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Posted by Jim on June 20, 2016

Council hacks away 1916 memorial

Posted by Jim on June 19, 2016

Nationalist politicians have hit out after a 1916 Easter Rising monument
was removed by a unionist-controlled council in a midnight raid.

It is understood Mid and East Antrim Borough Council employed a
contractor to remove the controversial memorial close to Carnlough
Harbour.

Unionists had criticised the memorial, branding it “provocative” after
it was erected in the County Antrim village in March.

Sinn Féin and SDLP representatives last night criticised the removal of
the structure, describing the actions of the council as a “shameful and
disrespectful act”.

Sinn Féin MLA, Oliver McMullan said the “forcible removable” of the
memorial had caused “considerable hurt and anger” in the village. “This
monument in Carnlough was erected earlier this year, like hundreds of
others across Ireland, to mark the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising,”
he said.

“Mid and East Antrim Council confirmed today they have removed the
memorial, claiming it had not received council approval. This is a
shameful and disrespectful and one-sided act.

“There are loyalist memorials dotted throughout the council area. We are
simply asking that all memorials should be respected and treated
equally. This action has caused considerable hurt and anger in the
Carnlough area.

SDLP councillor Declan O’Loan said the council’s actions were
“hypocritical”, highlighting the “plethora of huge paramilitary murals”
throughout the district.

He said he did “not support the erection of any memorial on public
property without authorisation” but breaches of planning rules required
“sensitivity and patience”

“The council action was hasty. The public sees a plethora of huge
paramilitary murals in very prominent locations across Mid and East
Antrim.

“All sorts of loyalist flags hang in their hundreds with impunity. The
hypocrisy of the situation is obvious, and it makes the nationalist
community very angry.”

He added: “Acting in the dead of the night shows that the council knew
very well the resentment there would be towards its action, even from
those who had nothing to do with the memorial”.

Question is now about extent of loyalist collusion

Posted by Jim on June 18, 2016

By Brian Feeney (for Irish News)

Let’s hope the Police Ombudsman’s report on the Loughinisland killings
becomes a model for future investigations by his office.

Dr Michael Maguire’s welcome report is unique for a number of reasons.

First, he was not content with simply looking at the events of the night
of the murders in the Heights Bar on June 18, 1994 and the RUC’s failure
to investigate properly what happened.

The Ombudsman set his investigation against a backdrop of endemic
collusion going back to the late 1980s beginning with how loyalists
acquired the weapon used in the killings, a VZ58 assault rifle, a Czech
version of the AK-47 with terrific firepower of 800 rounds a minute.

Much of the account he provides about the loyalist importation of
weaponry in 1988 is already well known but Dr Maguire’s report gives
unprecedented detail.

He also gives details of a number of the 70 murders and attempted
murders in Belfast and Co Down by similar assault rifles after March
1988 and their links to east Belfast UVF individuals.

RUC Special Branch and the secret British military intelligence unit FRU
knew which members of the UVF, UDA and Ulster Resistance were involved
in importing the weapons and how they managed it because most were their
agents.

None of them was ever arrested or investigated. The same lack of
investigation applied to the UVF gang involved in the killings at the
Heights Bar. So nothing new there.

Brigadier Gordon Kerr, the man who ran the FRU, knew all about the
acquisition of weapons from South Africa by his agent Brian Nelson.

Many nationalists find it incredible that the weapons nevertheless made
their way without being intercepted, not only to the north but to the
farm of convicted former RUC reservist James Mitchell who on his own
admission held the biggest UVF arms dump in mid-Ulster.

Many wonder if elements in British intelligence decided it was necessary
to upgrade the firepower of their loyalist agents to compete with the
newly acquired arsenal Colonel Gadaffi had supplied to the IRA in
1985-6.

Why was Nelson sent on his shopping expedition in 1987 but not before?
Did he dream it up himself or did someone in intelligence suggest it to
him?

Although the Ombudsman’s report casts its net wider than previously it
raises many more questions by doing so. The fundamental question is
this. To what extent were loyalist terrorists directed by British
military intelligence and RUC Special Branch?

The response of some unionists to the revelations in Dr Maguire’s report
has been to dissemble, swap definitions of collusion, avoid the issue.

They point to the fact that informers saved lives. Many did. That’s not
in dispute. That’s not the issue.

The issue is not whether, but to what extent British intelligence and
RUC Special Branch either allowed loyalists to act as proxy killers or
in some instances actually directed them towards certain individuals?

To what extent did senior members of the security forces, particularly
British intelligence, encourage agents provocateurs?

We know that the UDA, a criminal conspiracy from the outset, was
maintained as a legal organisation until almost the end of the Troubles
despite being responsible for hundreds of killings.

If they were carrying out operations the security forces couldn’t do
legally the reason for not banning them is obvious.

And don’t say it was the UFF, a fictional organisation devised to help
the NIO explain why they didn’t ban the UDA. Does anyone know where the
UFF wing was in Long Kesh or Maghaberry?

At bottom evidence suggests the British state decided early on to use
any means they could to destroy the IRA. If that meant making loyalist
murder gangs into state agents so be it.

If they continued to kill innocent Catholics that was unfortunate.

The alternative explanation for collusion, failure to investigate
loyalist killings or intercept loyalist arms trafficking is that
important elements in British intelligence and RUC Special Branch were
out of control. Which do you think?

Please take a moment of silence at 3:00pm today

Posted by Jim on

Brooklyn’s AOH Freedom for All Ireland Chair Jim Sullivan has asked that all please take a moment of silence at 3:00pm (15:00 ) in memory of the 6 murdered victims and their families in the Heights Bar, LoughlinIsland County Down while watching a soccer match between Italy and Ireland June 18, 1994.
The six men cut down by the UVF as they watched the football were Daniel McCreanor (59), Adrian Rogan (34), Malcolm Jenkinson (52), Eamon Byrne (39), Patrick O’Hare (35) and Barney Greene (87).

Villiers under pressure to quit over Loughinisland stance

Posted by Jim on

British Direct Ruler Theresa Villiers has refused to withdraw comments
she made about the Loughinisland massacre, following a report last week
which found that British state forces had indeed colluded in the
murders.

In February, Villiers said claims that the state colluded with loyalist
death squads were “pernicious” and a “deliberate distortion of the
truth”. She referred to the gun attack on a County Down village pub in
1994, claiming that it wasn’t the RUC of British Army that “pulled the
trigger” at Loughinisland.

Six innocent Catholics were killed and five others injured as they
watching an international soccer game on TV in the Heights Bar when a
massacre was carried out by members of the loyalist Ulster Volunteer
Force (UVF).

Last week’s report of the Police Ombudsman Michael Maguire concluded
that one suspect in the UVF attack was a police informer. His report
also said that the death squad that carried out the mass shooting had
been involved in a number of other murders in the period beforehand, but
had avoided arrest because the RUC Special Branch police had withheld
evidence, and had also tipped off the murder gang in advance.

While the RUC may not have known the exact details of the Loughinisland
attack, they did have the names of the suspects within hours and didn’t
arrest them until a month later.

Mr Maguire found that a gun used in the Loughinisland attack was part of
a shipment of arms brought in by loyalists with the help of state agents
in late 1987/early 1988. He said he had no hesitation in determining
collusion between the forces of the state and loyalist paramilitaries.

Villiers is now under pressure to resign. An online petition has also
been launched to urge her to apologise to relatives of those killed. The
petition was set up by campaign group Relatives for Justice on Monday.

Director Mark Thompson called on Ms Villiers to now withdraw her
remarks. “It was RUC paid agents who pulled the triggers and it was the
RUC who failed to investigate the atrocity, with houses not searched and
no arrests made for a month, despite having names within a day,” he
said.

“Alibis weren’t checked out and evidence was persistently destroyed by
the police. It was the RUC who destroyed the getaway car after 10 months
denying future police investigations the opportunity to test for DNA.”

“Following the publication of the Police Ombudsman Report on
Loughinisland Ms Villiers cannot say she accepts the findings of the
report and allow her hurtful and damaging remarks to stand.

“She must retract the remarks and make apology to the Loughinisland
families and all families affected by the British military policy of
collusion,” he said.

SDLP MP for South Down Margaret Ritchie said Villiers must resign if she
does not accept the findings of the Police Ombudsman’s report into the
Loughinisland massacre in its entirety.

Ritchie added: “Her continued equivocation over state collusion in the
face of the damning report is outrageous. It is an insult to the
families who have campaigned with dignity and resilience for so long and
offensive to all the people of the North who are opposed to paramilitary
and state violence.”

The tragedy is being remembered by many soccer fans this week as Ireland
plays in another major international competition. A social media
campaign has been launched urging football fans to remember the
Loughinisland gun attack victims during the European Championship soccer
match later today [Saturday].

‘Stand Up For the Loughinisland Six’ is urging supporters to stand in
the sixth minute of the match against Belgium, which takes place on the
anniversary of the attack on Saturday.

A survivor of the Loughinisland attack last week said those affected by
the tragedy will come together in the Heights Bar to watch the Ireland
games during the European Championships.

Aidan O’Toole, who survived the attack on his family bar, said relatives
of those who died and were injured still meet to watch Ireland play in
big tournaments as a way of supporting each other.

* The Villiers apology petition can be signed online at
http://chn.ge/1YyBhkX