkeel, Co Down, are believed to have run off after triggering the alarm system. HARRYVILLE PICKETS RECOMMENCE IN BALLYMENA THE 'Spirit of Drumcree' group which has subjected Mass-goers in Harryville, Ballymena, Co Antrim to a torrent of verbal and physical abuse for 20 months is back on its intimidation track. The group, which called off its picket in May, following a decision to allow the Apprentice Boys march through Dunloy, have elected to resume their protest outside Our Lady's church in Harryville until the British Parades Commission rescind their decision to re-route the Drumcree march. The 'Spirit of Drumcree' mouth-piece, Joel Patton said the decision was reached at an emergency meeting of the group on May 30. LURGAN YOUTHS STONE RUC THE nationalist Kilwilkie estate in Lurgan, Co Armagh erupted into a tense battle scene between local youths and the British colonial police (RUC) on June 28-29. Crown Forces moved into the estate at night in what they described as an ongoing police operation in the Co Armagh area. Doors were kicked in as the combined British army/RUC stormtroopers dragged residents from their beds and threatened them. Throughout the day two helicopters hovered menacingly overhead while the Occupation Forces swamped the Lough Road end of the estate. Searches revealed four pounds of high-powered Semtex in a coal bunker at the rear of a house in Ennis Close. Later in the morning the British army recovered nine coffee-jar devices containing explosives with six-inch nails and an improvised grenade warhead fully primed at a location in the Victoria Street area. By midday as the raiding operation continued, a number of youths responded by throwing stones at the RUC. As their protest grew in number to about 50, the youths engaged the Crown Forces in a sustained attack. Approximately 60 petrol bombs were launched at the British army/RUC force and their vehicles which continued until after 6pm when the Occupation Forces began to withdraw. The disturbance forced the closure of the railway line between Lisburn and Portadown. VICIOUS ATTACK ON REPUBLICAN FAMILY AT 11.20pm on Sunday, 28 June, the Provisionals sent five of its party militia to attack the Donnelly family in their home in Derry city. Michael Donnelly (49), his wife Martina (47), and two of their children, Niamh (10) and Caoimhe (6) arrived at the house at 11.10pm. Five minutes earlier they had been stopped by members of the British colonial police (RUC) and interrogated at length as to their movements that night, and in particular, if they would be going home soon. Michael's son Deaglan (22), described the subsequent attack to SAOIRSE: "My parents and sisters returned from a trip to buy milk. My other sister Ina (11), my fiance Tina (22) and I were also at home and we were all in the living room. Exactly ten minutes later four masked men wearing combat clothing burst into the room and one shouted 'IRA Provisionals'. One sprayed 'mace' tear gas into my mother's eyes and into my little sisters' faces and started to beat my father. "They had baseball bats studded with nails and iron crowbars. Niamh climbed on top of the armchair and jumped on one of the thugs to protect her Daddy, but he threw her to the ground and clubbed her on the leg with a nail-studded baseball bat. "Ina then jumped across her father to protect him and her back was badly beaten. Caoimhe was still sitting on his knee and she was also beaten by the Provisional thugs. "Despite the ferocity of the attack, my father made it to his feet and was able to tackle three Broy Harriers while I grabbed the fourth's iron bar and fought back. We were beating them out of the room towards the front door, but one pulled a revolver and fired a shot. We turned to protect the children and as my father stood over the girls they beat his back. 'You cost us a seat, you bastard' "We fought them out to the kitchen where they beat my father to the ground. One was shouting "you cost us a seat you bastard." I was still fighting the fourth one, but he pulled another revolver and shouted 'stop or you're shot'. "A fifth Broy Harrier, also carrying a baseball bat, then came into the kitchen. He was obviously the driver and was worried that the others were taking so long -- they weren't expecting a fight. He came after me, along with the one who pulled the gun on me and another, but I got away and raised the alarm. "They went back into the kitchen and all five cease-fire soldiers went about beating one unrepentant Republican, as he lay on the ground, for refusing to surrender his ideals. Although my father was now lying on the floor with a broken leg he wrenched a crowbar from one of them and kneecapped him with it. My mother tried to intervene, but one of them stuck his arm in her face and said 'IRA Provisionals, fuck off'. Tina got to the phone and raised the alarm, the Broy Harriers left. "Although five members of the Provisionals' party militia walked into our house two of them had to be carried out. Some of them fell on the driveway and one injured himself badly on some building blocks by falling on them. The blocks were covered in blood. "The fascists escaped in a hijacked taxi which they dumped in Shantallow. Local people saw the car and have told us that its seats and floor are covered in blood. The Broy Harriers' blood shows the Provisionals' party militia have failed to break my father and it is common knowledge in Derry that they will never defeat Michael Donnelly, neither physically or politically. "In 1971 my father was singled out for special torture by British police and the SAS. He was one of the longest serving internees and the last of the original internees of August 9, 1971, to be released. They failed to break him then. "The new British policemen who attacked our family on June 28 learned the hard way that Michael Donnelly will not surrender to any British agent, whether that Brit be foreign born or a native imperialist. "The Republican Sinn Fein boycott campaign was very successful and in Derry it lost the Provisionals one seat that they thought would easily be theirs, Gerry O'Hara's, while Mary Nelis only got in on the eight count. What saved her seat was the fact that she was in the SDLP until 1983 and got second preferences from SDLP voters. That is why they attacked our family. "The Republican Movement is beating them politically and is exposing them as the British agents and quislings that they are." MCGUINNESS CONFRONTED BY MARTINA DONNELLY THE night following the attack Michael Donnelly's wife, Martina, confronted the Provisionals' leader in Derry, Martin McGuinness. Thinking that Martina had come to plead for clemency McGuinness naively invited Martina into his house but instead she questioned him about the fascist attack on her family on his own doorstep, in full public view. McGuinness opened his door but stepped back into his hallway on recognising Martina. When she asked him why five members of his party beat her children and her husband with iron bars and baseball bats studded with nails, McGuinness replied, significantly, "I wasn't here." He then stepped forward in what an eyewitness described as "an absolutely threatening manner" and proceeded to point his finger into Martina's face. He then said "Your husband has been calling me a traitor all around this town for the past twelve months". After a slight pause Martina said "Oh, so that's why you did it". McGuinness did notdeny this accusation and Martina said "Sure, that's all you are, Martin  a traitor and a collaborator. On Wednesday you'll be sitting with the British government in their assembly. In fact, you'll be part of the British government there." McGuinness replied, "Keep your voice down. My children are inside" while his wife, Bernie shouted "Just shut the door on them". Martina then asked, "What about my children? You sent five masked men to spray gas into my children's eyes and to beat them and their father up." McGuinness then declared "I'm not listening to this" and slammed his door violently. Martina then addressed him loudly through his open window repeating "child-beater", "collaborator" and stated "Sure, you'll be running the place for them on Wednesday". On Wednesday, July 1, three days after the Provisionals attacked the Donnelly family in their home, Martin McGuinness signed himself into the British parliament at Stormont where he is now a colonial assemblyman. PROVISIONALS ISSUE FURTHER THREATS SINCE the Provisionals' vicious attack on the Donnellys the family has been harassed by the British colonial police (RUC) and the Provisional police. This harassment includes a threatening telephone call, made by a woman whose identity is known to Republican Sinn Fiin. Deaglan O'Donghaile has also received threats, one issued by two individuals from the Provisional office in Creggan. They stated that if they had gone to carry out the attack "Deaglan would not be walking now. But that doesn't matter because he is next anyway." Both cease-fire soldiers went on to celebrate the fact that Michael's children had been sprayed with teargas and beaten, saying that "they deserved it for getting in the way". -end- Please circulate the information in IRIS and credit us if reprinting. We welcome your comments and ideas. 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