SAT. JULY 1, 2000: Skirmishes took place between the RUC and loyalists near Drumcree church. Camera crews were attacked and several people, including a 13-year-old boy, were injured.
Nationalist protesters clashed with the RUC after a loyalist parade entered a nationalist cul-de-sac in Annalong .
Two nationalist families were targeted in petrol bomb attacks in the loyalist Steeple estate in Antrim over the weekend. A petrol bomb was found outside the home of an elderly couple, who have since fled the estate, and a petrol bomb was thrown at a car parked in the driveway of a house at Birchill Park. The few nationalists remaining in the area are said to be afraid they are 'next on the list.'
SUN. JULY 2, 2000: The home of nationalist Colin O'Brien in the mainly loyalist Fortwilliam Parade in north Belfast was attacked by loyalists who smashed their way into the house. He fought to protect himself and his pregnant girlfriend, Lisa Magee, who was staying the night as the gang tried to smash in the windows of his home but couldn't do so because of perspex sheeting he had fitted. When they couldn't do so they broke through the front door using iron bars. O'Brien got Magee to lie on the floor and protected her with pillows as he held the sitting room door closed. The couple called the RUC twice in the course of the attack yet it took the RUC over 20 minutes to respond. The couple have said that they will not be returning to the house.
A 2,000-strong loyalist crowd marched to Drumcree church where Portadown district master of the Orange Order, Harold Gracey called for widespread protests in support of the Orange stand-off at Drumcree.
MON. JULY 3, 2000: Overnight violence related to the Drumcree protest erupted in Portadown, Belfast, Co Down and Co Tyrone. Seven RUC men were injured at Drumcree, an armoured vehicle was set alight and a crate of petrol bombs was seized at Meadow Lane in the town. In Belfast the RUC came under attack in Templemore Avenue and a group of loyalist women blocked the Shore Road
A group of around 40 loyalists blocked a road at Clough, Co Down. A nationalist who was stopped at the roadblock was asked where he came from and was told to sing 'The Sash' before driving away at speed.
Windows in two nationalist-owned houses were broken in a late night attack by a loyalist gang at Hamilton Street, near the Markets area in south Belfast. The residents said they are now afraid to return in case of further attacks.
A crowd of over fifty loyalists, led by Johnny Adair, appeared on Drumcree Hill behind a banner reading 'Shankill Road UFF Second Batt C Coy.' The group, in identical T-shirts carrying the UFF/UDA slogan 'Simply the Best' stood in silence for about twenty minutes less than fifty yards from British army lines.
TUES. JULY 4, 2000: The RUC closed Lanark Way, which connects the Shankill and the Springfield Roads, due to the threat of loyalist activity. Petrol bombs were thrown over the Springfield Road 'peace wall' at nationalist homes although none hit their targets. Two hundred loyalists gathered in Carlisle Circus. Loyalists blocked roads and put up flags in the area. Further up the Antrim Road at Glandore Avenue an off-license and chemist shop were burned out by a UDA gang, as were a number of empty flats.
Loyalists came out of Cambrai Street to attack the Brookfield Mill. After breaking through the gate they set fire to a number of offices. When local residents gathered the loyalists withdrew on to Crumlin Road. Nationalists secured the gates with a car chain and padlock. Loyalist mobs blocked the only road into the vulnerable Ligoniel area of north Belfast as they had over the previous number of nights.
At about 10pm a gang of loyalists attacked the home in Ligoniel in Belfast of a couple who are in a mixed marriage. The loyalists dragged the couple's car into the road and burnt it. They then smashed their way into the house and ransacked it. The couple fled through the back door.
Nationalists residents in the Short Strand were trapped in their homes as around two hundred loyalists attacked houses at the corner of Bryson Street. Windows were smashed in several houses and one man battled to keep his door closed as a number of men tried to break it down. He later had to evacuate his family. The local Catholic Church, St Matthews, was also attacked. Loyalists threw bricks and paint bombs at the home of a nationalist family in the Salliagh Park estate in Larne, Co Antrim, the latest in a long line of attacks against an extended nationalist family living in the estate.
A doctor's surgery and a chemist shop was also attacked and loyalists made their way toward a nationalist area intent on attacking homes there but retreated.
Roads in north Belfast were blocked and cars were hijacked and burned in North Queen Street. Other roads blocked included the Crumlin Road, Shore Road, Ballygomartin Road, Ligoniel Road, Woodvale Road, Doagh Road, Oldpark, Beersbridge Road, Old Holywood Road, Braniel Road, Linfield Road, Safeway, Dundonald and Grand Parade.
Petrol bombs were thrown in the Ormeau Park area and the Milltown Road was blocked when a lorry was set on fire.
Protests also took place in Coleraine, Armagh, Dungannon, Ballymena, Lisburn and the Waterside area in Derry.
Nationalist members of staff at Belfast City Hospital complained after a poster was placed on a staff notice board calling on other staff to gather at Sandy Row the next day in support of the Drumcree protests. The poster, which was in an area only accessible to staff, was removed after complaints from nationalist workers.
A Swiss tourist and two young children narrowly escaped injury when loyalists stoned a taxi they were travelling in on the outskirts of west Belfast.
A nationalist-owned electrical shop was gutted in a sectarian arson attack in Ahoghill, Co Antrim. Damage estimated at thousands of pounds was caused to Dougan's Electrics in Church Street in the town after flammable liquid was poured through a hole broken in the roof of the shop.
In the Sandy Row area of Belfast loyalist rioters attacked the RUC with bricks and bottles after hijacking a bus. The protest spilled out to Shaftesbury Square. Cars were later set on fire in Sandy Row and nearby Donegall Road. The Westlink was also brought to a standstill as protesters from Roden Street dragged debris on to the road.
During the night an RUC officer opened fire after loyalists attacked a patrol. No one was reported injured. At around 1am the RUC fired a number of shots after masked men approached in a car from the loyalist Cambrai street area.
Water cannon were used at Drumcree, their first deployment in the north of Ireland for almost thirty years.
An explosive device was found on the Dublin to Belfast railway line near Newry, Co Down.
WED. JULY 5, 2000: The British army was brought in to assist the RUC after scores of loyalist protesters paralysed Belfast city centre during the evening rush-hour.
It was reported that members of the extreme right-wing organisation Combat 18 had arrived in Portadown and were intent on orchestrating sectarian violence. Loyalist organisations in the north of Ireland have long held links with extreme right wing groups in England. It is believed that the same group was behind a series of sectarian attacks in Rathfriland.
A petrol bomb was thrown at the living room window of a nationalist-owned house in Ardmore Crescent in Armagh, about two hundred yards from a loyalist estate. A woman and her three children were in the house at the time. The petrol bomb bounced off a wall and landed in a skip. Gareth Chambers (18) and Christine Lockhart (17) were remanded in custody following the attack, the latest in a long line of attacks on the nationalist family.
In Belfast a car belonging to a Catholic priest was hijacked and burned during a loyalist protest on the Donegal Road. The attack was caught on camera, and two masked youths could clearly be seen pulling the elderly man from his car. The priest is said to be "terribly shaken by the ordeal".
It was reported that a car containing members of a loyalist death squad approached two men standing at a road junction and opened fire with a handgun. The gun jammed and the two men escaped.
Nationalist homes were attacked and their cars burnt during a night of violence in north Belfast. Gunfire was also said to have been exchanged between rioters and the RUC.
Nationalists were warned to keep away from a doctor's surgery at North Queen Street which straddles the loyalist Tiger's Bay/nationalist New Lodge Road interface.
THURS. JULY 6, 2000: Loyalists used hijacked cars and lorries to ram the peaceline gates at Northumberland Street and North Howard Street. They then attempted to attack nationalist homes on the Falls Road. Local young people managed to hold them back and close the gates after a bloody battle. Men, women and children had to run for cover as a barrage of bricks and other missiles rained down from across the peaceline. At one stage young people from the Falls Road engaged the loyalists in hand-to-hand conflict. One local man suffered serious injuries when he was dragged across the peaceline and severely beaten with iron bars. He was rescued by local people and ferried to hospital by ambulance.
It was reported that nationalist residents in north Belfast were living in fear of their lives following a series of attacks on their homes by loyalist gangs. Security fencing had to be erected to protect new nationalist-owned houses in the North Queen Street area.
The Killygullin Orange Hall outside Kilrea, Co Derry was gutted after petrol was poured through the roof and set alight.
St Mary's Catholic church in Bushmills was damaged when petrol was poured through a stained-glass window and set alight. Minor damage was caused to the building.
FRI. JULY 7, 2000: Members of a crowd accompanying an Orange Order parade through Crumlin shouted sectarian abuse at nationalist bystanders, including remarks about Bobby Sands, Rosemary Nelson and the Greysteel massacre.
A nationalist man suffered a serious facial injury in a shooting that was linked to the attempted removal of a Union Jack flag.
SAT. JULY 8, 2000: Loyalists playing flutes and bagpipes on Carlisle Road in Derry attempted to block a taxi driver's path as he went to pick up a fare.
It was claimed that two carloads of loyalists attempted to gain entry to a nationalist home on the Cavan Road in Castlederg, Co Tyrone. They were frightened off because the adjacent road was too busy.
Patrick Bradley (33), a father-of-three, from Ardoyne in Belfast, escaped with his life when a loyalist gunman attempted to shoot him at the corner of Etna Drive and Brompton Park. The gun jammed and he fled.
SUN. JULY 9, 2000: A 250lb bomb exploded outside the RUC barracks in Stewartstown, Co Tyrone. No one was injured and damage was caused to the barracks and adjacent buildings.
Two Catholic primary schools -- at Glengormley, outside Belfast and Carrickfergus, Co Antrim and an integrated college were targeted by loyalist death squad arsonists. British-backed loyalist death squad members carried out a petrol bomb attack on a nationalist family in the Westland Road area of north Belfast.
At 11.45pm a petrol bomb was thrown through the window of the house and two men were attacked by a 15 strong loyalist gang as they left the house. Both escaped but required hospital on treatment.
Sporadic incidents of rioting and hi-jacking went on throughout loyalist areas of the North, particularly in North Belfast, where a 60-strong mob attacked the Brookfield Mill Complex on Crumlin Road.
When the RUC arrived on the scene a car carrying loyalists attempted to ram the RUC car and according to an eye witness the RUC fired "about five or six shots", into the air.
Vehicles were set on fire in the loyalist Tiger's Bay area of north Belfast while loyalists blocked roads in South Down
MON. JULY 10, 2000: Loyalist protests in support of the Drumcree stand-off caused massive disruption throughout the Six Occupied Counties. Vehicles were hijacked in a number of areas and many cars were set on fire. Almost all public transport by bus and train was cancelled and businesses, pubs and cinemas in city centres closed. The protests were supposed to finish at 8pm, but in some cases the protests and obstructions remained, while in others riots soon developed. In all 125 roads were blocked.
With the exception of nationalist west Belfast almost every main road in the city had at least one obstruction. At Carlisle Circus, on the main route into north Belfast, loyalist leader Johnny Adair was present. Other major junctions, such as Shaftesbury Square, Broadway roundabout and the Albert Bridge Road, were blocked.
The RUC used water-cannon in serious trouble involving a large crowd of loyalists in the Corcrain Road area of Portadown.
There was a tense stand-off at the bottom of the Albertbridge Road in east Belfast and there was violence at a number of the street blockades in Belfast and elsewhere. Stoning incidents and minor confrontations took place in the Northumberland Street area of the Lower Falls at the peaceline, on the Springfield Road and on the Stewartstown Road where loyalist bands attempted to parade leading to a confrontation and stand-off with nationalist youths. The loyalists later returned to the nearby Suffolk estate.
In Derry crowds of loyalists gathered at Newbuildings and Tullyally. British Crown Forces with mechanical diggers were positioned at the entrance to the loyalist estate where there was a burning barricade. Crown Forces were also positioned between the loyalist Irish Street and nationalist Gobnascale estate in the Waterside.
Two nationalist men were lucky to escape with their lives in Ardoyne when loyalists attempted to open fire on them. A car slowed down alongside the two men and a back-seat passenger wearing a balaclava pulled a gun and tried to fire but it jammed. One man dived to the ground while the other jumped over a wall. The car then reversed back up and the gunman tried to fire again twice. The gun jammed both times.
Loyalists attacked the house of a Protestant woman in Newbuildings in Derry after a Drumcree-related protest nearby. The woman works for the Community Police Liaison Forum.
The British-backed loyalist death squad UFF/UDA, together with the LVF, threatened to "kill a Catholic a day" until the Orange Order is allowed down the Garvaghy Road.
A petrol bomb was thrown into a garden at Lurgan hospital. The device, which failed to ignite, landed just yards from a hospital ward where stroke victims and respite patients are cared for. The attack was linked to disturbances on the nearby loyalist Mourneview estate.
The RUC pushed 300 protesters back up the Albertbridge Road when they tried to enter the nationalist Short Strand area of Belfast.
In Limavady a man was knocked to the ground and beaten by a group of loyalists when he got out of his car and attempted to remove a seemingly unattended roadblock.
In Ballynure, Co Antrim, the RUC deployed a water cannon to clear protesters but didn't use it.
In Rathgael, near Bangor, Co Down, a young woman driver was left badly shaken when a mob surrounded her car. One man jumped on the bonnet.
The RUC found component parts for blast bombs in Greenisland, Co Antrim.
Cars were hijacked and set on fire in many areas including Newtownards, Lurgan, Dunmurry, Derry, Craigavon, Belfast and Antrim. In the centre of Lurgan a crowd of about 200 loyalists gathered at the war memorial in the nationalist end of the town and confrontation threatened as nationalists gathered in the William Street area. The RUC pushed the loyalists back towards High Street.
Antrim town, Newtownabbey, Carrickfergus, Ballyclare, Ahoghill and Ballymena were affected by protests. A car driven by SDLP councillor Oran Keenan was hijacked and overturned in Antrim.
In Counties Down and Armagh, roads in Lurgan, Portadown, Tandragee, Castlewellan and Markethill were blocked. The M1 motorway was blocked at Sprucefield, Donaghmore and Dungannon. Roads in Ballynahinch, Newtownards, Annalong, Comber, Downpatrick, Carryduff, Killyleagh, Moira and Newry were also affected. The A1 road to Dublin was blocked at Dromore.
Many roads in the Waterside area of Derry were blocked. There were protests on Milltown Crescent, Ardmore Road and Limavady Road and, for a short period, on the upper deck of the Craigavon Bridge. Magherafelt was also affected. The Ballygawley roundabout in Co Tyrone on the main road from Belfast to the West was blocked, as were roads in Moygashel, Omagh and Aughnacloy.
The nationalist Lower Ormeau Road was hemmed in for several hours and on the peace-line between the Falls and Shankill Roads there were a number of incidents in the Northumberland St area.
A car was hijacked and abandoned on a motorway bridge at Fortwilliam, north Belfast, forcing the closure of the M2, M3 and M5.
Independent Unionist Councillor Andrew Davidson was forced to drive through a red light after his car was attacked by loyalists at the Woodburn crossroads in the Waterside area of Derry. A crowd of about 15-20 youths, some wearing scarves over their faces, had blocked the road, and a number of the protesters jumped on to the councillor's car as he attempted to pass.
British army bomb disposal officers were called to deal with suspected pipe bombs in Newtownabbey. The RUC recovered 32 petrol bombs in Thorburn Road in the same area.
Orangemen from Portadown and from the Ballynafeigh Lodge in south Belfast picketed the Parades Commission office in Belfast. Some of those who had participated in the demonstration disrupted traffic on the M1 afterwards, moving slowly along in a convoy of 20 vehicles. Earlier there had been a hoax bomb alert outside the home of a member of the British Parade's Commission.
Loyalist gunmen attacked a nationalist-owned taxi in Glenmachan Street in Belfast. Those in the car escaped serious injury when the driver and passengers ducked and the driver swerved to avoid the gunmen who had been trying to stop it by holding up their hands and pointing a gun at the car. The passenger in the rear of the car suffered minor injuries when a brick was thrown through the back window as the car sped away.
Two Catholic churches, one in Castlederg and one in Newtownabbey, were set on fire. The home of a Catholic priest in Brunswick Road, Bangor was attacked by approximately 150 loyalist protesters. His church, St Comgall's, was also attacked and two windows in the building were broken. The same protesters also stoned businesses in what is a mixed area of the predominantly Protestant town.
Car show-rooms in Coleraine and Banbridge were set on fire. Cars were hijacked and set on fire in Derry's Waterside. One driver had their rear window put through as they sped away from would-be hijackers.
Two Danish tourists described the situation here as "more like Bosnia" after they were stopped at a loyalist roadblock on the Killyleagh to Armagh road. They complained that the RUC had refused to help them.
Sam McAllister, convicted murderer and member of the notorious UVF Shankill Butchers gang, was hospitalised after being badly beaten by suspected members of the UDA/UFF in Lisburn. The attack is seen as being part of the escalating feud within loyalism.
Five men appeared before Craigavon Magistrates' Court charged with having petrol bombs and wearing masks on Monday night.
TUES. JULY 11, 2000: Portadown was described as "a vacant lot" minutes after a group of 150 men, without weapons or masks, walked into shops and told them "you're closed".
RUC Chief Superintendent Roy McCune defended the loyalist protester's right to block roads, saying that people had a "legitimate right" to protest on roads.
A crowd of about 200 loyalists tried to enter the bottom end of the Garvaghy Road at Shillington's Bridge but were pushed back by the RUC. At the same time a similar sized crowd gathered at the St John's Church at the upper end of the Garvaghy Road and were also held back by the RUC. In nearby Lurgan a group of 50 loyalists blocked the upper end of High Street.
An Orange Order mob blocked the main access routes to the Garvaghy Road area. Nationalists travelling back from the town were caught in the angry crowd. A mother travelling back from the town after having bought her daughter's birthday cake was attacked by 150 loyalists at the barricade on the bottom of the Garvaghy Road. The mother and her children sat, terrorised and trapped, as the car was rocked and sectarian abuse was shouted in their faces.
The RUC and British troops deployed in full riot gear shut the gate leading to the Garvaghy Road, leaving the family at the mercy of the loyalist thugs. Despite her cries for help they refused to open the gates to let the car through. A car load of young women travelling back from the town were caught in a similar incident minutes earlier.
Overnight loyalist protests in support of Drumcree Orangemen resulted in disturbances in many areas with vehicles hijacked, drivers attacked and confrontations at sectarian interfaces. Petrol bombs, blast bombs and gunfire was directed at the RUC and British Army, particularly in the Greater Belfast area.
A Catholic church and two Orange Halls were petrol bombed. There was unrest in a number of loyalist areas of the Waterside in Derry with five cars and a trailer hijacked and burnt. In Portadown the flashpoint for trouble switched from Drumcree itself to the nearby Corcrain Road where a water-cannon was used.
Terrified pensioners living along the Northumberland Street interface said Thursday night's loyalist incursion on to the Falls brought back painful memories of 1969.
On the Shankill Road in west Belfast, loyalist death squad members -- thought to be four masked men and a woman -- fired volleys of shots from a variety of automatic weapons and handguns. Shots were fired at the scene of another bonfire on Sandy Row, near Belfast city centre.
There was also trouble in Portadown where RUC officers and loyalists clashed. Water cannon and plastic bullets were used to disperse crowds of protesters after security forces were attacked with petrol bombs and fireworks. A blast bomb exploded at security force lines.
Elsewhere, British army explosives experts made safe two small explosive devices found at a pub in Dunloy, and at a nationalist social hall at Rossnashane, both in County Antrim.
An ambulance crew responding to an emergency call was beaten up after being attacked in a loyalist area of west Belfast. The fire service dealt with more than 400 calls during the night.
Andy Cairns (22) was badly beaten and then shot dead by a loyalist mob at an Eve of Twelfth bonfire in Old Glenarm Road, Co Antrim. He is alleged to have been a member of the UVF, and is believed to have been killed by the UFF/UDA.
Shots were fired near bonfires at Chief Street, Rockview Street, Sandy Row and the Shankill Road in Belfast and at Rathcoole and New Mossley in Newtownabbey. An ambulance crew was beaten up near a bonfire in west Belfast. A Presbyterian Church at Drumgor in Craigavon was damaged in an arson attack and there were attempts to burn a Catholic churches at Glenarm in Co Antrim.
Road blockages continued throughout the evening with 25 roads reported closed at 7.30pm. A woman and her six-year old child narrowly escaped serious injury when a brick was dropped from a bridge through the windscreen of her car. In Bushmills in Co Antrim a lorry was hijacked and set on fire. An explosive device was thrown from a passing car into a pub in the nationalist village of Dunloy and another explosive device was discovered at an AOH hall in Rasharkin. Both failed to explode. There were also security alerts at Orange Halls in Dungannon, Moira, Lurgan and Mageheralin. In Derry petrol bombs were thrown at the British army/RUC in the Tullyally and Lincoln Courts areas in the Waterside.
Six lorries and a storage unit were damaged in an arson attack at a mushroom factory near Dungannon at around 12.45am. A Dungannon restaurant was badly damaged in a petrol bomb attack at around 6.30am and a tyre depot in Armagh was hit by a similar attack just after 5.00am.
Petrol bombs were hurled at a Catholic Church at Doagh Road in Ballyclare, causing scorch damage to a hall adjacent to the Church. One person was arrested after the attack. Minor damage was caused in a suspected arson attack at the Presbyterian Church Hall at Drumgor, Craigavon. The building was extensively damaged in a similar attack some weeks ago.
A Belfast man was threatened by the RUC with criminal charges for driving on to a footpath to escape a loyalist roadblock in Ballynahinch. The man has vowed to go to jail rather than pay a fine over the incident.
Petrol bombs were thrown at an Orange hall in Aghalee, Co Antrim. Three Apprentice Boys who were in the building at the time were taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation. The building also houses a Church of Ireland hall.
Seven shots were fired at an RUC vehicle in Belfast. There was an alert at Dungannon premises belonging to Joel Patten, former leading Orangeman closely linked to the Spirit of Drumcree faction.
An arson attack by loyalists on Dromachose Cross-Community Association in Limavady caused extensive damage.
Unionists living in the Fountain estate in Derry had their homes pelted with stones thrown by nationalist youths, some as young as seven. On one occasion youths also fired an air gun at a young girl who was in her bedroom doing her homework.
St Patrick's Catholic primary school in Portrush was set on fire. At the same time a number of petrol bombs were thrown at the RUC in the town.
The RUC arrested three young men for allegedly spraying Republican graffiti on a gable wall in a mixed estate in Newtownabbey. At the same time the RUC were criticised for their inaction over car hijackings by loyalists in the area.
Residents in Castlederg, Co Tyrone, claimed that a loyalist band was allowed to ignore a British Parades Commission ruling that prohibited it from marching in an area of the town. The band had been prohibited from marching along Ferguson Crescent in the town but was allowed by the RUC to pass along a footpath through the area.
Nationalists in Dundrum, near Castlewellan, were besieged by loyalists during the 11th night bonfire. Revellers urinated in people's gardens, blocked entrances and chanted sectarian slogans late into the night. Two people were injured in stabbing incidents at an 11th night bonfire in the Cregagh area of east Belfast.
Loyalists from the Shankill road area held an Eleventh night disco, just across the peace-line from the nationalist Springfield road. At the disco sectarian tunes were played and the DJ was heard shouting, "Stand up if you hate the Fenians". Later, after the bonfire had been lit, they stood up on pallets at the peace line itself and threw missiles at nationalist homes on the Springfield Road. The RUC, it was claimed, looked on from their Land Rovers. The bombardment carried on until 8am when the RUC arrived on the Springfield Road side to clear the way for the Orange parade.
WED. JULY 12, 2000: Ligoniel Orange hall in north Belfast was damaged in an arson attack.
Twenty-one RUC officers were injured during disturbances in the Corcrain and Edgarstown areas of Portadown. A number of plastic bullets were fired by the RUC. More than 100 petrol bombs were thrown at security forces in the Lincoln Courts and Tullyally areas of Derry it was claimed.
A Catholic Church in Ballyclare was petrol bombed for the second night running, with only minimal damage being caused.
In Belfast an ambulance crew was attacked at Forth River Drive. Two crew-members needed hospital treatment. An ambulance crew was also attacked in Nelson Drive in Derry as it attended to a man that had suffered an epileptic fit.
A woman was injured by a crossbow bolt as she drove along the Crumlin Road in Belfast. Gunfire was reported in the Rathcoole and Newtownabbey areas of Belfast and the Kilcooley estate in Bangor. Masked loyalists fired shots at bonfires in Sandy Row and the Shankill Road.
The single mother of a disabled child described her terror as her home in Magherafelt was attacked by Loyalists. The mother of six had been living in the loyalist Leckagh Drive area of the town for only two weeks as renovations were carried out on her own home to make it more suitable for her disabled child.
A nationalist-owned house was badly damaged in a petrol bomb attack on the Newry Road in Armagh.
RUC officers were assaulted and threatened with a sword as they attempted to stop Orange marchers from urinating in a street in the centre of Belfast.
Four men, including one in his 70s, were injured when stone throwing youths attacked their bus as they travelled back from the county Orange Order parade in Coleraine, Co Derry, to Co Donegal. The attack, in which the windscreen and a side window of the bus were smashed, took place at Prehen, outside Derry. Later, another bus travelling to Newbuildings was attacked at the same spot.
The RUC released details of the extent of Drumcree-inspired violence since the beginning of July. According to their statistics there have been 280 attacks on members of the security forces; 57 RUC officers and 5 soldiers injured; almost 300 petrol bombs thrown; 941 primed petrol bombs seized; 146 people arrested; 73 incidents of criminal damage to homes; 55 incidents of damage to other buildings (ie schools, churches etc) 358 vehicles damaged and 88 vehicles hijacked. RUC statistics are notoriously inaccurate and should be treated with caution.
Water cannon had been used at various points and four plastic bullets fired. The remarkably small number of plastic bullets used is in stark contrast to previous incidents, including a relatively minor incident in Lurgan a number of weeks ago when the RUC fired seven plastic bullets in a short space of time at nationalist protesters. During an earlier Drumcree related protest in 1996 almost 6,000 plastic bullets were fired during a week of violence, over 5,500 of which were fired at nationalists with over 3,000 being fired in the space of three nights in the Bogside area of Derry. Over 300 people required hospital treatment for plastic bullet wounds after this.
THURS. JULY 13, 2000: An Orange hall at Breakey Cross, Bailieborough, Co Cavan was gutted in a fire.
St Patrick's Catholic church in Derriaghy, Co Antrim was damaged in a loyalist arson attack.
Many nationalists were forced to flee their homes in Randalstown in County Antrim because of sectarian attacks. While there had been quite a few nationalists living in the Neilsbrook estate, there are now said to be only ten families left. The situation is said to have become so bad for those remaining in the Neilsbrook estate that they are unable to use public amenities. The community centre is now completely out of bounds for nationalists. Walls were adorned with sectarian plaques and park benches are daubed with the letters "KAT" meaning "Kill All Taigs" Portadown Orangeman Ivan Hewitt, who sports numerous tattoos featuring swastikas and other neo-nazi and white power emblems warned in a television documentary that it may be time for loyalists to "bring their war to Britain." An Anti-Fascist Action spokesperson said the documentary showed a "definite link" between British neo-nazi organisations and loyalists. There have already between numerous reports of members of various British extreme right-wing organisations attending Drumcree related protests.
FRI. JULY 14, 2000: A 50-strong gang of loyalists broke away from the main pro-Drumcree protest in Finaghy, north Belfast, and attacked the nearby nationalist Grangeville area. The RUC, who were only 50 yards away at the time, did not intervene for some thirty minutes. In that time the loyalists blocked streets, abused residents and attempted to hijack two cars.
Three nationalist families were intimidated out of their homes in the Lisburn Road area of Belfast.
In West Belfast a Stewartstown Road pensioner escaped injury after the latest of numerous attacks on his home by stone throwing loyalists from the nearby Suffolk estate. The man who is one of several pensioners to have suffered stone and brick throwing attacks over the last few weeks, had his living room window smashed by a brick, which landed on the seat where he sits to watch television.
Portadown Orangemen's calls for another day of widespread protest went unheeded as the Armagh and Grand Lodges refused to support their calls. Shops and businesses across the north remained open and only a handful of roads were blocked for a short period, including Black's Road, Crumlin Road, Ballysillan Road, Westland Road and Oldpark Road in Belfast. Most of the arterial routes in the city were unaffected. Short protests were also staged on the Dublin Road in Antrim, the Albert Road in Carrickfergus and the Ballygawley roundabout in Co Tyrone. There were pickets at several areas in Portadown, but no more than 200 protesters were involved in total.
The steel security barrier at Drumcree was dismantled and many of the extra troops deployed there returned to barracks.
SAT. JULY 15, 2000: A nationalist man, Colin Lavery of Newcastle Road, Castlewelllan, Co Down receivd minor leg injuries when a loyalist death squad bomb exploded as he got into his car outside his home.
An Orange Hall at Brackey, Co Tyrone, was badly damaged in an arson attack. The attackers bored a hole in the roof of the building and poured flammable liquid through.
SUN. JULY 16, 2000: A quantity of bomb-making equipment was found by the RUC in a loyalist area of Larne, Co Antrim.
The RUC found a sub-machine gun and 90 rounds of ammunition, along with three replica weapons and two balaclavas, in the loyalist Mourneview area of Lurgan, Co Armagh.
MON. JULY 17, 2000: Three men and a woman were remanded in custody at Ballymena Magistrates Court on charges relating to the killing of Larne loyalist Andrew Cairns on July 11. It was later reported that one of those charged is secretary of the Larne branch of the Ulster Democratic Party which is allied to the paramilitary Ulster Defence Association.
Four men from Derry were fined £50 each on charges relating to a riot in the Lincoln Courts area in support of the Drumcree protests.
The Catholic Church of our Lady at Harryville in Ballymena, scene of long running loyalist pickets, was badly damaged in an arson attack.
TUES. JULY 18, 2000: A nationalist father-of-four who was intimidated out of his home in the Leckagh Drive area of Magherafelt blamed the RUC for the delay in getting him re-housed, claiming that their failure to produce a vital report was the main cause of the delay.
An Orange Hall on the Crumlin Road in Belfast was gutted in an early morning arson attack.
Four men were remanded in custody at Armagh Magistrate's Court in connection with a petrol bomb attack on a nationalist-owned home on 11 July.
Five masked men hijacked a van in the village of Castledawson, Co Derry, only to abandon it a short distance away. Local people claim the incident was the work of loyalists.
WED. JULY 19, 2000: British army bomb disposal experts carried out two controlled explosions on a bomb and a suspect package in central London. They also destroyed a bomb left near railway tracks near Ealing Broadway tube station. A suspect package discovered near the scene of a birthday pageant for the British Queen Mother in Whitehall was destroyed. The alerts caused severe travel disruption — Paddington station was closed and there was widespread disruption to central Underground services. Victoria station was closed for several hours.
Two nationalist-owned properties in Ballymena in County Antrim were attacked. A petrol bomb was thrown at the rear of a house but it failed to ignite and caused no damage.
It was reported that the UDA/UFF in the north west had endorsed the Belfast leadership's threat to return to violence and threatened to carry out similar action.
Three more people appeared in court in Larne charged in connection with the 11th night killing of local loyalist Andrew Cairns.
The British Parades Commission ruled that a loyal order parade planned for Saturday in Castlederg, Co Tyrone, must stay away from nationalist areas.
A number of classrooms were damaged in an arson attack on a Catholic school in Larne. St Patrick's College on the Broughshane Road was attacked shortly after 1.00am.
A nationalist family escaped injury when a petrol bomb was thrown at their home in the mainly loyalist Lettercreeve Estate in Ballymena.
Loyalist incendiaries attacked a school in Ballymena, Co Antrim. A staffroom and corridor at St Patrick's High School suffered extensive damade after the gang smashed three windows and set fire to curtains.
THURS. JULY 20, 2000: A nationalist woman from the Markets area of Belfast was told by the RUC that her personal details were known to be in the hands of loyalists. She said she was not told why there was a file kept on her, or how loyalists had got hold of it, and criticised the RUC for not doing enough to retrieve her file.
A nationalist man from the Markets area of Belfast who has never been arrested or involved in any way in politics was told by the RUC that a file containing his personal details was in the hands of loyalist paramilitaries. The RUC would not reveal which organisation had the file or the nature or extent of the information contained.
FRI. JULY 21, 2000: A 21-year-old Portadown man was fined £200 for riotous behaviour relating to violence in Portadown on July 11.
St Colman's Catholic high school was attacked by arsonists but received only slight scorch damage. A school mini-bus parked in the grounds was more seriously damaged.
Noel McCready and Stephen McClean, convicted of the Poyntzpass murders, appeared in court with three other men charged with attempting to murder a man who objected to them removing UVF flags while on pre-release home leave. They were remanded in custody amid appeals for their planned early release to be rescinded. be halted.
It was reported that the Mormon Church of Jesus Christ and the Latter Day Saints on the Old Cavehill Road in Belfast has been subjected to vandalism costing £8,000 since the beginning of July.
SUN. JULY 23, 2000: Nine windows were smashed by ball-bearing attacks by loyalist gangs in the nationalist Finaghy Road North area of Belfast. These included the home of SDLP Stormont Assembly member Carmel Hanna who was attacked for the sixth time in 12 months.
St Mary's Catholic Boys primary school, Strabane, Co Tyrone was destroyed in an arson attack.
Wattlebridge Orange hall, Outside Newtownbutler in Co Fermanagh, was extensively damaged in an arson attack.
TUES. JULY 25, 2000: The deputy lord mayor of Belfast, Frank McCoubrey of the UDP (aligned to the UDA/UFF) painted out the UDA mural on the Shankill Road in Belfast that celebrated the UDA's worst atrocities, including the Greysteel massacre and that at Seán Graham's bookies on the Ormeau Road.
WED. JULY 26, 2000: An eighth man was charged in connection with the 11 July murder of UVF man Andrew Cairns. It is believed that Cairns was killed by members of the UDA and the LVF for singing a UVF song.
A loyalist pipe bomb was found at an Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH) hall in Galladuff, Co. Derry. It was alleged that the bomb was intended to raise tensions in the run up to a loyalist parade through nearby Maghera.
THURS. JULY 27, 2000: In a report the United Nations Human Rights Committee, amongst other matters, criticised the 26-County State for its continued operation of the non-jury Special Court and recommended that steps be taken to end its jurisdiction. It also "regretted" that the Garda Complaints Body was "not fully independent" and that "investigations of complaint against the Garda are often entrusted to members of the Garda without consultation with the board".
Police in Croatia were reported to have arrested a number of men and seized a shipment of missiles, machine-guns and explosives alleged to be on its way to so-called dissident Republicans in Ireland.
FRI. JULY 28, 2000: The last 87 political prisoners, both Provisional and loyalist, to be released under licence under the terms of the Stormont Agreement, left Long Kesh, which is to be closed.
The British Parades Commission allowed a loyalist parade to pass through a nationalist area in Maghera, Co. Derry. Residents said that, in defiance of the commission's rulings, the band played tunes as it passed nationalist homes.
A 13-year-old nationalist youth from Divis Street in Belfast was arrested by the RUC and charged with littering after he dropped some lottery tickets that he was bringing home to his mother. He was wearing a Celtic soccer top at the time.
A leading UDA man was released on bail in Belfast after being charged with possession of Crown Forces files on 92 nationalists. In 1991 he was jailed for four years for offences arising out of the Stevens enquiry into the leakage of Crown Forces documents to loyalists. The documents he has now been charged with possessing date from 1998.
SAT./SUN./JULY 29/30, 2000: Nationalist residents and their homes came under successive waves of attacks in the north Belfast interface area of North Queen street and Duncairn Gardens. A gang of 100 loyalists carried out the attacks during which windows were smashed and houses were paint bombed. Six people were injured, including a thirteen-year-old boy who was hospitalised for a head wound. At the end of one of the attacks as the attackers fled upon hearing that the RUC were coming, they vowed to return to burn the residents out. A spokesperson for the residents said he believed the attacks were orchestrated.
Nationalist residents meeting on Belfast's Springfield Road in the tense aftermath of the Twelfth and the nightly attacks by loyalists, were harangued by an RUC officer described as having "gone berserk". As the residents gathered to take stock of the months events the RUC man said that Catholics were "AIDS carriers" and began verbally abusing residents. He identified some residents by name and then threatened to come back and kill people.
In Castlewellan, Co Down a 24-year-old man was treated for cuts and bruising after he was attacked by masked men at the John F Kennedy Estate in the town.
The first floor home of Phil and Sharon Brace in the loyalist Tullyvalley housing estate in the Waterside area of Derry was targeted by the UVF loyalist death squad. The flat had been formerly occupied by an RUC member and was fitted with a bullet-proof door but the arsonists used a sledge-hammer to break in. The flat was badly damaged and Phil Brace said he believed his home had been targeted because he had spoken out against the UVF in the past.
MON. JULY 31, 2000: The UVF were reported by British Crown Forces to be preparing themselves for retaliatory strikes against the LVF's leadership, now that the bulk of the UVF is out of jail.
The white supremacist British National Party said it would contest at least one seat in the Six Counties in the next general election. It's spokesman Alan Moore said that it was most likely to contest seats in North Belfast, South Antrim and East Antrim.
A major Civil Service survey by the Northern Irish Department of Finance and Personnel, one of the largest in Europe, found that 13.2% of Catholic staff felt harassed because of their religion. The survey was completed two years ago, but its findings have only just emerged. A memo leaked to a British paper revealed RUC "paranoia" about the findings.
The Orange Order's official organ the Orange Standard blamed "obvious provocation by republicans and nationalists" and elements outside the order for the violence surrounding Drumcree.
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