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Protestant enclave under siege after sectarian onslaught
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| Culzie | Date: Tuesday, 2013-04-16, 5:09 PM | Message # 1 |
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Generalissimo
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| Protestant enclave ‘under siege’ after sectarian onslaught
by Philip Bradfield [url=mailto[img]].bradfield@newsletter.co.uk">p.bradfield@newsletter.co.uk[/url] 16 April 2013
The Sinn Fein mayor of Derry City Council has condemned an onslaught of "sectarian attacks" on the last Protestant enclave in the west of city, which victims are describing as a renewed "Siege of Derry".
And a unionist councillor says he was "shocked" by a suggestion from the PSNI that they should evacuate Protestant young people from the city during planned parties in the city tomorrow to celebrate the death of Margaret Thatcher.
Mayor Kevin Campbell told the News Letter yesterday that dissident republicans were manipulating mobs of up to 50 children and having them throw dozens of petrol bombs at the minority Protestant community after the death of the former Prime Minister last week.
The Protestant enclave, the Fountain Estate, consists of 400 families surrounded by a two-to-three mile security barrier in the mainly Catholic west of the city.
Mr Campbell said the attacks on the estate were "absolutely disgraceful". He added: "There must be a sinister element involved when 25 petrol bombs are thrown - children aged nine to 15 would not know how to make petrol bombs."
He suggested dissident republicans were involved.
"Those responsible are trying to draw the police in. These are sectarian attacks – there is no other word for it. We had a rota going on for some years at the Fountain to chase young people away. The PSNI used CCTV to publish images of those responsible."
DUP councillor Gary Middleton said Fountain residents are "panicking" about planned celebrations in the city for the funeral of Margaret Thatcher tomorrow.
"There is a lot of tension in the air," he said.
"The term that is being used is ‘the Siege of Derry’ - the people of the Fountain feel that they are still under siege over 300 years after the original siege."
He said police have asked the youth group in the Fountain to take all their young people out of the city tomorrow, offering to pay for them to go karting and paintballing in Co Down.
"When I heard that I was shocked," he said. "That will not deal with the root of the problem."
Resident William Jackson said petrol bombs have been coming within 2-3 feet of his house.
"After seven nights of mayhem we have seen only one arrest," he said.
"We feel under siege 24 hours a day. Even before Margaret Thatcher’s death there was still intimidation and ongoing verbal abuse.
"They call us Orange Huns and say things like, ‘We are going to burn you out’.
"I get phone calls at 2-3am saying they are going to burn me out, shoot me in the head and watch my family cry.
"They are not going to be happy until we are out. It is ethnic cleansing, just sectarian thuggery."
Foyle PSNI said they regularly fund away days for young people from both sides of the community during big events such as parades.
An offer has been to made for youths on both sides for an away day tomorrow to divert children away from trouble, a spokesman said.
Ulster Protestants consider themselves to be a separate nation. This nation they call Ulster
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| Culzie | Date: Wednesday, 2013-04-17, 3:43 PM | Message # 2 |
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Generalissimo
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| Mediator: No aggression from Protestant side in Fountain estate
News Letter 17 April 2013
There is no aggression coming from a tiny Protestant enclave which has been subjected to a campaign of sectarian violence in Londonderry since the death of Margaret Thatcher, a mediator says.
Michael Doherty, of the city’s Peace and Reconciliation Group, said that Baroness Thatcher’s death had given dissident republicans the "excuse" that they wanted to attack the Fountain Estate.
Mobs of up to 50 teenagers have been launching petrol bombs almost nightly at the tiny Protestant estate since the former Tory leader died on April 8. The estate is surrounded by a three-mile security barrier in the mainly Catholic west of the city.
Mr Doherty told the News Letter: "Young people throwing petrol bombs at the Fountain is totally sectarian.
"I am supposed to be a mediator but I can’t do anything. There is no aggression coming out of the Fountain Estate."
Graham Warke, a youth worker in the estate, said Monday night was the first without attacks since Baroness Thatcher died.
"We put that down to the intense media scrutiny and a lot of work being done on the ground," he said.
"We understand the police are quite worried about Wednesday. We hope it passes off peacefully but we don’t feel any more relaxed."
Police say adequate resources are in place to deal with any disorder and that evidence is being gathered for arrests.
Ulster Protestants consider themselves to be a separate nation. This nation they call Ulster
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| Culzie | Date: Thursday, 2013-04-18, 3:39 PM | Message # 3 |
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Generalissimo
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| NL Wednesday 17,2013
ENCLAVE RESIDENTS CONCERNED OVER THATCHER FUNERAL
The parents of young children living at a west Belfast interface say they hope tensions will reduce following Margaret Thatcher's funeral.
Residents in the mainly Protestant enclave of Suffolk claim nationalists ''celebrating'' the death of the former Prime Minster attacked homes and shouted sectarian abuse from the Stewartstown Road last week.
Tensions have been running high since several police land rovers were required to protect the small estate on April 8.
One mother living in Ringford Crescent - within stone-throwing distance of the nationalist Stewartstown Road - said her house was one of many with reinforced windows.
''We had to have the reinforced fitted after nationalists kicked the last one in and came right into the house to threaten me a while back.'' she said.
''If they come out again to drive up and down shouting abuse,people are certainly worried there will be more houses attacked.''
Ulster Protestants consider themselves to be a separate nation. This nation they call Ulster
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| RSAUB | Date: Tuesday, 2013-04-23, 5:53 PM | Message # 4 |
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Colonel general
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| So much for a shared society.
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