TUES. DECEMBER 2, 1997: The British authorities announced that prisoners in the Six Counties due for Christmas leave -- a system whereby prisoners are allowed to go home for Christmas -- will have their leave extended to ten days.
WED. DECEMBER 3, 1997: Three Irish political prisoners -- Denis Kinsella, Dublin (serving 25 years), Vincent Wood, Mayo (17 years), and Patrick Hayes, London (20 years) -- were transferred from jails in Britain to Portlaoise prison in the 26-County area.
The head of the Police Federation, Les Rodgers, speaking to the Westminster "Northern Ireland Select Committee" in London said that he had "no problem" with members of the British colonial police (RUC) also being members of the Orange Order.
FRI. DECEMBER 5, 1997: The manager of the St Enda's GAA senior football team in north Belfast, Gerry Devlin (36), was shot dead outside the club premises at about 10.50pm by a British-backed loyalist death squad.
One man — Christopher Sheals (30) — was cleared of the killing of Protestant woman, Margaret Wright, who was mistaken for a Catholic, and another man — Stephen Rules — lost his appeal against the killing.
MON. DECEMBER 8, 1997: Students at Queen's University in Belfast voted by a 75% majority to restore bilingual signs. A total of 1,892 students voted for the re-instatement of the Irish language signs, with 613 against.
WED. DECEMBER 10, 1997: Liam Averill, a political prisoner in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh escaped from the prison allegedly dressed as a woman after a Christmas party for the partners and children of political prisoners.
The multi-national computer company Seagate announced that they would close their plant in Clonmel early in 1998 with the loss of 1,400 jobs.
THURS. DECEMBER 11, 1997: A meeting took place between British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Gerry Adams, leader of the Provisionals' political wing at Downing Street in London.
FRI. DECEMBER 12, 1997: Three men armed with clubs and an iron bar attacked a Catholic church outside Derry city. St Mary's Oratory in the predominantly loyalist village of New Buildings suffered damage to windows, statues and confessional boxes.
SAT. DECEMBER 13, 1997: Rioting broke out in Derry city as angry nationalist youths protested at the British Crown Forces' "ring of steel" around the city centre to force through the loyalist Apprentice Boys parade. The attacks on the RUC were so severe over a 14-hour period that the British army had to be brought back on to the streets.
Prior to the Apprentice Boys parade the British colonial police had batoned and set dogs on a crowd of nationalists who were trying to reach the city centre through the Richmond shopping centre. Over a dozen vehicles were hijacked in the conflict which began in the afternoon after the 3,000 Apprentice Boys had been shepherded by armoured RUC Land Rovers around the central Diamond. An estimated 1,000 petrol bombs were thrown at the British Crown Forces, who themselves admitted firing 170 plastic bullets. Department stores were burned down during the rioting and an attempt was made to burn down two blocks. Five million pounds worth of damage was caused.
MON. DECEMBER 15, 1997: The Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) was linked by forensic and ballistic tests to the sectarian assassination of GAA club official and father-of-two Gerry Devlin outside Belfast on December 5.
WED. DECEMBER 17, 1997: The Leinster House assembly passed a bill which will ensure that political prisoners, transferred from British jails to serve their sentences in the 26 Counties, will serve the full penal sentences of up to 35 years imposed on them by British courts.
FRI. DECEMBER 19, 1997: Nine Provisional prisoners were released from Portlaoise prison by the Dublin administration as part of the current process.
MON. DECEMBER 22, 1997: Revellers returning home from a hotel function on the Drum Road in Cookstown, Co Tyrone were subjected to petty harassment and assault from the British colonial police (RUC). Locals claim that the party of up to 60 people were taken by surprise by a heavy force of RUC who subjected them to verbal abuse culminating in vicious assaults and have said that RUC harassment is a regular occurrence in the area.
SAT. DECEMBER 27, 1997: Billy Wright, the leader of the British-backed loyalist death squad, the LVF, known as King Rat, was shot dead in Long Kesh prison by the INLA.
The LVF pro-British death-squad carried out a gun attack on a Co Tyrone hotel, killing one man, Séamus Dillon (45), a former Republican prisoner who worked as a doorman at the Glengannon Hotel in Dungannon, and injuring three others.
WED. DECEMBER 31, 1997:
A nationalist man, Eddie Treanor (31) was shot dead and five others were wounded when members of a British-backed loyalist death squad attacked the Clifton tavern in Belfast. The car used by the attackers was found burnt out in Beechnut Street in north Belfast and the attack is thought to have been launched from the Shankill Road, a strong base of the UDA/UFF death squad.
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