KKK mural appears as UDA mount bomb and gun attacks

Date: 11th Aug '02

Name: RM Irish news article

KKK mural appears as UDA mount bomb and gun attacks

A Ku Klux Klan/Neo-Nazi mural painted on a derelict building off
the lower Lisburn Road in south Belfast has been widely
condemned.

The plain black and white mural, which features the letters KKK
surrounding a swastika, is on a wall close to the loyalist
Village area above other loyalist paramilitary murals.

Loyalists have well-documented links with neo-Nazi organisations
in Britain such as Combat 18 named after the position in the
alphabet of the letters AH (for Adolf Hitler).

South Belfast is a relatively integrated and cosmopolitan area,
although students have come under loyalist attack in recent
months and loyalists have staged riots in an apparent effort to
claim territory.

Flags, murals and painted kerbstones in the south Belfast area
have also served to deter newcomers to the area.

Patrick Yu, from the North's Council for Ethnic Minorities, said
he was "very concerned" that this message could translate into
action in the form of racial harassment or an attack.

Meanwhile, nationalist communities are playing host to diverse
guests from around the world. Throughout Belfast, people are
enjoying the fun and frolics of their community festivals, but
those unfortunate enough to be living on the interfaces have had
to endure a further series of attacks by the UDA in North Belfast
this week.

UDA bombers and gunmen attacked nationalist homes in the greater
Ardoyne area, putting the lives of dozens of nationalist
residents, both young and old, at risk.

Two petrol bombs were thrown at Margaret Meehan's house in
Alliance Avenue at around 3pm in the latest attack on her home.

Ms Meehan's partner, who was in the living room when the devices
were thrown into the backyard, managed to put the flames out with
pots of water.

Neither Ms Meehan nor any of her children - the youngest just one
year old - were in the house at the time. The attack came days
after a nail bomb was thrown at the house from the loyalist
Glenbryn area.

Last night Ms Meehan's partner told what happened.

"I was sitting in the living room and saw the flames and ran out
the door with pots of water," he said.

"As I put the flames out they (loyalists) shouted over that we
were going to be burnt to death over the weekend.

"This is happening every night, they are trying to kill us."

Sinn Fein councillor Margaret McClenaghan said: "They (loyalists)
haven't ceased from these attacks since Sunday. The situation is
really bad. It hasn't stopped day or night.

"They are hell bent on trying to take lives in Alliance Avenue.
This family is extremely lucky, but our luck is going to run out
sometime if this continues."

A WEEK OF TERROR

Families in the area escaped serious injury after two UDA pipe
bombs were thrown at their homes this week. One device exploded
next door to the home of a terminally ill man in the early hours
of Monday. The man's home has been attacked five times with pipe
bombs in the past. The other bomb failed to explode and was
defused by British Army bomb experts.

Margaret McClenaghan said that the attacks started last Sunday.
after a group of loyalist men prevented nationalist children from
holding a street party on the Ardoyne Road at about tea time.

"They started calling these children 'fenian bastards' and told
them to get off the street," she said.

Then on Monday night, five petrol bombs, along with fireworks and
bolts, were thrown at the backs of houses on Alliance Avenue. A
15-year-old, Fra Dillon, was knocked unconscious after he was hit
on the head by an object thrown from Glenbryn. "When I came
round in the hospital the doctors said the bolt that hit me on
the head had been tampered with so that it was sharpened to a
point and that I am lucky to be alive," he said.

On Tuesday afternoon, loyalists attacked houses at Alliance
Avenue for the third time in three days. The attacks spilled over
into the night and escalated when the bombers and gunmen
returned. Two pipe bombs were thrown at homes, one of which was
targeted a number of weeks ago and had an oil tank damaged by a
bomb.

Then, shortly after midnight, two bursts of automatic gunfire
were directed at homes in Alliance Avenue from Glenbryn. A couple
of hours later, other homes were attacked with petrol bombs in
Alliance Avenue and it is estimated that up to 100 loyalists were
involved.

There was also loyalist paint bomb attacks on Catholic homes in
Cliftondene Gardens and Deerpark Road. This was the second time
in three weeks that these homes were targeted.

In a separate incident, loyalists threw a fire extinguisher from
a car in North Queen Street in the New Lodge Road area. The area
was cordoned off for fear of a bomb but it turned out to be a
hoax.

McClenaghan derided the UDA's stated 'no first strike policy'.
"When people, and especially children, are determined to enjoy
the events in the Fleadh and try to resume some sort of normality
in these areas, the UDA are attacking nationalist homes on a
nightly basis. I think this policy does not apply to the people
of Ardoyne."

McClenaghan also hit out at the RUC/PSNI for responding to
loyalist attacks by swamping the Ardoyne and Alliance areas and
facing nationalists rather than their attackers.


ANTRIM ATTACK

Outside Belfast, a gun attack on a Catholic family in north
Antrim has also been blamed on loyalist paramilitaries.

No-one was injured when two shots were fired into the living room
of the house in the Dervick area in the early hours of Wednesday
morning.

A red Peugeot car, believed to have been used by the gunmen, was
found burnt out nearby.

c. RM Distribution and others. Articles may be reprinted with credit.

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