Earlier that day in Castlederg, Co Tyrone a nationalist man was beaten up by about 15 loyalists.
A small bomb, thought to be a home-made grenade, was thrown into the home of the parents of loyalist Alec Kerr, one of the men under threat from the Combined Loyalist Military Command (CLMC).
Spectators leaving a stunt-driving motor show in Dunmore Stadium found themselves caught up in an attack by loyalists on nationalist residents.
Wexford beat Limerick in the All-Ireland Hurling Final at Croke Park.
MON. SEPTEMBER 2, 1996: Loyalists attacked the Parkside Gardens home of a couple in a mixed marriage.
In the Duncairn Gardens area a woman and her baby narrowly escaped injury when a rock was thrown through their bedroom window during an attack on four nationalist homes.
Speaking to the Irish Times a leading Presbyterian churchman, the Rev Terence McCaughey, a lecturer in Trinity College Dublin, hit out at the Orange Order's sectarian role in Six-County politics.
TUES. SEPTEMBER 3, 1996: Three nationalist families had to move out of their homes in the Mountcollyer area of north Belfast as loyalist mobs attacked residents for the third night in a row. The attacks spread to other areas and petrol bombs were fired at the RUC by nationalist residents. The RUC fired salvoes of plastic bullets.
Hugh Torney, a leading member of the INLA, was shot dead and another man seriously injured in a gun attack at Victoria Street, Lurgan, Co Armagh in another incident in the INLA feud.
Mount Lourdes secondary school in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh announced that it was attempting to make alternative arrangement to supply school uniforms to its students. Currently the sole supplier of uniforms is SD Kells, a clothes shop in Enniskillen with other branches in Lisnaskea and Irvinestown. The shops are being boycotted by nationalists because of their owner, Roy Kells's involvement in Orange Order protests during the Drumcree stand-off this year.
WED. SEPTEMBER 4, 1996: Over 2,000 people took part in a Portadown rally in support of loyalist Billy Wright ('King Rat'), who has been under a death threat from the loyalist CLMC.
FRI. SEPTEMBER 6, 1996: Sectarian slogans were daubed on houses, cars and playground equipment in the mainly nationalist area of Curryneiran in Derry city.
Portadown loyalist Billy Wright, known as 'King Rat', appeared at Craigavon magistrates court charged with wounding a man in a hotel carpark in April 1995, disorderly behaviour, causing an affray and resisting arrest. The case was adjourned to November.
The number of people on the Live Register of unemployed in the 26 Counties was 284,300.
SAT. SEPTEMBER 7, 1996: The annual Irish language gathering of Republicans, Feis na Poblachta, took place in Galway city.
SUN. SEPTEMBER 8, 1996: About 100 Orangemen were turned away from Dunloy after the RUC prevented them marching through the nationalist village on September 8.
Armed and masked men entered the north Belfast house of Elaine Doherty, who was out at the time, and ransacked it and discharged several shots. She believes they were after her boyfriend, whose two brothers fell out with the UDA/UFF and have since left the Six Counties.
Deaths threats, believed to be from the UDA/UFF British-backed loyalist death squad, arising out of the recent eviction of the Graham family from their 3,000 acre farm in Co Donegal were made against John Keon, managing director of Donegal Creameries, who bought the farm for £3.7 million and Tom Grace, who acted as receiver for National Irish Bank in the eviction.
MON. SEPTEMBER 9, 1996: More than a dozen Republican Sinn Féin representatives from the nine counties of Ulster held a protest picket at the (front) gates of Stormont carrying placards calling for a British withdrawal and opposing a new Stormont assembly as the so-called 'all-party talks' got under way again.
An Irish Times/MBRI poll showed that two-thirds of voters in the Six Counties believe the talks will fail.
The so-called 'all-party talks' adjourned at lunchtime after several hours of wrangling over the continued participation of the loyalist parties, the PUP and the UDP, who represent the British-backed death squads, the UVF and the UDA/UFF respectively.
A 'mixed' marriage couple, Lynn Gilmore and her husband Ronnie McVeigh, awakened in the early hours of the morning to find their house in the Knockmore estate in Lisburn, Co Antrim under attack by loyalists. Also with them in the house were their three sons – Dale (2), Ryan (5) and Stewart (12). This was the second attack on their home in two months.
The 'GHQ' faction of the INLA said in a statement to the Irish News (Belfast) that it had disbanded.
TUES. SEPTEMBER 10, 1996: Norman Stevenson, a loyalist from Portadown, Co Armagh, appeared before Belfast High Court on charges of possession of items suspected of being connected with terrorism, ie balaclavas, pickaxe handles and surgical gloves. He was given bail.
The Drumgoole family in the Shankill Road area of Belfast of Belfast came under attack when about 20 loyalists armed with pickaxe handles and iron bars tried to smash their way into their home.
Two members of the British army's Scots Guards regiment, James Fisher and Mark Wright, who were sentenced to life imprisonment in February 1994 for the murder of Peter McBride (18), who was shot near his New Lodge home in have won the right to challenge the refusal by Britain's supremo in the Six Counties, Patrick Mayhew, to refer their cases to the Life Sentence Review Board immediately.
WED. SEPTEMBER 11, 1996: The number of people out of work in the Six Occupied Counties rose to 87,500.
THURS. SEPTEMBER 12, 1996: A court case against Portadown loyalist Billy Wright (King Rat), who was due to go on trial along with two other Portadown loyalists in Belfast Crown Court for threatening to kill a woman on August 10, 1995, was adjourned as a leading witness was away on annual leave.
SAT. SEPTEMBER 14, 1996: Speaking to the Irish Times on a leading Presbyterian churchman, the Rev Terence McCaughey, a lecturer in Trinity College Dublin, hit out at the Orange Order's sectarian role in Six-County politics.
In the village of Bushmills about 60 loyalists waving Union Jacks formed a gauntlet and taunted Mass-goers, including a mother and three daughters who were called "Fenian bastards" by the mob.
Republican Sinn Féin held a rally at the GPO, Dublin on the eve of the All-Ireland Football Final between Mayo and Meath.
SUN. SEPTEMBER 15, 1996: In Dervock, Co Antrim at 9.30am drunken loyalists picketed the Catholic church and jostled a nationalist politician as he made his way into Mass.
The All-Ireland Football Final at Croke Park between Mayo and Meath resulted in a draw.
MON. SEPTEMBER 16, 1996: John Paul Devlin (30), alleged to be a drug-dealer, was shot dead in Friendly Street in the Markets area of Belfast by a group called 'Direct Action Against Drugs' (DAAD) which is believed to be a name of convenience for the Provisionals' military wing.
More than 100 jobs were lost in Monaghan town due to the closure of the Dawn Port pig-slaughtering plant in the town.
WED. SEPTEMBER 18, 1996: The trial of South Armagh men, Declan McComish and Kevin Patrick Donegan opened in Belfast Crown Court. The two men are accused of killing postal worker Frank Kerr during a £131,000 robbery in November 1994. The hearing lasted 15 minutes and was adjourned at the request of the men's lawyers to allow them to investigate new developments which had just come to light.
It was announced that the international giant Continental AG is to close the Semperit tyre plant in Dublin on December 6 next with the loss of 650 jobs. In Tipperary the US-owned Tambrands plant is to close with the loss of 220 jobs.
FRI. SEPTEMBER 20, 1996: The Belfast High Court upheld the decision of Derry City Council to strip Ulster Unionist Party Mayor Richard Dallas of mayoral privileges after taking part in a blockade of Craigavon Bridge, Derry on July 9 during the Drumcree stand-off. British home secretary Michael Howard approved the transfer of three Provisional prisoners — Páraic Mac Fhloinn (35 years), Michael O'Brien (18 years) and Derek Doherty (25 years)— to a prison in the 26 Counties towards the end of September.
SAT. SEPTEMBER 21, 1996: About 70 loyalists lined the footpath opposite Ballymena Catholic Church before 6pm Mass. Loyalists, mostly young men, carried loyalist flags and sang loyalist songs during the Mass and afterwards as people left the church.
About 75 loyalists also demonstrated outside the small Catholic church of St Mary's in the village of Bushmills, Co Antrim.
A shop assistant, Rhonda Ferguson (39), was seriously injured in an arson attack on Northline News newsagents on Duncairn Gardens, Belfast on September 21. The attack occurred in the morning when three men burst into the shop, doused it in petrol and set it alight. Nigel Blair, the shop owner, who was also injured in the attack has been robbed and threatened several times since refusing to pay protection money to the UDA/UFF British-backed death squad.
Two shotgun blasts were fired through a window of a house in Castleview, Moira, Co Antrim early on Saturday morning. In Coleraine, Co Derry a couple were suffering from shock after a number of shots were fired through the living-room window of the home in Glenburn Crescent. Both shootings have been linked to tensions within the loyalist death squads.
SUN. SEPTEMBER 22, 1996: Twenty loyalists demonstrated outside Mass in the village of Dervock, Co Antrim.
MON. SEPTEMBER 23, 1996: An unarmed Irishman, Diarmaid O'Neill (27), was shot dead by armed British police and five others were arrested following dawn raids by British police in London and Sussex. The British claimed that ten tons of explosives, three Kalashnikov rifles and two hand-guns, bomb-making equipment, Semtex and two lorries, believed to belong to the military wing of the Provisionals, were seized in the searches.
TUES. SEPTEMBER 24, 1996: Lurgan man Colin Duffy, who was given a life term by a non-jury Diplock court in July 1995 for the killing of former British army UDR sergeant John Lynes two years previously, was released by Belfast Appeal Court.
FRI. SEPTEMBER 27, 1996: Shane O'Neill (23), the brother of Diarmaid O'Neill who was shot dead in a shoot-to-kill operation in London on September 23, was released on police bail. An arson attack on the Church of Ireland church at Infirmary Road in Derry city badly damaged the building.
SAT. SEPTEMBER 28, 1996: About 200 loyalists picketed outside St Mary's Catholic Church in Ballymena as people were entering for Saturday evening Mass. Ian Paisley jun., of the DUP said the pickets would continue in Ballymena.
A group of loyalist businessmen, calling themselves the 'Business Consortium', who claim to represent 50 major firms in the Six Counties, stated they would begin a boycott of 26-County businesses in retaliation for the boycotts by nationalists in some parts of the Six Counties against businesses whose owners were involved in the loyalist campaign of road-blocking during the Drumcree stand-off in July of this year.
The Church of Ireland Bishop of Tuam, John Neill, said on September 28 that many Church of Ireland members found the Church's association with the Orangemen at Drumcree "deeply embarrassing and offensive".
SUN. SEPTEMBER 29, 1996: A bomb comprising 250lbs of home-made explosives was defused in a controlled explosion by the British army in Belfast city centre. Two warnings had been phoned to the Irish News (Belfast) by a man claiming to represent the 'Irish Continuity Army'.
Newry town centre, in County Down was sealed off by the RUC to allow a loyalist Apprentice Boys march to pass through later in the day. Around 100 RUC Land-Rovers were involved in the operation during which one man was arrested and local residents' group monitors were pushed off the street.
In the All-Ireland Football Final replay, Meath defeated Mayo by one point to take the Sam Maguire Cup.
MON. SEPTEMBER 30, 1996: Four Irishmen — Brian McHugh (39) and Patrick Kelly (30), both unemployed; James Murphy (25), a school groundsman and Michael Phillips (21), a British Airways apprentice engineer — appeared in court in London charged with conspiring to cause an explosion and possessing explosives.
MON. SEPTEMBER 30, 1996:
It was reported that UDA/UFF death squad prisoners in Long Kesh had withdrawn their support for the "peace process".
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