wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] IRA's peace gesture hasn't stopped sectarian violence

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ECUNET.ORG>]

Note #8875 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

05450
Aug. 31, 2005

Unceasing fire

IRA's peace gesture hasn't stopped sectarian violence in Northern Ireland
 
 
by Ray McMenamin 
 
DUBLIN, Ireland - Sectarian attacks in Northern Ireland show no sign of
abating, despite a recent declaration from by the Irish Republican Army (IRA)
that it will lay down its arms.

	Despite the peace gesture, both Roman Catholic and Protestant
communities have continued reporting attacks.

	The leader of the (Anglican) Church of Ireland, Archbishop Robin
Eames, said there is "no justification or excuse" for the daily violence.

	"Innocent people and families are facing danger to their lives simply
because of their religion or political identity," he said. "Protestants and
Roman Catholics must reject and condemn all attacks made under the guise of
Loyalism (from the Protestant side) or republicanism (from the Catholic
community)."

	The latest target was the Motte 'n' Bailey, a bar in Dunmurray, on
the outskirts of Belfast in an area inhabited by Catholics. It had white
paint thrown across it in the early hours of Aug. 24. On the same night, a
car was burned outside a house in the Somerdale Park neighborhood and a
petrol bomb (which failed to go off) was thrown at a house on Skegoneill Ave.
These attacks are believed to have been carried out by Protestant youths.

	On Aug. 22, as petrol bombs and stones were thrown at shops in the
Ardoyne area of north Belfast, police officers were mobilized to keep rival
gangs of Protestants and Catholics apart. That same evening, also in north
Belfast, a home owned by an elderly Protestant couple was attacked by
Catholics who smashed a window and threw paint inside. 

	Nelson McCausland, a local politician from the Democratic Unionist
Party, the largest party in Northern Ireland - whose leader is the Protestant
Rev. Ian Paisley - said the attack was "blatantly sectarian and clearly
well-organized."

	During the previous week, a Catholic couple, a Catholic school and a
Catholic church were targeted in Ahoghill, county Antrim.

	In a statement issued after those incidents, the ministers of the
area's three Presbyterian churches said they "condemn without reservation the
ongoing cycle of attacks in the village of Ahoghill, and ... call for those
involved in such evil activity to cease forthwith."

	The Rev. Eddie Kirk, the Rev. David McGaughy and Dr Harry Uprichard
(moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland) said: "(The attackers')
creed is not that of historic Protestantism." Local politician Declan O'Loan,
of the predominantly Catholic Social Democratic and Labour Party, said, "It
is clear that there are people in our society hell-bent on intimidating
Catholic residents."

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