Antrim estate under siege

Wednesday July 10, 2002 20:09

by McMean

Around 100 loyalists attacked the nationalist Rathenraw estate in Antrim town at 11.30pm on Monday night.

A number of residents were injured as the loyalists attacked them
with sticks and batons including one resident who was seriously
beaten resulting in bruising over his entire body.

Residents were terrified as the loyalists ran amok and only a
single RUC/PSNI landrover was in the area. A tense stand off
commenced between local residents and the crowd of loyalists.

Sinn Fein South Antrim councillor Martin Meehan tried to reassure
local residents by intervening in the situation.

The situation was eventually calmed at about midnight although
later that night the same loyalists attacked Catholic houses on
the Styles estate breaking windows including those of a 79 year
old woman who has lived in the same house for thirty years. She
had all the windows at the front of her home broken and has now
decided to leave the area.

Meehan said "residents were terrified, if these people had not
came out to defend their homes then God knows what could have
happened because the RUC/PSNI weren't going to stand up to these
loyalists".

He went on to allay the fears of the people living on these
estates with the Orange Parades and bonfires due to take place
this week.

"The UDA are determined to put nationalists out of the Antrim
area, but I can tell them the people of Rathenraw are not for
moving. The silence of Unionist politicians towards these attacks
on Catholics is deafening, just the way they are not condemning
the attacks on nationalist communities across the North",
concluded Meehan.

CATHOLIC LODGER IN PROTESTANT HOME TARGETED

In the latest violence today, a Protestant family who had a
Catholic man lodging with them escaped injury when two petrol
bombs were hurled at their Styles home in Antrim. The attack
happened just after midnight Tuesday night/Wednesday morning.

The Catholic man who had been burned out of his home on the
Stiles Estate earlier this year was staying with the Protestant
family when the loyalists threw two petrol bombs at the window of
the room where the man was sleeping. One device hit the window
frame and exploded causing minor damage while the other failed to
ignite.

The Chairperson of Rathenraw Community Association Paddy Murray
said, "this was an attempt by loyalists to murder innocent people
in their beds, they have already made this Catholic man homeless
and are intent on removing all Catholics rom this estate".

This afternoon, as Sinn Fein councillors for Antrim Martin Meehan
and Martin McManus met with the residents of the Stiles estate to
discuss ongoing sectarian attacks, a car belonging to a member of
the community association was rammed by two cars containing
loyalists.

A local resident said, "I saw the two cars drive out of a cul de
sac and ram this car, I called the RUC/PSNI but the loyalists
drove away. These attacks are happening too, often someone is
going to be killed".

FAMILY OF SIX ESCAPE GUN ATTACK

Earlier this week, five shots were fired through the living room
of a Catholic family in Coleraine, County Derry on Monday night
as they slept.

The man, his wife and their four children aged 11 to 18 were in
bed when loyalists fired five shots through the living room
window of their Quickthorn Place home in the staunchly loyalist
Harpers Hill area of the town.

A petrol bomb which was thrown through the back window of the
family car failed to ignite.

No one was injured but the family were traumatised and were
treated by their doctor. This is the second time loyalists have
targeted the family. Last year a pipe bomb was thrown through the
window of their home.

The family who have been involved in community work in the area
have lived there for over thirty years are now thinking of
moving.

In June, RUC/PSNI members fired shots in the air to disperse a
crowd of up to 40 loyalists who chased two Catholic men through
in the Somerset Drive area of the town.