WED. DECEMBER 2, 1998: A grenade was thrown through the window of the Kaul Clinic beauty parlour on the Lisburn Road in Belfast.
THURS. DECEMBER 3, 1998: Around 1,000 loyalist protesters hurled fireworks and rocks at the RUC during demonstrations at Drumcree church in Portadown, Co Armagh during one of the nightly protests in support of the Portadown Orangemen's standoff at Drumcree. Ten RUC members and four protesters were injured and at least one plastic bullet was fired.
MON. DECEMBER 7, 1998: The Belfast newspaper, the Irish News reported that a deal had been done between the 26-County administration and Provisional dissidents and if its ceasefire held, prisoners connected with them would be freed by the start of the new millennium.
Twenty-Six-County police found bomb parts and two guns during a raid on a house in Cedarwood Park, Cox's Demesne, Dundalk, Co Louth, which were believed to belong to Provisional dissidents. A 32-year-old man was arrested.
Mark Fulton, a leading loyalist from Hobson Park, Portadown, Co Armagh was charged in Craigavon with being in possession of a semi-automatic pistol with intent to endanger life and with having a loaded magazine and ammunition with intent to endanger life or cause serious injury to property or to enable some other person to do so.
TUES. DECEMBER 8, 1998: A nationalist taxi-driver driving down Ligoniel Road in Belfast claimed that a gunman aimed a rifle at his car after trying to force the vehicle off the road in a loyalist area of north Belfast.
THURS. DECEMBER 10, 1998: John Hume and David Trimble were presented with the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo.
SAT. DECEMBER 12, 1998: A caller to the Irish News newspaper, using a recognised codeword, claimed that the Continuity IRA had planted an "anti-personnel" device at Carlisle Road in Derry but had dismantled it because of the large number of civilians in the area. The caller also claimed that a Continuity IRA unit had also targeted an RUC patrol in Derry on the same day but had again withdrawn for the same reason.
Several people were arrested following disturbances at an Apprentice Boy's parade through Derry city. Petrol bombs were thrown at the RUC who came under attack from both nationalist and loyalist youths. The RUC, in riot gear, forced nationalist youths down Shipquay Street towards Guildhall Square where a crowd of over 300 hijacked a van and set it on fire. Two petrol bombs were thrown at the RUC as they pushed the growing crowd into William Street. After the parade a large crowd of loyalists gathered in Bishop Street, about 300 yards from Guildhall Square and three bottles at the RUC and there was further trouble when the Apprentice Boys were re-routed away from the Diamond when the Castlederg Young Loyalists band tried to force its way into the Diamond.
SUN. DECEMBER 13, 1998: Inflammable liquid was poured through the letter-box of a nationalist woman's home at Graymount Road, Greencastle in Belfast. The woman managed to put out the flames.
WED. DECEMBER 16, 1998: The US and British governments attacked Iraq with bombing airstrikes over Baghdad and other areas. The attacks continued until December 20.
The loyalist death squad the Orange Volunteers claimed it had carried out a gun and grenade attack on the home of a nationalist family in Castledawson, south Derry. They also claimed they had thrown a grenade at McKenna's bar in Crumlin on the same night. No one was injured in either attack but the householder from Castledawson said that his family could have been wiped out except for the fact that his windows has heavy double-glazing which did not shatter when the shots were fired at it.
Another loyalist death squad, the Red Hand Defenders, also claimed the attack on the bar in Crumlin.
THURS. DECEMBER 17, 1998: Danny McNamee, from Crossmaglen, Co Armagh, who was found guilty of constructing the 1982 Hyde Park bomb in London, and who served 18-and-a-half years of a life sentence, won his appeal against his conviction in the British Court of Appeal in London.
The parties in the Stormont Assembly agreed in principle to have 10 ministries and six cross-Border bodies.
FRI. DECEMBER 18, 1998: The Loyalist Volunteer Force handed over two rifles, one of which was not in working order, four sub-machine gins, a sawn-off double barrelled shotgun, two semiautomatic pistols, around 350 rounds of ammunition, five detonators and two pipe bombs to the British Commission on Decommissioning in Portadown, Co Armagh,
SAT. DECEMBER 19, 1998: A number of protests and pickets took place in Ireland, England and the US in support of political status and the release on humanitarian grounds of Josephine Hayden, the only woman political prisoner in the 26-County State.
Several thousand Orangemen marched through Portadown, Co Armagh to the barricades at Drumcree church demanding that they be allowed down the Garvaghy Road.
MON. DECEMBER 28, 1998: A nationalist mother-of-three narrowly escaped serious injury when loyalists threw a blast bomb exploded outside her home in Armagh city.
SAT. DECEMBER 26, 1998:
Loyalist bandsmen played sectarian tunes outside a Catholic church during an Apprentice Boys parade in Portadown, Co Armagh.
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