SUN. OCTOBER 1, 2000: Tommy Baxter (29), a Protestant, was seriously injured when a bomb went off on a pathway near the main Larne railway line close to Ballypollard Road, Magheramore, Co Antrim. The man, was accompanied by two nationalist friends. It is believed that the bomb was intended by members of a loyalist death squad for John Shaw, one of the other two men, who three years ago had a miraculous escape when a grenade exploded under the van in which he, his girlfriend and their baby daughter were travelling in the town.
TUES. OCTOBER 3, 2000: A school bus carrying children from Our Lady of Mercy secondary school was ambushed by a mob of about 60 loyalist boys from the mainly Protestant St Gabriel’s Boys Model school at the junction of the Bilston and Ballysillan roads in Belfast at around 4.10pm. Bricks were hurled through the windows of the bus. Eight of the girls were taken to the Mater Hospital where they were treated for slight injuries and shock.This is the third attack on the school bus in the last week.
WED. OCTOBER 4, 2000: British riot police (RUC) had to escort girls from Our Lady of Mercy school in Ballysillan, as well as boys from the Boys’ Model School nearby when a bus which had been used to bring the girls to their homes was forced to withdraw service following a stoning incident the previous day which resulted in several pupils being injured.
A stockpile of pipe bombs were seized by the RUC in a derelict house in the loyalist Rockville Street in the Donegall Road area of Belfast. Several families were evacuated from their homes.
An RUC detective who played a key role in the jailing of UFF death squad member Johnny Adair blamed the death squad for planting a bomb outside his house at Ballyclare, Co Antrim.
THURS. OCTOBER 5, 2000: A hoax bomb disrupted trains on the Dublin-Belfast line after a phone call said that a 50lb bomb had been placed on the track in the Portadown area. Nothing was found.
FRI. OCTOBER 6, 2000: An incendiary device was found in a store at North Street in Belfast city centre.
MON. OCTOBER 9, 2000: Loyalist death squad members scattered broken glass over O’Donovan Rossa GAA field at Magherafelt, Co Derry. Loyalist graffiti "Magherafelt UVF" and "Trick or Treat" was also daubed on the walls of the clubhouse.
TUES. OCTOBER 10, 2000: Damian Beacom (43), a native of Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh but resident in Dublin was charged at the Special non-jury Court in Dublin with having a sawn-off shotgun with intent to commit a robbery. He was remanded in custody.
WED. OCTOBER 11, 2000: St Olcan’s Catholic primary school in Armoy, Co Antrim was damaged in an arson attack.
THURS. OCTOBER 12, 2000: The home of Larry and Mona McIlroy in the mainly nationalist Mountain View Park, off the Antrim Road in Belfast was attacked by a barrage of stones thrown from the nearby loyalist Twaddell Avenue. This was the latest in a series of attacks on their and other houses in the Mountain View area.
A pipe-bomb was found under the car of a father-of-two at Bathgate Drive in east Belfast.
A family at Glenbush Drive in Portrush, Co Antrim escaped injury when their home was attacked with a petrol bomb.
FRI. OCTOBER 13, 2000: Joe O’Connor, who was associated with the 32-County Sovereignty Movement, was shot dead by the Provisionals’ military wing outside his mother’s house in Whitecliffe Parade in the Ballymurphy area of Belfast.
The office of Republican Sinn Féin in Belfast was raided by the RUC.
A number of people were arrested following a raid on a house in the nationalist area of Poleglass in Belfast. The RUC alleged that they found a grenade launcher and warheads, as well as other items during the search.
SAT.OCTOBER 14, 2000: A nationalist man and his two teenage sons narrowly escaped injury when a device went off under a seat in their Isuzu Trooper vehicle in Blackstaff Way, off the Grosvenor Road, Belfast. The driver was adjusting his seat when he discovered the device, a glass container with a pipe attached to it. They managed to get out of the vehicle, which was extensively damaged, in time.
SUN. OCTOBER 15, 2000: A house at Abbey Park, Bangor, Co Down was damaged in an arson attack.
MON. OCTOBER 16, 2000: Two former Republican prisoners, Anthony McIntyre and Tommy Gorman, members of the Irish Republican Writers Group (IRWG), issued a statement saying that after investigating the circumstances surrounding the killing of Joseph O’Connor, they had concluded that the Provisionals were responsible.
TUES. OCTOBER 17, 2000: The Provisionals’ military wing issued a statement denying that they had killed Joseph O’Connor.
Two men -- Anthony Joseph Hilling (40) of Glenbawn Court, Belfast and Stephen McCormack (22) of Craiglee Way, Newtownards, Co Down -- were charged at Lisburn Magistrates Court in connection with the discovery of a rocket launcher and four warheads in the Poleglass area of Belfast on Friday, October 13.
THURS. OCTOBER 19, 2000: The homes of IRWG members Anthony McIntyre and Tommy Gorman in Belfast were picketed by the Provisionals following their statement on October 16 accusing the Provisionals’ military wing of killing Joe O’Connor. Armed and masked Provisionals roamed Ballymurphy, threatening members of the O’Connor family and others who opposed them. Joe O’Connor’s mother, Margaret said they "came into the area like thugs".
The Roger Casement GAA club at Gortgole in Portglenone, Co Antrim was badly damaged in an arson attacks.
FRI. OCTOBER 20, 2000: Nationalist schoolchildren travelling home from Rathmore Grammar School narrowly escaped injury when their school bus was attacked by a stone-throwing gang at Queensway, Dunmurry. Two schoolboys were treated at Lagan Valley Hospital in Lisburn for cuts to the head and other injuries. Other children suffered minor cuts and bruising from flying glass. The gang, all masked, fled on foot into the loyalist Seymour Hill estate.
SAT. OCTOBER 21, 2000: Trouble flared at an amateur soccer match between teams from the nationalist area of Ardoyne and the loyalist Shankill in Woodvale. The team from Ardoyne was attacked after a crowd supporting the Shankill team invaded the pitch and one nationalist player was attacked.
TUES. OCTOBER 24, 2000: Two nationalist men were attacked by a number of men wearing masks as they worked in the Innis Avenue area of Rathcoole, north of Belfast. The men were ordered out of the loyalist area.
WED. OCTOBER 25, 2000: A nationalist man was seriously injured when he was attacked by members of a loyalist death squad in Coleraine, Co Derry. The man was shot in his hip and thigh in what was the second attack on him by loyalist death squads in two months.
The Provisionals’ military wing issued a statement saying that it would "honour" all the commitments and undertakings made by them in respect of decommissioning of weapons.
THURS.OCTOBER 26, 2000: Two Dublin men -- Anthony Donohue (42), Palmerstown, and Gabriel Donohue (28), Clondalkin -- were charged at the Special Court in Dublin with possession of firearms and ammunition. A third man, Dermot Gannon (34), Mulhuddart, was charged with being a member of the IRA.
SAT.OCTOBER 28, 2000: David Trimble survived another attempt against him in the Ulster Unionist Council by a vote of 445 to 375 (54% to 46%) but only by promising he would prevent Provisional ministers from attending north-south meetings until the Provisionals’ military wing had fully engaged with the International Commission on Decommissioning.
The body of UDA/UFF man David Greer (21) was found in Mountcollyer Street in north Belfast with gunshot wounds in the chest after reports of a disturbance between UDA/UFF and UVF members in nearby Mileriver Street.
TUES. OCTOBER 31, 2000:
Two men were killed in a further escalation of the UDA/UFF-UVF feud. Bertie Rice (63), an election worker for the PUP was shot in the chest at his home in Canning Street in north Belfast. The UDA/UFF loyalist death squad was blamed for the killing. Later in the day a former UDP politician Tommy English (39) was shot dead at his home in Ballyfore Gardens in Newtownabbey, also in North Belfast. Loyalist sources said that he was shot by the UVF in retaliation for the earlier killing.
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