_______________________________ ANTIFA INFO-BULLETIN News * Analysis * Research * Action _______________________________ SPECIAL EDITION - July 5, 2000 - ____________________________________________________________________________ __ Northern Ireland: LOYALISM & FASCISM ____________________________________________________________________________ __ CONTENTS: 1. ANTI-FASCIST ACTION [Ireland]: Fascists Rally to Portadown; AFA Briefing Paper on Adair, Loyalism and Fascism. 2. GARVAGHY ROAD RESIDENTS COALITION [Portadown]: Loyalists Intensifying Violent Campaign; Overnight Update: Loyalist Violence Increasing; Report from Garvaghy Road: Update on Increasing Threat. 3. THE IRISH NEWS [Belfast]: Combat 18 Stirs Hate at Protests. 4. DAILY RECORD [Scotland]: Terror Chiefs in Drumcree Pact. 5. AN PHOBLACHT/REPUBLICAN NEWS [Dublin]: Loyalist Paramilitaries and the Orange Order. 6. GARVAGHY ROAD RESIDENTS COALITION [Portadown]: Portadown & The Marching Season: A Fact Sheet. * * * ANTI-FASCIST ACTION - IRELAND PO Box 3355 Dublin 7, Ireland E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.geocities.com/irishafa - Wednesday, 5 July 2000 - ----- ____________________________________________________________________ FASCISTS RALLY TO PORTADOWN ____________________________________________________________________ AFA Ireland press release The increasing participation of fascist groups in the Portadown stand-off has been condemned by anti-fascists. It has been revealed that members of Combat 18 from the North of England will attend next Sunday's Orange March to Drumcree. A spokesperson for Anti-Fascist Action today said: "It is clear that the Orange demand to march down the Garvaghy Road has provided a convenient rallying point for many sections of the Far Right from both Northern Ireland and Britain. The former National Front member and sectarian murderer Johnny Adair, by staging a 'show of force' in Portadown on Monday night, has assumed leadership of the most militant section of Orangeism. The arrival of the race-hate gang C18 at the weekend will aid the attempts of fascists to recruit off the back of the seige of the Garvaghy Road." The appearance of Adair, leader of the Belfast UFF [Ulster Freedom Fighters, ed.], in Portadown has set the agenda for loyalism and has revealed that the Orange Order is happy for any and all racists and bigots to rally to their banner. The close links between the LVF [Loyalist Volunteer Force] and Combat 18 have received little attention in Ireland In addition the fascist British National Party (BNP) has been organising in the North in support of Orange marches for the past two years and now feels strong enough to field a candidate in the upcoming South Antrim by-election. The AFA spokesperson, Brian O Reilly, continued: "For years the fascist right in Britain has 'Supported Ulster' by attacking Irish events and running guns to loyalist paramilitaries. Now, with direct involvement of the LVF and the UFF - and the silent support of the Orange Order - they are extending their activities into Ireland." * * * ____________________________________________________________________ AFA BRIEFING PAPER ON ADAIR, LOYALISM AND FASCISM ____________________________________________________________________ "If you make peace, I'll start up something else ... shove the dove". -- Adair to RUC interviewers in1994 [Irish News, 20/1/96] The convicted loyalist terrorist Johnny Adair, now the leader of the UDA/UFF [Ulster Defence Association/Ulster Freedom Fighters, ed.] and setting the political agenda for Unionism with a 'show of force' in Portadown, is a man with a background even more sinister than that of the average death squad commander. In 1994 Adair pleaded guilty to 'directing terrorism' and was sentenced to 16 years, serving only five until he was released under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. In an interview in a British newspaper he admitted to being the loyalist known as 'Mad Dog' and boasted of being involved in the sectarian murders of 20 Catholics. While in jail Adair forged close links with Billy Wright, leader of the LVF, and the UDA carried out sectarian murders of Catholics to avenge Wright's death. Adair and Wright were also linked by their prominent involvement in drug dealing in the North. But Adair, who rose to leadership in the Belfast UDA/UFF in the early 1990s, has a far longer political pedigree. In the mid 1980's there were about 200 National Front members and supporters in Belfast, one of them the young Johnny Adair. In 1983 a National Front March took place in Belfast, attended by a 150 fascist skinheads. Prominent in the parade was Johnny Adair, along with his sidekick Sam McCrory. This event became known as the 'gluesniffers march', because many of the skinheads were drunk on cider and openly sniffing glue from plastic bags as they paraded from the city centre to the Shankill chanting anti-Black and anti-republican slogans. In January 1998 Mo Mowlam visited the Maze prison to meet the leaders of the loyalist prisoners. The UDA/UFF leaders in the Maze were Adair and Sam McCrory, both from the Shankhill Road. At the time of Mowlan's jail visit the media reported that McCrory has 'White Power' and 'Skins' tattoos on his hand. Investigations by Anti Fascist Action revealed that in the early 1980's both 'Skelly' McCrory and Adair played in a Belfast nazi skinhead band called 'Offensive Weapon'. This band played a few gigs on the Nazi skinhead circuit in Britain. In August 1998 the Irish News printed a photograph of Adair and McCrory on the 'gluesniffers' NF March in Belfast in September 1983. [Irish News 6th August 1998]. With them was Donald Hodgen, another skinhead who also became a UDA member and is now a prominent activist in the loyalist Ulster Democratic Party. The early 1990s, when Adair was leader of the UDA/UFF on the Shankill, also marked a period of increased contact between Northern loyalists and Fascists in Britain as close links developed between the UDA and London based Fascists. Eddie Whicker and Frank Portinari were both 'UDA Organisers' in Britain. Portinari was jailed in 1993 for gun running to the UDA. In 1994 Terry Blackham [now prominent in NF anti-immigrant campaigns] was jailed for attempting to smuggle sub-machine guns, a grenade launcher and 2,000 rounds of ammunition to the UDA in East Belfast. Charlie Sargeant, the former leader of Combat 18 now serving life in England for the murder of a fellow fascist, often boasted of his personal friendship with Johnny Adair. In the mid 1990s C18's control of the Blood and Honour 'music' network allowed them to put on several gigs in the North. 'Blood and Honour' magazine boasted of Welsh band Celtic Warrior's visit to Belfast and published photographs of loyalist bandsmen playing alongside them at a 'White Christmas' gig on the Lower Shankill Road. Since the gigs were held in loyalist areas it would be impossible for them to go ahead without at least tacit sanction from the paramilitaries. The same issue of 'Blood and Honour' magazine which reported the Shankill Road gig also printed photographs of two UDA prisoners in Long Kesh, who sent greetings to C18 and said that they were "dedicated to keeping Ulster British and white". Again this had to have been sanctioned by their leadership within the jail. The loyalists' prison journal 'Warrior' has published pro-C18 articles. C18/LVF and Portadown While Adair adopts the mantle of his friend Billy Wright as the public face of loyalist extremism in Wright's home town, the loyalist/fascist alliance has also been strengthened in recent years. In July 1999 Combat 18 brought a group of 25 supporters from Britain to Portadown for the July 12th weekend. Combat 18 members were present at the unveiling of a memorial to Billy Wright in Portadown in July 1999. Wright is also idolised on a number of C18 websites. On July 11th 1999 a 'Blood & Honour' gig was held in Portadown. The English fascist bands 'Razors Edge', 'Chingford Attack' and 'No Remorse' played alongside loyalist flute bands. According to a C18 report on the event: "A spokeswoman for the Loyalist Volunteer Force, who hosted the gig, took the stage and thanked Combat 18 officially for the support shown to her organisation and its prisoners of war both in C18 publications and financially. All the profits from the gig were donated to the LVF Prisoners' Fund and links between C18 and the LVF were strengthened on the evening'. C18 members also attended the Orange march in Portadown and the demonstration at Drumcree on July 12th. There have been revelations in recent years of strong links between the LVF and nazis in the North West of Britain. These include C18 members and supporters within the British army. In May 1999 C18 members in the North of England distributed leaflets at Blackburn's football ground attacking Rosemary Nelson, the human rights solicitor murdered by loyalists. This year a C18 delegation will also be attending the Orange March in Portadown. The Observer reported on July 2nd that the RUC had refused to take action to prevent the C18 members entering Northern Ireland. The fascists, from Bolton, Burnley and Preston in the North of England, have long standing links with the LVF. The Observer reported that "the neo-Nazis will be staying with LVF members on Portadown's Corcrain and Brownstown estates from 7 July. A number of Combat 18 members have also been promised accommodation in nearby Tandragee." and that "contact between Combat 18 and the LVF was maintained through a young loyalist in Portadown who has recently become a born-again Christian. 'Ordained' by convicted loyalist murderer Pastor Kenny McClinton, this man still holds white supremacist views." Kenny McClinton, a former loyalist prisoner, was the LVF representative to the International Decommissioning Body. One of Combat 18's chief supporters in Northern Ireland is Shaun Leighton, a convicted loyalist terrorist from Ballymoney in Co Antrim. Leighton has written for Combat 18 publications and websites. ***** GARVAGHY ROAD RESIDENTS COALITION c/o Drumcree Community Centre Ashgrove Road, Portadown Co. Armagh BT6 2IJS, IRELAND Fax: (011 44) (0) 1762 392 898 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.garvaghyroad.org - Tuesday, 4 July 2000 - ----- ____________________________________________________________________ LOYALISTS INTENSIFYING VIOLENT CAMPAIGN ____________________________________________________________________ 4th July 2000 Update There are ominous signs tonight that loyalists are preparing to intensify their campaign in support of the Orange Order's demand to walk down the Garvaghy Road. In Belfast, rush hour traffic was disrupted by loyalist protests blocking Sandy Row and Donegal Pass in the centre of the city and the ring road was also blocked. Tonight, it's reported that two arterial roads in the north of the city are blocked by loyalists. At Drumcree itself, the British Army has moved more Saxon heavily-armoured personnel carriers into position on the bridge below the church. The sight of fifty cheering men in uniform carrying Shankill Road UDA banners at Drumcree is even more sinister, as it could signify the involvement of the largest mainstream loyalist paramilitary group. * * * ____________________________________________________________________ Overnight News: LOYALIST VIOLENCE INCREASING ____________________________________________________________________ 5th July 2000 Update It's been another night of widespread violence in the North with loyalists and the RUC exchanging gunfire at Carlisle Circus in north Belfast, near the city's main Orange Hall, and in the loyalist Tiger's Bay area also in north Belfast. Elsewhere burning barricades blocked dozens of roads. In Portadown, water cannon were used against crowds for the first time since the start of the Troubles. In Ahoghill, Co. Antrim, a Catholic-owned furniture business was burnt out. The most serious incident was at a notorious flashpoint in north Belfast when gunfire was aimed at the police from the Shankill Road. They returned fire but there were no injuries. Nearby a lorry was driven at police lines. There is now genuine concern that loyalists may try to kill someone before the weekend to step up pressure to allow Sunday's Orange march down the Garvaghy Road. At Drumcree, water cannon were used to push protesters back up the hill towards the church where they sat in the road, singing songs including "God Save the Queen", led by DUP assemblyman, Paul Berry. Earlier loyalists had pelted the police with stones and bangers, setting one vehicle on fire with a petrol bomb. * * * ____________________________________________________________________ Report from Garvaghy Road: UPDATE ON INCREASED THREAT ____________________________________________________________________ 5th July 2000 Update Orange Order supporters across the North wreaked havoc last night after a fresh series of demonstrations. At Drumcree in Portadown several hundred loyalists attempted to cross the fields leading from the Church to the graveyard by St. John's Chapel. Water canons were also fired at the loyalist crowd. The canons were acquired two years ago from the Belgian police but have never been used before. It is the first time in 30 years that such canons have been used against protestant crowds. But the canons were not used at full power and the RUC did not try and force the protestors further up the hill as they did on Monday night. Earlier, loyalists had spread in small groups on the main interfaces with Catholic areas in an attempt to stretch the RUC and the British Army. Their aim was to force their way into the Garvaghy Road area. In the early evening a small crowd gathered at Corcrain before heading to the town centre. Elsewhere, Protestant neighbourhoods in Belfast were sealed off after barricades were erected and set on fire. Several vehicles were also burnt and stones, bottles, bricks, petrol bombs and fireworks were thrown at RUC lines. There were also reports of high tension along the Springfield Road interface. Two houses were paint bombed on the Springfield Road, a volatile neighbourhood. Residents of the area have been attacked these past few months in the run-up to July in what is clearly an orchestrated campaign of intimidation. ***** ____________________________________________________________________ COMBAT 18 STIRS HATE AT PROTESTS ____________________________________________________________________ THE IRISH NEWS Tuesday, 5 July http://www.irishnews.com/current/news2.html By Simon Doyle MEMBERS of an extreme right wing group are intent on orchestrating sectarian violence in Portadown, it was claimed last night. Concerned nationalists told the Irish News that members of Combat 18, the notorious neo-Nazi group, were living in Portadown in preparation for Sunday's Drumcree march. It is believed the group was behind a recent spate of anti-Catholic attacks in Rathfriland. And fears are growing that the shadowy movement is planning to step up their campaign as the marching season continues. Nationalists claimed the LVF, UFF and Combat 18 intend to present a broad front during Sunday's march. UDP spokesman John White said while Combat 18 members could be in the Portadown area they would not have been invited by the UFF. "Every year groups from across the water come to Drumcree to support the loyalist case so it may be true that there are members of Combat 18 over. "I know there are loyalist groupings who try and gain support from such organisations but that has never been the case with the UFF. They have always shunned organisations like that." Newry and Armagh assembly member Pat McNamee said the revelation that members of the notorious group were living in Armagh was very worrying. "Combat 18 have been connected and associated with violence all over Europe. They are fuelled by hatred and it would be irresponsible for any group to facilitate or support them," he said. However, Portadown Orange Lodge spokesman David Jones said he had not heard any reports of Combat 18 members being in the area. Garvaghy Road resident's spokesman Breandan Mac Cionnaith said there had been a Combat 18 presence during Drumcree for the past three years. "Aside from Drumcree we are aware that Combat 18 members have taken part in loyalist functions in Portadown. "Combat 18 is the least of my worries. It is their link with the UFF and LVF I find more sinister," he said. Terry Harkin, head of the IRSP's [Irish Republican Socialist Party, ed.] international department said he believed eight of the individuals were known to have taken part in a football riot in Dublin in the 1990s. Mr Harkin said: "We are aware that there are at least 15 members of Combat 18 in the Portadown area. "They are in the occupied six counties at the direct invitation of a number of key LVF figures and a senior member of the UFF who is trying to pick up the mantle of Billy Wright and unite the LVF with his own faction in the UFF." Copyright 2000 The Irish News Ltd. ***** ____________________________________________________________________ TERROR CHIEFS IN DRUMCREE PACT Alliance sparks fears of violence ____________________________________________________________________ DAILY RECORD Tuesday, 5 July 2000 http://www.record-mail.co.uk/shtml/NEWS/P6S1.shtml A NEW sinister alliance of Loyalist terror groups is at the core of the escalating violence at Drumcree, it emerged last night. Johnny "Mad Dog" Adair's Ulster Freedom Fighters have joined with the Loyalist Volunteer Force, founded by Billy "King Rat" Wright. The pact emerged as it was revealed associates of Soho nailbomber David Copeland are gathering in Ulster to add their support to the Orange protest. Over the next few days, dozens of hardline Nazis from the Combat 18 group will arrive in the province. Many will stay with hardline Portadown Loyalists who took part in battles with the RUC early yesterday. The violence erupted after a public show of support between Adair's UFF and the LVF at Drumcree. Adair was pictured alongside Gary Fulton, identified by security sources as the successor to notorious killer Billy Wright, who was murdered in the Maze prison by Republican terrorist. Backed by around 80 henchmen, they marched on police lines wearing T-shirts emblazoned with Wright's slogan "Simply The Best" - which the Rangers fan adopted from the Ibrox anthem. As darkness fell, the group gathered in the Loyalist Corcrain estate where a hooded LVF spokesman read a statement saying Wright had not died in vain before two gunmen fired a volley of shots. Standing below a UFF banner, Adair cheered as the shots were fired. It is the first time Loyalist paramilitaries or their weapons have been seen in open support of the Orange protest. Last night, sources claimed the new group was intent on co-ordinating a campaign of violence at Drumcree. One said: "This isn't just a symbolic gesture. It is extremely significant. "There is now a very close link between the UFF and the LVF." The source said Adair had effectively seized control of Loyalist paramilitaries in Portadown. He said: "Things could get very heavy." Yesterday, Adair claimed he was in Portadown after an appeal by the Orange Order to rally in support of the Drumcree protest. He said: "Are we going to sit back and let these people trample us into the ground?" Last night the RUC were also working with detectives in Britain to try to track the neo-Nazi thugs heading to Drumcree. They will be staying with supporters of the LVF, at least one of whom was a friend of Copeland, the man given three life sentences last week for the anti-gay and anti-black bombing campaign in London. Copyright 2000 The Daily Record. ***** AN PHOBLACHT/REPUBLICAN NEWS 58 Parnell Square Dublin 1, Eire Tel: +353-1-8733611 Fax: +353-18733074 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.irlnet.com/aprn - Thursday, 29 June 2000 - ----- ____________________________________________________________________ LOYALIST PARAMILITARIES AND THE ORANGE ORDER ____________________________________________________________________ BY LAURA FRIEL http://www.irlnet.com/aprn/current/news/29spri.html West Belfast residents have called for an Orange Order march scheduled for the Twelfth to be rerouted away from nationalist homes after loyalist paramilitaries, dressed in military style clothing and carrying UDA and UFF flags, were filmed accompanying Orangemen during a controversial march along the Springfield Road. The Orangemen appeared to experience no difficulty in marching alongside members of an organisation which, only a few days earlier, was threatening to kill Catholics Amateur video footage captured a number of sinister figures, their identities obscured by woollen hats and dark glasses, wearing green combat uniforms, taking part in what appeared to be a colour party representing UDA death squads. One of the figures, carrying a military baton, appeared to be issuing orders. In front and behind the paramilitaries, members of the Orange Order marched in single line. Amongst the bands accompanying the marchers were at least two loyalist paramilitary bands, the Young Citizens Volunteers, believed to be the youth wing of the UDA, and a UVF band named after loyalist Brian Robinson, shot dead by the SAS. At no time were members of the UDA colour party challenged by the Orange Order's marshals. Indeed, they appeared to be totally integrated into the main body of the parade. The Orangemen appeared to experience no difficulty in marching alongside members of an organisation which, only a few days earlier, was threatening to kill Catholics. At the side of the road, an RUC officer watched with a clear view of the passing UDA colour party. The paramilitary presence was a clear breach of the terms of the Parades Commission's ruling but no attempt was made by the RUC to enforce the ruling. Another breach was orchestrated by the Orange Order. Tension mounted when sectarian tunes were played on a speaker system in breach of the Parades Commission's ruling that music could not be played near nationalist homes on the Springfield Road. Nationalist residents were attacked after RUC officers in full riot gear were drafted into the area to facilitate the Orange march. Sinn Féin Assembly member Gerry Kelly was struck across the back of the head by a baton-wielding RUC officer. Kelly had momentarily turned his back to the line of RUC officers confronting resident protesters when he was hit. Film footage which showed the blood pouring down the Sinn Féin member's head and neck as he tried to restore calm was later cut from transmission. During the same incident, Sinn Féin Councillor Michael Ferguson was hit in the face with a riot shield and fellow Lisburn councillor Paul Butler was injured when he was hit on his arm with a baton. During the RUC operation, residents' spokesperson Francis McAuley was injured, and a number of other residents were struck by batons. John McGiven of the Springfield Residents' Action Group described local residents as ``very dignified in the face of crazy provocation by loyalists and the RUC''. On Clifton Park Avenue, the burnt out remains of what were once the homes of Catholic families, stand as a stark reminder of the sectarian ethos of the Orange marching season. Catholics living on this section of the loyalist ``Tour of the North' route were forced to flee after their homes were attacked by sectarian mobs protesting in support of Drumcree in 1996. Many of the families rendered homeless remain on the housing waiting list four years later. Last Saturday's Orange march along the Springfield Road took place against a backdrop of loyalist intimidation. Nationalist residents who attended a local cross community meeting a few days before the march was set to take place were verbally abused and threatened by loyalist paramilitaries, who hijacked the meeting. One nationalist resident was called a ``fenian bastard'' and was told if she opposed the playing of loyalist songs, ``her head would be fucking blown off''. On the Tuesday prior to the march, the UDA staged a press conference. Three armed and masked men dressed in paramilitary garb announced that the UDA was to renew its campaign of sectarian violence against Catholics who they claimed were involved in ``systematic ethnic cleansing'' of Protestants. Within hours, the UDA's claim was totally refuted by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, which pointed out that all the families who had been intimidated out of their homes in the last month were Catholics. Publicly exposed, the UDA withdrew its threat. Significantly, the UDA press conference had been held within hours of the screening of a television documentary showing film footage of queues of people arriving on foot and by car to buy drugs from a house in Boundary Street in the Lower Shankill area. This is the same area where the UDA's Johnny Adair recently ordered the painting of twelve new loyalist wall murals. The spurious claim of ``ethnic cleansing'' provided the UDA with a timely smokescreen to this exposé of the core of their influence - a classic scenario in which loyalist drug barons could pose as defenders of their community by evoking the myth of a Catholic threat. Meanwhile, during an Orange parade in the County Derry village of Bellaghy, rules by the Parades Commission were again flouted by the Order. Orange marchers ignored restrictions on playing sectarian songs during a section of the parade. In an act of further provocation, the Orange marchers paraded four times along the same route, while the RUC made no attempt to enforce the law. In the nationalist village of Keady, County Armagh, loyalist bands played until midnight during a `competition' last Friday. Sinn Féin Councillor Brian Cunningham described local residents as ``understandably furious that this sectarian display was allowed to continue until after midnight. ``The Loyal Orders speak about residents' lack of respect and tolerance, but here was a parade which showed nothing but contempt for local people,'' said Brian. ***** GARVAGHY ROAD RESIDENTS COALITION c/o Drumcree Community Centre Ashgrove Road, Portadown Co. Armagh BT6 2IJS, IRELAND Fax: (011 44) (0) 1762 392 898 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.garvaghyroad.org ----- ____________________________________________________________________ PORTADOWN & THE MARCHING SEASON: A FACT SHEET ____________________________________________________________________ The Marching Season in the Six Northeastern Counties of Ireland spans from April through to December. The majority of these marches are organised by what are termed the Loyal Orders, namely the Orange Order, the Apprentice Boys and the Royal Black Preceptory. In Portadown approximately 40 parades are organised each year by the above groups as well as by other Loyalists groupings, With one exception, that of the return leg of the Drumcree parade along the Drumcree and Garvaghy Roads, all these marches take place in the town centre or other areas of the town which are predominantly Protestant/Unionist. Although all of these marches cause major inconvenience and annoyance, it is only the return leg of the Orange Order's Drumcree parade along the Drumcree and Garvaghy Roads which Catholic/Nationalists actively oppose. The Loyal Orders named above are secret societies from which Catholics are excluded. When a person becomes a member of any of the Loyal Orders, he must swear he has no blood or marital connection with any member of the Catholic faith. The Loyal Orders are exclusively Protestant, Unionist and pro-British organisations. A number of marches by these organisations go through areas which are predominantly Catholic/Nationalist, such as the Garvaghy Road in Portadown and the Ormeau Road in Belfast. Such marches are considered to be akin to Ku Klux Klan marches through coloured communities in the U.S. or marches by neo-Nazi organisations through Jewish or other ethnic communities in Europe. In these disputed areas, the Loyal Orders refuse to meet with residents' groups to discuss rerouting parades and marches away from contentious and controversial routes. The local Member Of Parliament is David Trimble, the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, who is a member of the Orange Order. From the time he was elected in 1990 until May 1999, Mr Trimble refused to meet with the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition (his own constituents). After a visit to the U.S., where over 100 members of Congress presented him with a letter that strongly urged him to talk with his constituents, he finally attended two short meetings with the Garvaghy Road residents. During those years he did not speak with nationalist residents, he had no such problems meeting with known Loyalist paramilitary members, such as Billy Wright, also known as King Rat, at Drumcree in July 1997. Wright was the leader of a Loyalist death squad based in the Portadown area which has been responsible for the murders of over 150 Catholics since 1970. Harold Gracey, leader of the Orange Order in Portadown, frequently publicly appeared in Wright's company. For further details of David Trimble's links with Wright and others, read "The Committee" by Sean McPhilemy, published by Roberts Rheinhart. As is the case in all disputed areas, an alternative route which totally avoids the Garvaghy Road area is available to the Orange Order. This alternative route in Portadown (along the Corcrain and Dungannon Roads) is actually the route taken by the Orange Order on their way TO Drumcree. The Loyal Orders allege that residents groups are not representative of local communities. In Portadown, the Catholic/Nationalist population is represented by the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition - an umbrella group whose membership is drawn from local community-based organisations. Portadown is a predominantly Unionist/Protestant town in County Armagh with a total population of approximately 28,00O. The minority Catholic/Nationalist population of the town is approximately 6,000. Almost all the CathoIic/Nationalist population live in housing estates along the Garvaghy Road or the smaller Obins Street area in the north-western corner of the town. Many of those living there were forcibly evicted from their homes in other parts of the town by pro-British Loyalist paramilitaries. A survey carried out in the Garvaghy Road area by the Independent Review of Parades and Marches in 1996 (a British Government agency) found that 93% of the local Catholic community in Portadown were sympathetic to the concerns expressed by the Residents Coalition. 97% of all those questioned in that Survey, and 99% of Catholics, said that parade organisers should take into account demographic and other changes which have occurred in the religious mix of an area. When asked if a parade should go through an area where the religious balance is 10% (or less) Protestant and 90% (or more) Catholic - similar to the make-up of the Garvaghy Road area - NO Catholics in favour of a march going ahead, with 90% of Catholics calling for rerouting or outright ban on such marches. In the 1997 local government elections, two candidates put forward by the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition were both elected, and both Breandan Mac Cionnaith and Joe Duffy now represent their community as members of Craigavon Borough Council. The above official statistics totally contradict the untruths continually put out by the Orange Order and by the Unionist politicians that the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition is unrepresentative of the local community. British Crown forces in the North of Ireland, including the British Army and RUC, have mounted major operations to ensure the passage of Loyal Order marches along disputed routes like Garvaghy Road and Ormeau Road. These operations have been widely condemned by national and international human rights Organisations and by Irish, European, Canadian, American and South African parliamentarians who have been present on the ground to bear witness to the reality of the situation. These military operations virtually amount to the imposition of martial law and curfew upon the Catholic/Nationalist communities. In the Garvaghy Road in 1997, at least 2,500 members of the RUC and British Army were used to subjugate the local community whose population totals 6000 men, women and children. Such was the extent of the military occupation of the area, and the restrictions placed upon the movements of the local community, that local Catholics were physically prevented by armed soldiers and police from attending their normal Sunday 8.00am, 10.00 am, and midday Masses in St. John the Baptist Church on the Garvaghy Road in order to facilitate an Orange Order march. Nationalist residents who have attempted to mount peaceful protests against Orange Order marches have been beaten and forcibly removed. Over two hundred people were injured in unprovoked assaults in 1996 and a similar number again on July 6 1997 on the Garvaghy Road alone. In Portadown, Catholics/Nationalists only feel secure within their own area. Over the years, many have been murdered by pro-British Loyalist death-squads. Jack McCabe, Felix Hughes, Eamon McMahon, Joey Weir, Martin McConville, Robert Hamill, Thomas Trainer, Dennis Kelly and Adrian Lamph are all Catholics who have died horrific deaths at the hands of Loyalists in the area of the main commercial town centre alone. Many other Catholics have been severely assaulted and wounded in the same area while going about their normal everyday activities. Robert Hamill was murdered by a lynch mob of up to thirty Loyalists while returning from a night out with two female relatives in April 1997. A major controversy still surrounds his brutal death as it was revealed that members of the RUC (police force) were present when the attack took place but refused to intervene to save his life, or later go to render medical attention, despite the cries and pleas of Robert's two cousins. In March 1999, the one member of the murder gang that stood trial for Robert's killing was acquitted of any charges. The RUC witnesses were allowed to remain silent and not testify during the trial. Since the July 1998 Drumcree march, four people have been murdered as a result of the Orange Order assaults on the Garvaghy Road community. On July 12, three small boys were murdered while they slept in their home in Ballymoney. The Quinns home was petrol bombed by Orange Order supporters because the mother was Catholic. Rescuers could not reach the three brothers before they died in the fire set by the bomb. In October, an RUC officer, Frank Reilly, died of injuries sustained in September when a loyalist mob threw blast bombs and fireworks at RUC lines protecting the Nationalist area. And in 1999, Elizabeth O'Neill, a 65-year old grandmother was killed when loyalists threw a bomb into her home. On March 15, 1999 Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition Solicitor Rosemary Nelson, the well known Human Rights Activist and Civil Liberties Advocate in Ireland, was brutally murdered when a bomb was planted under her car. The first woman to set up a law practice in Lurgan, Rosemary Nelson stood for many clients who were victims of the emergency legislated system in the six counties. She accompanied the GRRC to meetings with both the British and Irish prime ministers and in proximity talks with the Orange Order. She had been under death threat from supporters of the Portadown Orange Lodge, and had received death threats and intimidation from the RUC. These threats were being investigated by the Metropolitan Police force at the time of her death. All the residents groups have joined in the call for a fully independent investigation into Rosemary's assassination, because there is no confidence that the RUC could conduct an impartial investigation. ** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, material appearing in Antifa Info-Bulletin is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for research and educational purposes. ** ANTIFA INFO-BULLETIN (AFIB) 750 La Playa # 730 San Francisco, California 94121 To subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Inquiries: [EMAIL PROTECTED] On PeaceNet visit AFIB on pol.right.antifa Via the Web --> http://burn.ucsd.edu/~aff/afib.html Archive --> http://burn.ucsd.edu/~aff/afib-bulletins.html ANTI-FASCIST FORUM (AFF) Antifa Info-Bulletin is a member of the Anti-Fascist Forum network. 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