Sectarian attacks condemned

Posted by Jim on July 28, 2013

An IRA memorial in County Fermanagh was spray-painted in the latest in a  series of sectarian attacks in the north of Ireland.    The number of sectarian incidents in the North saw a substantial  increase during the Protestant marching season, reaching a climax after  the Orange Order’s ‘Twelfth’ (of July) marches in honour of the  Protestant victory at the Battle of the Boyne over a Catholic army.    The IRA memorial commemorates two IRA men, Sean South and Fergal  O’Hanlon, who were killed on an attack on Brookeborough barracks in  1957.    The memorial was spray-painted red, white and blue in the shape of a  Union Jack, as well as red paint sprayed over two adjoining statues.    The large stone memorial, at Altawark crossroads, has been targeted a  number of times in the past by vandals.    Local Sinn Fein councillor Brian McCaffrey urged more unionists to  condemn the attack saying they need to “step-up” and defuse rising  tensions.    CONDEMNATION URGED    Dubbing it a “pointless attack”, Councillor McCaffrey said the loyalists  responsible offered nothing for the community.    “The time has come for local unionist politicians to step up to the  plate. They must loudly and openly condemn and disassociate themselves  from this type of action,” he said.    “This is a pointless attack which will only serve to further raise  tensions.    “It also has the side effect of exposing the bankruptcy of hard-line  loyalism. It is clear that this is all they have to offer the community.    “If they fail to do so their lurking in the shadows will be seen as  tacit approval.    “The fact is that these vandals are not coming from 100 mile away, they  come from within the community.    “I would appeal for people not to retaliate but I can’t guarantee that  they won’t do so.    “None of this serves a purpose, it has a danger of cranking tensions  especially around the marching season.    “I have lost count as to how many times that monument has been attacked,  it’s well into the double figures.”    Local republicans are said to be considering an investment in CCTV  cameras to prevent further attacks from happening.  The cost of  repairing previous attacks has reached thousands of pounds, they said.    In response, one local unionist councillor Paul Robinson later told a  local newspaper that the attacks “shouldn’t happen”. The DUP man said he  believes “it’s all coming from the flag issue [protests over flags at  Belfast city hall] but that shouldn’t come into it. These attacks don’t  help the situation nor does it gain anything.”    HALLS ATTACKED    Meanwhile, Senior Sinn Fein members today [Friday] met with the  Apprentice Boys in Derry after paint appeared on their memorial hall in  the city this week.    “We are all absolutely disgusted at this attack,” Sinn Fein’s Raymond  McCartney said.    “We’ve all seen in recent weeks and recent months the great steps taken  in this city and the memorial hall and the Apprentice Boys have all been  part of that story.”    The paint appeared ahead of the Apprentice Boys’ main sectarian parade  of the year, the ‘Relief of Derry’, commemorating a 17th century  Protestant battle victory over the forces of the Catholic King James. It  was said to be the third attack on the hall in recent weeks.    Sinn Fein Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, who this week  condemned the Orange Order for continuing to attempt to hold banned  parades in nationalist north Belfast, differentiated the two orders.    He said the Apprentice Boys “play a positive role in the life of Derry”.  And in an unusual post to his Twitter internet page, he said the recent  “shameful attacks” on the Apprentice Boys’ memorial hall should be  condemned.    Halls owned by the Orange Order have also been afflicted by paint  attacks recently, with green and yellow paint appearing on the walls of  one hall in the overwhelmingly nationalist town of Bellaghy, County  Derry last Saturday morning.    Ulster Unionist representative Sandra Overend described that incident as  “a disgusting attack on the Orange culture”.    She said it was the second paint attack on Bellaghy Orange hall in less  than a week.    “I have spoken to members of the Orange in Bellaghy and they have again  insisted that they will rise above such provocation and not let it deter  them from their beliefs. I commend them.”    In other incidents, a video showing a man scaling a flagpole and  removing a British Union Jack flag outside a west Belfast Orange hall is  being investigated by the PSNI who described the incident as ‘theft’.    The PSNI also removed an Irish flag from the grounds of a disused PSNI  police base in Dungiven, County Derry this week, without explanation.