SAT. OCTOBER 3, 1998: Noel Dickinson, Quilty, Co Clare, PRO West Clare Republican Sinn Féin and Colm Ó Floinn, Limerick city, PRO Brugha/Sabhat Cumann, were arrested under the Offences Against the State Act and taken to Henry Street barracks in Limerick. They were held for 24 hours.
SUN. OCTOBER 4, 1998: The 30th anniversary of the Derry civil rights march of October 5, 1968 when civil rights marchers were attacked by the RUC with water cannons and baton charges, was marked in Derry with a march which followed the same route.
A nationalist mother and two daughters were treated for shock after a sectarian petrol bomb attack on their house at Queen's Street in Antrim town. The fire was extinguished by the woman's husband but the livingroom and hall were damaged as was the family's car. The family have since left their home and are staying with friends.
MON. OCTOBER 5, 1998: The British army dismantled one of their heavily-fortified observation posts on the Crumlin Road in Belfast.
TUES. OCTOBER 6, 1998: RUC man Frankie O'Reilly (30), from Waringstown died in the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast a month after being hit by shrapnel from a blast bomb thrown during loyalist rioting in Portadown, Co Armagh on September 5, during protests linked to the ongoing Drumcree 24-hour picket by Orange Order members.
FRI. OCTOBER 9, 1998: All charges against Elaine Moore (21), from Dublin, one of four people who were arrested in London on July 10, were dropped by the British prosecution service. The three men remain in custody.
SAT. OCTOBER 10, 1998: Republican Sinn Féin member Paddy Smyth, of Ballymun, Dublin was arrested at home and held for 16 hours before being released without charge. During his interrogation by the Special Branch in Ballymun barracks he was repeatedly punched in the face and about the head and kicked on the shins. He was forced to stand for five hours during one interrogation session. When he attempted to sit on the floor he was lifted up forcibly by the ears.
MON. OCTOBER 12, 1998: The home of nationalist Camilla Finlay (52) was attacked by loyalists who set fire to the house in the Whitewell area of Belfast by pouring flammable liquid through the letterbox. causing severe damage. The Finlays and three of their nine children -- Thomas (20), Maria (18) and Joanne (12), who has special needs -- were asleep during the attack and were forced to evacuate in their night clothes.
A house in Graymount Crescent also in north Belfast was attacked 15 minutes later by loyalist thugs.
WED. OCTOBER 14, 1998: The Orange Order held a march and rally in support of their ongoing 24-hour picket at Drumcree through Ballymoney, Co Antrim, the town in which the three young Quinn children died in a loyalist arson attack on July 13.
It was reported that nationalist children attending St Malachy's High school in Antrim town are subjected to sectarian abuse daily as they wait at the bus station for transport back to their home in Crumlin, outside Belfast.
SUN. OCTOBER 16, 1998: John Hume of the SDLP and David Trimble of the Ulster Unionist Party were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
It was reported that Limerick women's prison is to close next year and the women prisoners are to be moved to a new wing with in-cell sanitation.
Three Long Kesh escapees -- Terence Kirby, Pól Brennan and Kevin Barry Artt -- who had been in custody in the US facing deportation to Ireland were released on bail by US District Judge Charles Legge in San Francisco.
SUN. OCTOBER 18, 1998: A meeting in Limerick city of delegates to the Munster Executive to prepare for the forthcoming Republican Sinn Féin Ard-Fheis on November 7 and 8 was beset by four carloads of Special Branch. Delegates leaving the meeting were stopped, had their names taken, their documents examined and in some cases their contents noted down. The minute book of Comhairle na Mumhan was seized from the secretary and has not been returned to date.
TUES. OCTOBER 20, 1998: Former Ulster Unionist Party leader James Molyneaux stated in the British Houses of Commons that a British army unit had come "under sustained fire" in Armagh city on October 8. He added that news of this attack had been suppressed in the news media.
Two previous armed attacks, on September 4 and September 23, were claimed by the Continuity IRA in calls to a Belfast newsroom using a recognised codeword.
WED. OCTOBER 21, 1998: The MacBride Principles for Fair Employment were adopted by the US Congress.
THURS. OCTOBER 22, 1998: The home of nationalist Patrick Simpson and his partner Shirley Young and her 13-year-old son was attacked when a petrol bomb was thrown through the window of the house at Ballysally housing estate in Craigavon, Co Armagh.
The British Police Authority in the Six Counties rejected calls for a ban on RUC members being members of the Orange Order or similar groups.
MON. OCTOBER 26, 1998: A former member of the Parachute Regiment, Lieutenant-General Sir Hew Pike, been appointed General Officer Commanding of the British army in the Six Occupied Counties by the British government.
THURS. OCTOBER 29, 1998: Three Irishmen were remanded in custody to November 26 at Belmarsh Magistrates court in London. Liam Grogan, (21), of Naas, Co Kildare faces a charge of conspiracy to cause an explosion as does Darren Mulholland (19), of Dundalk, Co Louth. The third man, Anthony Hyland (25), faces charges of conspiracy to cause an explosion and possessing explosives. The men had been arrested in raids in London last July and have been held in Belmarsh High Security prison since then.
FRI. OCTOBER 30, 1998: A loyalist death squad carried out a shotgun attack on a bar frequented by nationalists. The attack took place on the Farmers Inn on the Colin Glen Road in west Belfast. No-one was injured in that attack.
SAT. OCTOBER 31, 1998: Brian Service, a 35-year old nationalist was shot by a pro-British loyalist death-squad in a random sectarian attack in the north of Belfast at the junction of Deerpark Road and Alliance Avenue as he walked home to Ardoyne after visiting his brother. An unemployed construction worker, he was shot five times in the head and back. He was taken to hospital where he later died from his injuries.
A new loyalist death-squad calling itself the Red Hand Defenders claimed responsibility for the killing of Brian Service and the attack on the Farmers Inn. The group had previously claimed responsibility for a blast bomb attack during a loyalist riot in Portadown which killed a Catholic member of the RUC British Colonial police (RUC). The Red Hand Defenders are believed to be an off-shoot of the Loyalist Volunteer Force.
Shortly before Brian Service was killed, another nationalist man was approached in the same area by two masked men but managed to escape.
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