Attacks, Threats And Disinformation
The RUC-PSNI has come in for strong criticism following a spate of sectarian incidents in the Six Counties over the last week. Notorious for refusing to designate attacks against catholics as sectarian when the evidence states otherwise, the British police force in Ireland is again adopting this tactic and, in the process, obscuring the reality of life for many nationalist communities.
In the Glengormley area of north Belfast a parish priest has been forced to speak out after a series of attacks in the vicinity. In the latest assault, a 20-year-old catholic man was attacked by two men as he walked home. Despite a history of sectarian violence in the area, including murders, the RUC-PSNI said there was nothing to suggest the attack was sectarian.
Father Dan White flatly contradicted the claim.
“Some people think that the bad days are over and that young people are now safe walking the streets alone, but unfortunately it appears those bad days aren’t over yet.”
Father White hasn’t been the only north Belfast priest to speak out about state connivance at sectarian attacks. Also last week, Father Aidan Troy accused the RUC-PSNI of treating a pregnant woman like a “criminal” after her home was attacked by a unionist gang.
Michelle O’Connor, who is three months pregnant, was awoken by the sound of breaking glass at her home in the early hours of last Thursday (September 6).
“We thought it was someone breaking in but when we went downstairs we found someone had smashed a window and thrown paint all around the living room. When my husband Joe went outside he found that they had smashed the windows in our car and had also attacked a pensioner’s home across from us, who is deaf.”
Michelle said the trauma of the attack was worsened by the actions of the RUC-PSNI.
“The first thing they asked was my name and date of birth. Then they asked if I had any enemies and if I had ever attacked protestant homes. I was made to feel like I had done something wrong.”
When Father Troy arrived at the scene hours after the RUC-PSNI visit he found the hammer used to smash the O’Connors’ window and paint covered surgical gloves still lying on the road. It was only when he contacted a senior inspector that they returned to recover the potentially vital evidence.
In this instance, the RUC-PSNI said they were simply investigating an act of “criminal damage”, with no reference given to the motivation behind the damage inflicted.
Meanwhile on Friday (September 7), Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition spokesperson Breandan MacCionnaith was warned by the RUC-PSNI that he could be attacked.
True to form, the RUC refused to elaborate on the nature or origin of the threat and Breandan’s colleague Joe Duffy said the Coalition had instructed a solicitor to “try and ascertain the source of the PSNI’s information.”
Éirígí spokesperson Daithí Mac An Mháistír said the ethos of the RUC-PSNI prevented them from dealing with sectarian attacks effectively.
“We have the crazy situation in the Six Counties whereby an organisation that is notorious for its ingrained sectarianism is given the responsibility of investigating sectarian attacks. As we have seen in the last number of days, this situation leads to situations where the victim is treated like a perpetrator while, publicly, the real nature of the attack is denied and presented as crime without a context.”
Daithí continued: “In the last month there has also been at least one sectarian attack on a protestant occupied house in the north Belfast area. Éirígí find all forms of sectarianism equally abhorrent – whether they emanate from the nationalist or unionist community.
“Sectarianism can offer our people nothing but further suffering. The failure of British rule and partition is nowhere more drastically highlighted than the continuing prevalence of sectarian division in the Six Counties.”