FRI. AUGUST 2, 1996: Armed and masked members of the British-backed loyalist death squad the UVF posed for UTV television cameras before reading a statement ordering the disbandment of a seven-man unit in the Portadown area.
SUN. AUGUST 4, 1996: Trouble broke out in Newtownbutler, Co Fermanagh after a Black Institution parade took place in the town. Three youths were injured during a confrontation with the RUC and two local men were charged with disorderly behaviour, resisting arrest and assaulting police in the aftermath of the parade.
The annual Roger Casement commemoration took place at Murlough in the Glens of Antrim.
MON. AUGUST 5, 1996: A family of five escaped injury after a petrol bomb attack on their home in North Queen Street, north Belfast. There was slight damage to windows and window frames.
WED. AUGUST 7, 1996: Sectarian pro-British elements attacked the homes of nationalist families in Belfast's Clifton Park Avenue smashing windows and damaging a front door in three flats and cars belonging to two of the families.
THURS. AUGUST 8, 1996: Hundreds of extra British soldiers from the so-called "Contingency Battalion" were moved into position in the Occupied Six Counties bringing the total strength of the British Army of Occupation to 17,500.
Two British army helicopters flew into County Louth at between 100 and 150 feet by the hill of Carrickarena and as far as the graveyard at Faughart lower, both of which are obvious landmarks and were clearly one-and-a-half miles on the 26-County side of the Border on ordnance survey maps.
SAT. AUGUST 10, 1996: Thousands of Apprentice Boys took part in a march through the nationalist city of Derry. They had been banned by direct-ruler Patrick Mayhew from marching on the section of the walls but their governor Alistair Simpson said that they reserved the right "to walk them at a time of their choosing", an implicit threat to the nationalist people of Derry city. The Apprentice Boys negotiated the consent of the Bogside Residents Group to do a tour of the inside perimeter of Derry's walls.
In Newtownbutler, Co Fermanagh nationalists ended a protest when Apprentice Boys on their way to Derry agreed to take a direct route out of the town while in Roslea, also in Co Fermanagh, the annual mobilisation of the Apprentice Boys was curtailed.
In Dunloy, Co Antrim residents said that they will oppose all further Apprentice Boys' parades following disturbances involving over 1,000 loyalist marchers returning from the parade in Derry. About 30 coach-loads of Apprentice Boys, along with local members, blocked the main Coleraine to Antrim road at about 6.30pm and pelted 500 RUC British police with stones and bottles after they were refused permission to march to the Orange hall in the village for a service.
John Joseph Molloy (18), of Taunton Avenue, in the Antrim Road area was stabbed to death in north Belfast in what bears all the hallmarks of a sectarian killing. He was found lying in a pool of blood at Lansdowne Road at 12.30am, just yards from his home.
It was revealed that in February of this year the British released one of their spies, Brian Nelson. Nelson, who served six years of a ten-year sentence was secretly transferred to a British jail in December 1992 after spending two years in a Crumlin Road Jail (Belfast) annex.
SUN. AUGUST 11, 1996: The Sunday Business Post carried a report which said that the paper had been supplied with a statement from "the Continuity Army Council of the Irish Republican Army claiming responsibility for a military operation conducted on July 14 . . . The military operation is not described in any detail but the statement says it took place 'near Enniskillen' and was directed against an 'economic target'."
Over 200 nationalists attacked the RUC with stones and petrol bombs in various parts of Derry's city centre.
In Armagh city there was a 10-minute stand-off between returning Apprentice Boys and British Crown Forces after the traditional route was shortened because 200 nationalists blocked the Shambles junction in Lower English Street.
Residents of the south Derry village of Bellaghy blocked the route of a Black Preceptory march.
MON. AUGUST 12, 1996: A compromise was reached in Bellaghy and the Black men were allowed to march to their local Orange lodge rather than through the town.
A rifle, masks, and other unspecified items were found by the British Crown Forces in the countryside of South Armagh after a two-day search. The search followed an incident near Cullyhanna at around 3pm in which the Crown forces opened fire and arrested four men. The men were seen near a farm building "acting suspiciously" according to the British army. The four were being held for questioning at Gough Barracks in Armagh.
Sixteen people appeared in court at Limavady, Co Derry, magistrates' court on charges arising out of incidents in Derry city on Sunday.
TUES. AUGUST 13, 1996: The Ulster Unionist MP, Ken Maginnis, was questioned by British police about an assault on his neighbour, Charles O'Byrne (65), in his London apartment. The incident occurred when O'Byrne knocked on the Ulster Unionist 'security' spokesperson's door to complain about the "hammering and banging" coming from the apartment which was allegedly caused by Maginnis' DIY work. He has not been charged to date although Charles O'Byrne received nine stitches to his mouth.
Fifteen nationalists on charges of rioting in Derry on August 10 after the Apprentice Boys' march in the city applied for bail in Belfast High Court. Ten of the men were given bail while five were remanded in custody.
SAT. AUGUST 17, 1996: Republican Sinn Féin condemned the vindictive treatment meted out to one of its members, Thomas Kelly who is serving a 15-day sentence in Mountjoy jail, Dublin for damaging a Union Jack under the repressive Public Order Act (1994).
SUN. AUGUST 18, 1996: Jimmy Smyth was extradited from the United States into the hands of the British.
Seán McAvoy (32) from west Belfast was shot and seriously injured leaving a house in the New Barnsley area. The shooting was later claimed by the "GHQ" faction of the INLA.
MON. AUGUST 19, 1996: Moyle District Council in County Antrim passed a motion calling for plastic bullets to be banned.
THURS. AUGUST 22, 1996: A political prisoner in Maghaberry prison in the Six Counties, Ella O'Dwyer, was refused compassionate parole to visit her seriously ill father in County Tipperary. O'Dwyer was sentenced to life imprisonment in Britain in 1986. She was transferred to Maghaberry in County Antrim as a "temporary transfer prisoner", meaning that she remained under the control of the British Home Office.
FRI. AUGUST 23, 1996: Our Lady of Mercy secondary school in north Belfast was badly damaged in an arson attack.
British paratrooper Lance Corporal Darren Mallia stormed into a house in British army married quarters in Aldershot, England and killed his estranged wife Alexia and her best friend Alison Williams at 2.30am.
SAT. AUGUST 24, 1996: Three men — Stephan Lunn (35) of Jubilee Park, Dromore, County Down, George Milliken (27) of Lynn Crescent, Dromore and Alexander Kerr (35) of Deramore Park, Portadown, County Armagh — appeared in Banbridge magistrates court on charges linked to an RUC/British army operation in the Annahilt area of County Down on August 21.
MON. AUGUST 26, 1996: The RUC opened fire with plastic bullets on a crowd of 150 nationalists assembled on the Drum Road in Cookstown, County Tyrone.
TUES. AUGUST 27, 1996: The homes of two nationalist families in Derry were attacked by petrol-bombers.
An RUC member, David Frederick Gamble (49) who gave his address as Strand Road RUC barracks was charged at Derry Crown Court with a number of counts of theft and possession of arms.
WED. AUGUST 28, 1996: Three nationalist homes in Belfast were daubed with sectarian slogans in an apparently orchestrated campaign of intimidation.
THURS. AUGUST 29, 1996: Relatives of three men – John McNeill, Peter Thompson (21) and Eddie Hale (25) – shot dead by the SAS at Seán Graham's bookmakers on the Whiterock Road, Belfast in January 1990 are to appeal a Belfast high court judgement which backed a decision not to call any British army witnesses to the inquest into the deaths.
Alec Kerr, formerly of the UDA/UFF and UVF member Billy Wright were both ordered to leave the Six Counties within 72 hours by the Combined Loyalist Military Command (CLMC), an umbrella organisation for the UDA/UFF, UVF and Red Hand Commando British-backed death squads.
FRI. AUGUST 30, 1996: Loyalist attacked and injured several nationalists in the mainly nationalist village of Crumlin, County Antrim when they went on a drunken rampage after parading through the town. One man was kicked on the ground until he lost consciousness and a grandmother had a broken bottle stuck in her neck.
A petrol-bomb was thrown onto the roof of the Catholic Church of the Resurrection on the Cavehill Road in north Belfast.
Also the Lurgan headquarters of the loyalist Royal Black Institution was badly damaged in an arson attack. The blaze broke out soon after 3am and caused extensive damage to the gothic-style building which was built in 1833.
A Catholic girl's primary school on the Crumlin Road in north Belfast was petrol-bombed.
Ronnie Flanagan was appointed RUC Chief Constable in place of Hugh Annesley who is retiring.
SAT. AUGUST 31, 1996: The 15th anniversary of the 1981 H-Block hunger strike in which ten Republican prisoners died was marked by a march and rally in Bundoran, Co Donegal.
The Black Preceptory backed down in the face of nationalist protests in Strabane, Co Tyrone and changed their plans to march through the town..
In Dunloy, County Antrim the Royal Black Preceptory re-routed its parade away from the nationalist village after 200 residents assembled to prevent the march passing through the village.
In Pomeroy the 'Blackmen' didn't get a chance to march anywhere. After a two-hour stand-off with hundreds of nationalist residents who wouldn't let them through they held a brief prayer service before dispersing.
In Armagh the 'Blackmen', accompanied by eight bands marched through the city centre and along the predominantly nationalist lower English street. The march went through after the RUC forcibly removed protesters from the route. The protesters then held a silent protest with their backs to the marchers as they went through. The 'Blackmen' repeated their parade guarded by a large force of British crown forces later that evening. More than 200 nationalists protested.
In Newry, Co Down Royal Black Preceptory marches through the town were shortened following protests by local nationalists. The protesters held placards which read "Bigotry is not culture" "Orange Order anti-Catholic" and "Orangemen off our streets".
Continue