SATURDAY, JUNE 1, 2002: Saturday afternoon fighting broke out in the North Queen Street area as nationalists confront loyalists who were throwing missiles at nationalist homes.
The fighting here went on for some time before subsiding. The area was flooded with Brit/RUC occupation forces.
Saturday night saw more trouble at Short Strand as loyalists stoned nationalist houses on the interface. Nationalists took to the streets as bricks, bottles, petrol bombs and fireworks started to fly. There were also reports of blast bombs being thrown and a number of houses were damaged. The fighting went on for some time before subsiding.
British troops and RUC/PSNI personnel moved into the area, closing off the Lower Newtownards for a time. Tension was very high.
SUNDAY, JUNE 2, 2002: Trouble broke out on Sunday afternoon at Whitewell and North Queen Street. The fighting, which was minor compared to that of recent times, started after nationalists confronted loyalists in both areas who were attacking nationalist homes.
At Whitewell on Sunday night heavy fighting took place for a time when loyalist mobs once again attacked nationalists in the area. British Crown Forces moved into the area in force. The fighting subsided, tension stayed high with an uneasy calm falling over the area.
In East Belfast Short Strand was again to witness a planned loyalist attack on the small nationalist enclave.
In an onslaught not seen in the area since the early 1970s, the night began with 30-40 loyalists in paramilitary uniform marching in the Lower Newtownards Road. This was the signal for the start of a fierce attack on Clandeboye which saw bricks, bottles, stones, petrol bombs, fireworks, pipe/blast bombs and gunfire used against the nationalist community.
Nationalists moved to defend the area. By now dozens of nationalist homes were badly damaged and left uninhabitable.
As nationalists defended their area, the defence became a counter-attack which saw a number of houses on the loyalist side of the so-called peace-line being attacked. By now the attack on the nationalist community became so dangerous it was feared the area was om real danger of falling. It was at this stage that a nationalist defender opened fire hitting three of the loyalists.
The fighting started to subside, as no doubt the loyalists attackers took stock of the situation that had changed somewhat since the loyalists opened their attack early in the night.
It should be pointed out that of the loyalists paramilitaries taking part in this latest pogrom on the Short Strand were well-known UVF men who sit at the unionist seat of power at Stormont, the loyalist suit men who are seen very often in the company of nationalists in that house of unionism. No need to guess who those ‘nationalists’ are. Tension in east Belfast was now at an all-time high. Homes in the area now lie empty, those who lived there moving out through fear of their lives.
MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2002: Monday morning. The light of day brought the realisation of the battle of the night before. Homes lay empty and wrecked, the streets left in a blanket of broken glass, stones, bricks and other debris. An eerie scene witness to the onslaught of the night before.
Those viewing over the scene and old enough to recall the dark days of 1969 or the early 1970s remember the Battle of St Matthew’s Church in June 1970, when Henry McElhone was killed and Billy McKee wounded, defending the Short Strand community from similar attack. Two loyalists were also killed. This area, including St Matthew’s Church, has been targeted as far back as 1920.
The tension of those days, the fear of not knowing what will happen next filled the air. People talked of the night ahead and what it may bring for them and their community. Questions of what-if they came back in such numbers.
Others thought about the old people and the children. They needed to be moved into a safe part of the area but where is really safe? Then thoughts turned to defence, upmost for this community under siege.
The fears of the nationalist people of Short Strand came to be realised as Monday night was witness to another onslaught. Again working to a planned action loyalists kicked off another attack. Again nationalists moved to defend their area.
Heavy fighting took place more so than in recent days. Again petrol bombs started to rain down into the nationalist streets along with hundreds of other projectiles. Once again this small nationalist community faced a combined force of British Occupation Forces and sectarian loyalists.
A nationalist opened fire, hitting two loyalists, again an action that put loyalist mobs into retreat. Loyalists had used a number of blast bombs, doctored fireworks and bullets.
Loyalist gunmen also opened fire on a bus injuring the driver and buses were withdrawn in Belfast.
The nationalist community now battled with British Occupation Forces and the RUC/PSNI. The police claimed to have fired 60 plastic bullets, a claim many questioned as being less than were actually fired. The RUC also claimed to have shot a loyalist gunman. No wounded gunman has yet been found.
Also, sometime in the early hours of Monday a Catholic chapel, St Anthony’s in Willowfield Drive, east Belfast, was attacked by loyalist petrol bombers, causing damage to the church.
Fighting also broke out in the Whitewell, with running battles taking place for a time. British/RUC Occupation Forces flooded the area and the fighting subsided.
There were more reports of clashes in east Belfast. According to various reports the trouble started during a loyalist picket of a pharmacy and a post office in the Albertbridge Rd area.
Pensioners from the nationalist Short Strand were prevented from entering the post office and the situation escalated. However local sources said that pensioners were not assaulted during this incident. According to BBC reports loyalists then attacked St Matthew's Catholic church while a funeral was being held. When British troops intervened loyalists called on them to ‘go home ye English bastards’.
A number of vehicles were hijacked in the area and a stand-off developed in the Newtownards Road area. There are also reports that another Catholic church in East Belfast was attacked in addition to the home of a nationalist pensioner.
THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 2002: Tension was high in Belfast after the scenes of Wednesday when loyalist women blocked the Lower Newtownards Road. This action prevented nationalists getting to the doctor or post office was soon followed by masked loyalists believed to be armed who hijacked a number of vehicles in full view of the British/RUC occupation forces. One of these masked men was even able to walk to RUC lines with the UVF's mouthpiece, PUP leader David Ervine.
After talking to an RUC/PSNI man for a time both Ervine and the masked man walked back to where crowds of loyalists stood around, hijacking vehicles and blocking the Newtownards Road. If it had been nationalists carrying out these actions, the response of the British Occupation Forces would have been very different to that taken with loyalists.
Thursday went on very much as the days before, the siege of the Short Strand still very much on. Fear was all around as stones, bottles and petrol bombs rained down into the nationalist streets. Once again, defence was the order of the day.
Loyalists set a scene for yet another day of attacks on the nationalist community. Once again the loyalist plan of action would see their gunmen back on the streets when one of them opened fire into Bryson Court and Seaforde Street with bullets hitting loyalist Thistle Court.
The Broadway area off the Falls Road in west Belfast was the scene of a loyalist pipe bomb attack on the home of an elderly nationalist woman around 3.15 am. A window was smashed in the blast.
THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 2002: The RUC/PSNI barracks at Springfield Road in Belfast came under petrol bomb attack when a crowd threw more than 50 petrol bombs causing minor damage.
FRIDAY, JUNE 7, 2002: Friday once again saw loyalist blocking the lower Newtownards Road. They once again put a picket on the local doctor and post office and anti-Catholic slogans were shouted.
But for nationalists the worst was yet to come as loyalists forced their way into the Tower Street College in east Belfast. The loyalists masked men and women, some of whom were believed to be armed, went round the college looking for Catholics.
A number of students were set upon and were made to say the letter 'H' with the belief that nationalists say 'H' differently from unionists. Driven by sectarian hate the loyalists tried to pick out nationalist students, manhandling Protestant students in the process.
Claims by PUP leader David Ervine who speaks for the UVF and RHC that loyalist paramilitaries were not involved was nonsense. David Ervine is clearly covering up yet another blatant act of anti-Catholic sectarianism carried out without a doubt by loyalist paramilitaries. In recent days, members of both the UVF and UFF have been seen working together.
Loyalist sectarian slogans have also been put up all over Belfast, threatening nationalists and new slogans have been put up in many parts of east Belfast.
Fighting went on in a number of areas in east Belfast. One Short Strand woman had a gun pushed into her face as she went to her workplace at Bryson Community Enterprises. The woman, Kathleen Murray, said the loyalist gunman pointed the gun at her around 10am after she had gone to the door during an attack by stone-throwing loyalists. She was treated for shock.
Nationalists in the Short Strand were forced to set up a doctor's surgery within the Short Strand area because of the ongoing loyalist protest at the doctor's surgery, which has seen a number of nationalists being attacked by loyalists.
A booby-trap bomb was placed under a car belonging to a nationalist member of the RUC/PSNI at his home in Dunlang Park, Ballymena, Co Antrim. The detonator exploded as he was getting into the car and he was not hurt.
SATURDAY, JUNE 8, 2002: British occupation forces moved in to the interface at Clandeboye in the Short Strand and the loyalist Cluan Place on Saturday morning and set about rising the so-called peace-line, a move welcomed by the Provisionals, but a testimony to a failed process that just can't deliver.
Saturday morning about 6am loyalists attacked nationalist homes on the Crumlin Road at Ardoyne, breaking a number of windows.
In east Belfast a Catholic college was damaged by fire when flammable liquid was poured into a classroom and a petrol bomb was used to set it on fire. This attack was carried out against Our Lady and St Patrick's College in east Belfast.
Trouble also broke out on the Ormeau Road after loyalists attacked two nationalists who were walking along the lower Ormeau Road near to the loyalist Donegall Pass around 2am. The men were beaten, fighting broke out as word of the attack got around. The fighting between nationalist street fighters and loyalists was heavy and hand to hand. Subsiding after a time, British and RUC/PSNI occupation forces flooded into the area. Tension stayed high.
SUNDAY, JUNE 9, 2002: Reports of minor trouble in a number of interface areas of north, south and east Belfast. Tension was high as British Occupation Forces were heavy on the ground.
The SDLP's Carmel Hanna, the Minister for Further and Higher Education in the Stormont Assembly, was threatened by the Ulster Young Militants (UYM), the youth wing of the UDA. Hanna received a letter from the UFF warning her that she is a legitimate target following her condemnation of loyalist flags in the Lisburn Road area of South Belfast. Graffiti painted on a wall in the Great Northern Street area of South Belfast told her "your days are numbered" and called her "republican scum".
MONDAY, JUNE 10, 2002: On Monday afternoon four masked loyalist gunmen forced their way into the Brookfield Mill Engineering Works on the Crumlin Road in north Belfast. Tools and piping as well as pipe-threading tools, all the gear needed to make pipe bombs were taken. All the equipment was loaded into the back of a van and driven away down the Crumlin Road citywards. At any time the van could have taken any number of right turns bringing it to the loyalist Shankill Road.
UFF gunmen fired a number of shots in the air in a salute on the Shankill Road to notorious LVF leader Mark Fulton who was found dead in a prison cell at Maghaberry prison. Trouble broke out again in east and south Belfast as nationalists confronted loyalist gangs at interfaces. Although bad, this was minor compared to recent days.
A window was smashed in an attempted arson attack on Carmel Hanna's constituency office.
Mark Fulton, a close associate of Billy Wright, 'King Rat' in the Loyalist Defence Force was found dead in his cell in Maghaberry prison.
A proposal to build an incinerator in Co Waterford was rejected by Waterford County Council.
TUESDAY, JUNE 11, 2002: Some time during the small hours of Tuesday, loyalists attacked the memorial to the victims of McGurk's Bar with paint bombs. The memorial in North Queen Street was in memory of 15 people, old and young, who died in a UVF attack at McGurk's Bar in December 1971.
Trouble once more broke out on the Ormeau Road around 7.30pm as nationalists once again confronted loyalists moving towards their area. The fighting was heavy and very close hand to hand subsided as British/RUC Occupation Forces flooded the area.
On Tuesday night a loyalist gunman opened fire on nationalist children and youths who were playing football in the car park of York Gate Shopping Centre at North Queen Street, firing four shots that left strike marks on the railing, witness to how lucky the children were.
Three petrol bombs were thrown at a house in Cairn Crescent in Crumlin, Co Antrim while a nationalist family slept upstairs. Scorch damage was caused to the house but no one was injured.
It was reported that there have been 18 attacks in the last two weeks on nationalists in Larne, Co Antrim, ranging from the stoning of houses to corrosive liquid being poured over cars and tyres slashed. Three families have fled the area.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2002: Bomb scares on the Crumlin Road and Ligoniel closed both roads for a time, the one on the Crumlin Road was at Holy Cross Chapel, the other a Ligoniel Working Man's Club. The RUC/PSNI later claimed that both were hoaxes. Later, at around 7pm another suspect device at Woodstock Link in east Belfast turned out to be a hoax.
Also on Wednesday the brother of the notorious UFF leader Johnny Adair was sentenced to six months imprisonment. James Adair from Manor Street in the Old Park area was given the sentence for his part in the attacks carried out against the children of Holy Cross primary school and their parents. Adair was sentenced in 1992 to 14 years for attempted murder of a nationalist. He was released pending an appeal.
Minor trouble, mostly stone-throwing, took place on Wednesday at a number of interface areas.
Eight masked men attacked Alliance Party Councillor Stewart Dickson's Greenisland home on the outskirts of north Belfast. Every window in the front of the house was smashed with paint bombs and hammers. Two cars belonging to Dickson and his wife had all their windows smashed.
THURSDAY, JUNE 13, 2002: It has become clear that a new leadership has taken over the UFF in north Belfast. It was claimed that the takeover was carried out by the younger members of the murder gang, whose base is in the loyalist Tiger's Bay, who claimed that the older leadership of the UFF were unable to carry out their tasks fast enough. No doubt the ongoing attacks on the nationalist community are the tasks in the minds of the loyalists. Nationalists believe the attacks on them in north Belfast which are already bad enough will be stepped up even more.
Short Strand once again came under attack from hundreds of loyalists who moved down the Ravenhill Road and opened up what is a clear plan of action against the nationalist community.
The loyalists, many in dark clothes and face masks, claimed that they had been attacked by nationalists first and were only reacting to those attacks but were seen for the liars they are as even television news reports showed them well-prepared as they showed nationalists ill-prepared, many running to the scene wearing football shorts and bedroom slippers, picking up what they could along the way to defend themselves.
Loyalists also used a number of blast and pipe bombs as well as petrol bombs, showing clearly that it was they, not nationalists, who were carrying out a planned attack. The nationalist community was not prepared for this latest loyalist onslaught on them.
Running battles took place at close hand and as British/RUC Occupation Forces flooded the area hundreds of nationalist street fighters battled with hundreds of loyalist rioters. The RUC/PSNI fired a number of plastic bullets into the nationalists as loyalists carried on their attack from behind Occupation Forces' lines.
What happened next was nothing new to the small nationalist enclave of Short Strand which has seen a number of its people injured. One woman in her own home in Madrid Street suffered blast wounds to both her legs and a number of pipe bombs and shots were fired into the Short Strand.
St Peter's Catholic parochial house on the Rock Road, Lisburn suffered scorch damage when a smoke canister thrown through a window exploded beside a sofa. A second unexploded flare was discovered outside the house. The resident priest, Father John Murphy, his housekeeper and her 97-year-old mother were in the house at the time of the incident. This was the sixth time in the last two years that the priest's home and St Peter's has been targeted by loyalists.
Twenty minutes after the attack on St Peter's, loyalists attacked the Church of Ireland rectory in Glenavy, a few miles away. The Reverend Earl Storey was at home with his wife when several windows of the vicarage were smashed. The windscreen of his car was also broken.
It was reported that the forthcoming Stevens Report on collusion between British Crown Forces and loyalist death squads continued unchecked for years because of a culture of "gross unprofessionalism and irresponsibility" and that it bordered on "institutionalized collusion".
FRIDAY, JUNE 14, 2002: Minor stone-throwing took place in a number of interface areas. Stones were thrown at the back of nationalist homes at Alliance Avenue from the loyalist Alliance Road, causing no damage. Tension was high in many areas of Belfast.
The Pat Finucane Centre in Derry condemned the use of plastic bullets by British Crown Forces against nationalists on the previous night in east Belfast.
SATURDAY, JUNE 15, 2002: There were reports of minor trouble in east and north Belfast, houses in the interface areas were once again the targets.
Loyalists wrote offensive graffiti on the road outside St Malachy's High School.
SUNDAY, JUNE 16, 2002: Trouble broke out at Ardoyne shops for a time as nationalists confronted loyalists stoning the area. British/RUC Occupation Forces moved in in force to the area and tension was high.
Fighting broke out in east Belfast as nationalist homes in Short Strand were hit with petrol, followed by petrol bombs, in an attempt to set a number of houses on fire.
Loyalists were able to carry out this attack across the so-called peace-line. As nationalists came on to the street, bricks, bottles and stones began to fly, coming over the high wall. Nationalists returned the same in kind. The area calmed down after some time as once again people took stock of the damage done to their homes and settled down for another uneasy night.
On Sunday morning those who have relatives buried in Carnmoney Cemetery were shocked to find that loyalists had attacked the headstones on a number of Catholic graves. A number of these, including some Celtic crosses, were destroyed in this latest attack, even the grave of a baby was damaged. Bigotry, sectarian hate or sick minds? It's hard to understand the mindset of those who do such things, even living with these things, day to day.
Republican Sinn Féin held its annual commemoration to the grave of the Father of Irish Republicanism, Theobald Wolfe Tone, at Bodenstown, Co Kildare. Ruairí Óg Ó Brádaigh gave the main oration.
Sean McAllister from Clifton Park in Belfast is to take legal action against the PSNI after he was set upon and severely beaten at the weekend. He had been watching the Ireland match on Sunday when he became ill. He went to the Mater hospital, where he was examined and released. While walking out onto the Crumlin Road, he was set upon by the PSNI/RUC, who beat him with batons. He received five stitches to his head and bruising to his body.
A pipe bomb was thrown from the loyalist Fountain area of Derry city into Harding Street. A large number of loyalists from outside the Fountain area were also in the city centre estate.
A member of the Pat Finucane Centre in Derry city was assaulted by loyalists in the city centre area of Derry.
MONDAY, JUNE 17, 2002: As daylight broke out over east Belfast, people had to take stock of the events of the night before. As they went about their business and children made their way to school, the sight that confronted them was wrecked houses and a blanket of broken glass which cracked under foot. The new day didn't bring any eased to the tension of the night before as the people of Short Strand once again stood up against sectarian loyalist, the puppets of an English-made statelet. Thoughts and fears of the day and night ahead very much in everyone's minds, the constant thought of what next.
Monday also saw notorious UFF leader Johnny Adair on the streets close to the Crumlin Road. He and a number of his men painted curbstones in red, white and blue. Unlike nationalists, who have found themselves in court for painting political slogans, it is clear Adair and his men will not have the same problem.
There were a number of attempted abductions in the Ardoyne area by loyalists in the past number of days. The worst of these took place on June 16. A 41-year-old woman was walking through Ardoyne when three men in a red car pulled up. Two of the men jumped from the car and pulled her into an alley near Brompton Park. They called her a number of anti-Catholic and sectarian names, calling her a Fenian bitch. They ordered the woman to take her trousers off. She refused and was then punched and kicked. They then sat on her telling her they were going to set her on fire.
They then used a lighter to burn the woman's feet. “I was screaming and shouting for help,” the woman said, still in shock. The men then ran off to the car.
“I have since been told by the RUC that there were similar attacks involving the same red car,” she said. “They also added that I can be sure it wasn't any of my own kind who carried out the attack.”
Other attempted abductions took place on June 8, also near Brompton Park. The next was near the Ardoyne Library on June 12; one of those in the car in this case was wearing a Ranger's top.
Fear is running through the Ardoyne area and very understandable concern has grown in nationalist areas about the spy cameras that are being placed around the nationalist area. Nationalists believe that these cameras are nothing more then the eyes and ears of the Occupation Forces, almost all of these cameras have been placed or will be placed looking over nationalist areas, at Limestone Road, Whitewell, the latest to be placed looking into the Ardoyne at the top of Brompton Park and Estoril Park.
Nationalists in Ardoyne have already set fire to cables set for these two spy cameras and have dug up foundations laid for the cameras, the RUC/PSNI used Land Rovers to move people as they carried out this action. Land Rovers have been driven at speed along footpaths. These cameras are no more than another arm of the British Occupation Forces. The Brits don't need to be heavy on the ground with these cameras. One man told SAOIRSE that they are the eyes of the Brits. "They don't need a barracks at every corner with those things," he added.
Minor stone-throwing broke out at houses on the Crumlin Road. Loyalists threw stones at nationalist homes near the ground of Ardoyne Holy Cross Chapel.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 19, 2002: Fears are growing in north Belfast that there will be trouble there on Friday, June 21, when a loyalist Orange band parade will be forced through and close to nationalist areas. The so-called Tour of the North has always put the nationalist people living in these areas under a state of siege and has always brought trouble.
A 48-year-old nationalist man was attacked by loyalists outside a doctor's surgery in north Queen Street, north Belfast at around 5pm. The man was beaten around the face and head. This is another in a number of such attacks that have taken place outside the doctor’s surgery.
THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2002: Tension was high over Belfast. There were reports of stone-throwing in interface areas of north and east Belfast.
A pipe bomb exploded in the front garden of a nationalist family in Hillcrest Lane, Ballinahinch, Co Down. The family were badly shaken but uninjured.
FRIDAY, JUNE 21, 2002: The loyalist so-called ‘Tour of the North’ Orange parade was forced through nationalist north Belfast. Tension was high all day as hundreds of Occupation Forces moved into nationalist areas using hundreds of armoured Land Rovers and APCs as well as foot patrols. Nationalist areas were put under a state of siege.
Trouble broke out around 7pm as nationalists confronted the sectarianism in their community and stones and bottles started to fly for a time.
Orangemen also attacked and wrecked a number of nationalist houses in Duncairn Gardens, trying to break down doors to get into the houses, mostly the homes of pensioners. The Orange attackers were out for blood and if they had been able to force their way into those houses there, we would be picking up the dead. One woman in a stressed state told SAOIRSE tension was at an all-time high.
Sometime on Friday night a nationalist man aged 38 years was picked up by loyalists between Ardoyne and the Bone areas. The man, from the Old Park area, was last seen by friends around 11.30pm in Ardoyne. The next time he was seen was when he was found in the Loyalist Beechnut Place in the lower Old Park. He had been badly beaten and left for dead. He is in a critical condition on a life-support machine in the Royal Victoria Hospital. Loyalists are able to drive round nationalist areas at will picking their victims.
SATURDAY, JUNE 22, 2002: As news got round of the loyalists' abduction of a nationalist man the night before and his being found badly beaten, fear and tension was in the air over nationalist north Belfast.
Also on Saturday an Ardoyne taxi driver escaped from a loyalist attacker near Belfast's Mater Hospital. The taxi driver noticed a car was following him down the Crumlin Road going citywards. He pulled in at a garage on the Crumlin Road to make sure and the car drove on and the taxi driver, who had three adults and a child in the car, resumed his journey. The car began to follow him again on the Crumlin Road and as he came to the Mater Hospital he noticed that the car had pulled in and as he drove near it the driver was standing on the road with a meat cleaver in his hands. The taxi driver, with good presence of mind, put the boot down, forcing the loyalist to jump for his life in between two parked cars, not before the meat cleaver hit the taxi. The attacked has since been identified as one of the loyalists who was seen constantly attacking the children and parents of Holy Cross.
SUNDAY, JUNE 23, 2002: It was reported in the Sunday Life newspaper that the UVF in north Belfast have constructed a flame-thrower. A loyalist source was quoted as saying that the weapon was to be tried out on mourners attending the funeral of Mrs O'Neill at St Matthew's Church on the Newtownards Road. The report, true or not, caused concern within the nationalist community. The loyalist paramilitaries are known to be working on new weapons.
Yet another nationalist was badly beaten in north Belfast, this time a pensioner who was walking his dog close to his home in Duncairn Gardens. The man was attacked by loyalists who jumped from a car. The 67-year-old was hit in the head and shoulder with a meat cleaver and when he fell to the ground he was kicked and beaten with clubs.
Residents in the street ran out to the pensioner's aid, forcing the loyalists to retreat back to their car and take off at speed. The man's wife on seeing the state of her husband passed out.
There is no doubt that in this, the fourth attack on a nationalist in north Belfast, that once again only luck has ensured that no one was murdered. The pensioner is in a critical condition with his family keeping vigil at his bedside.
Fighting once again broke out in the North Queen Street area as loyalists attacked nationalist homes. Pipe bombs were used in the attack. As nationalists confronted the loyalists a running battle took place with hand-to-hand fighting. At one stage hundreds of people were on the streets as nationalist street fighters managed to push the loyalists rioters back. As British/RUC Occupation Forces flooded into the area once again it was the nationalist community who took the full force of their anti-nationalist aggression. Land Rovers were driven at speed through nationalist street fighters and bystanders alike, plastic bullets were fired and a number of people were hit.
A car was burned in Spamount Street in an attempt to slow down Crown Occupation Forces advance into the New Lodge. The RUC/PSNI claimed later that they had lost a hand-gun in the loyalist Tiger's Bay area. No doubt this gun will be put to use against the nationalist community. Tension remained high in north Belfast as the nationalist community settled in for another long night, fearful of every passing minute.
MONDAY, JUNE 23, 2002: Tension was high over north Belfast after the latest loyalist attacks on the nationalist community. Loyalist started a fight with nationalists on Monday afternoon in the York Gate Shopping Centre.
As the day went on the scene was set for more trouble. Fighting once again broke out at North Queen Street as nationalists confronted loyalists. The fighting subsided after some time as once again British/RUC Occupation Forces flooded into the area.
Fighting also broke out around 9pm at Carlisle Circus, subsiding once again as British Occupation Forces flooded into the area.
Around 7.30pm there was stone-throwing at the Deerpark end of the Old Park Road when notorious UFF leader Johnny Adair and men from his killer gang, C Company, Lower Shankill, went into the area to put up sectarian UFF and Union flags. The area, mostly nationalist, is now another target area for Adair and his gang.
On Monday night nationalists in Ardoyne set fire to two spy cameras at Brompton Park, beside the bookies and at Estoril Park. The people of Ardoyne refused to allow the cameras to go up in their area and will carry on their action as long as the Brits push this issue.
Six young Queen's students living in Tate's Avenue near the Lisburn Road were lucky to escape injury or worse when UDA/UFF bombers threw a nail-bomb in threw the downstairs' window, wrecking the front door. This was another in many attacks carried out by loyalists on Queen's University students, both nationalist and unionist. Students live in the house which was the target of the latest attack.
TUESDAY, JUNE 24, 2002: As darkness fell over north Belfast, nationalists in Ardoyne cut down the two spy cameras at Brompton Park and Estoril Park. With petrol bombs used to keep Crown Forces back, the British spy cameras are soon felled to cheers from nationalists.
Also through Tuesday, there was trouble at a number of interface areas, the worst of these at North Queen Street where nationalists once again confronted loyalist attacks on their area.
Nationalists in the Deerpark area where UFF leader Johnny Adair and his gang had placed a number of sectarian flags removed a number of them.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 26, 2002: Nationalists living on the so-called peace line in Alliance Ave have been the constant targets for loyalists throwing from the Alliance Road in the loyalists Glenbryn area.
Wednesday was witness to yet more stone throwing into the backs of the nationalist houses in Alliance Ave. Again from loyalists in the Alliance Road. The same was the case in a number of interface areas in north and east Belfast.
THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 2002: As Wednesday night moved on into Thursday morning, just after midnight loyalists from the Glenbryn area attacked the homes of nationalists in the Cliftondene Park in the Deerpark area.
The loyalists, at least one of them with a handgun, were able to calmly use red, white and blue paint bombs on seven houses, breaking windows and causing damage to the inside and outside of the houses.
The home of a Protestant was also damaged in the attack. The gunman also opened fire. One man who witnessed the shooting stated the gunman fired into the air as the loyalists retreated back into the Glenbryn area.
Through Thursday there was trouble in a number of areas with stonings taking place in east Belfast, at Short Strand and also north Belfast, again at Alliance Ave.
It was reported that the NIO have stated that spy cameras destroyed by the nationalist people of Ardoyne at Brompton Park and Estoril Park, earlier this week will be replaced.
The people of Ardoyne have again stated they will take action against cameras that are placed only to spy on the Ardoyne community. The fact is any information stored by these cameras for the RUC will sooner or later find its way into the hands of loyalist paramilitaries.
FRIDAY, JUNE 28, 2002: Loyalists once again carried out attacks on nationalist homes in the Serpentine Road, north Belfast. The attacks started in the small hours of Friday morning. One family have said they are now going to leave the area after a number of attacks on their home. In the latest on Friday their car was damaged.
Windows in a number of the houses had been boarded up because of constant attacks by loyalists.
Here as with Alliance Ave, Limestone Road, Duncairn Gardens, Longlands, Whitewell, Cavehill Road, Holidays Road, North Queen Street, Ligoniel, Madrid Street, Bryson Street, Cliftondene, Old Park, Deer Park but, like all those places, the people here in the Serpentine Road also feel forgotten.
East Belfast at Short Strand was once again the scene for yet more loyalist attacks,as nationalists confronted the loyalist attackers who were bombarding the nationalist street from Cluan Place. Loyalist bombers used a number of blast and pipe bombs, causing damage to a number of houses in the Short Strand. As a result nationalists used petrol bombs. One of which hit a roof of a house in Cluan Place, setting it on fire.
The fighting went on into the early hours of Saturday morning with some trouble still ongoing at around 2.30am.
SATURDAY, JUNE 29, 2002: Tension was high today in west Belfast as the Whiterock Orangemen once again forced their sectarian march through the nationalist part of the Springfield Road. The very nature of this march, as with the so-call Tour of the North, is triumphal. The mentality of those who stage them is one of 'Croppy Lie Down'.
Saturday for many nationalists living on the Springfield Road was something like a scene from a war film. From early in the morning occupation forces moved into the area. Hundreds of RUC and Brit Army flooded into the area. Hundreds of RUC and Brit army flooded into the Springfield road and the small side streets.
Occupation Forces also took over a number of gardens. Land Rovers, armoured cars and Brit army Saxon APCs were set at the ready. Parts of nationalist Springfield Road now lay in curfew conditions. Tension was high as nationalists faced down Brit/RUC occupation forces.
Nationalists living up the Springfield Road were now cut off from the lower part of the Springfield Road.
The Orange march came from the Ainsworth Ave area making its ways past the nationalist homes on the Springfield Road where nationalists protestered, the march then turned left towards the Shankill.
The stand-off at Occupation Forces’ lines became heated. Once again nationalists, sick of forced sectarian parades through their areas, and the riot-clad Brit occupation forces who enforce such parades —curfewing nationalist areas for hours, from morning to night — took action against those occupation forces with weapons they found to hand.
Heavy street resistance took place for a time, with the nationalist street fighters fighting at close hand with riot clad RUC and armoured Land Rovers.
The Occupation Forces then brought a water cannon into play around 3.45pm, only after the occupation forces started to pull out did an uneasy calm settle on the area.
Also on Saturday loyalists again threw stones at the nationalist houses in Alliance Ave. Once again from the Alliance Road. No damage was caused and the stoning was minor to that of other nights.
It was reported that a number of Catholic graves at Carnmoney Cemetery were attacked. The attacks took place on Friday night and 29 headstones were damaged. No words could sum up the feelings towards those who attacked the resting-place of the dead. It would be easy to say they were sick in mind, but there's much more to it than that.
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