N. IRELAND

More Violence Reported

Overnight riots in Northern Ireland's Protestant flashpoint of Portadown left 21 policemen injured ahead of Wednesday's feared climax to the Protestant marching season. Police said a man was found shot to death in Larne, north of Belfast, as bonfires blazed in the province's pro-British "loyalist" strongholds ushering in annual Twelfth of July celebrations of old battlefield victories over Roman Catholics.

Men in paramilitary uniforms appeared at the bon-fires at various locations in Northern Ireland and shots were fired into the air as crowds chanted the names of pro unionist groups. With crowds yelling support for the Ulster Freedom Fighters and the Loyalist Volunteer Force, police got ready for further demonstrations ahead of Wednesday's anniversary of an important sectarian battle in the region more than 300 years ago. Both the UFF and LVF vowed to kill a Roman Catholic every day unless the Portadown Protestant Orange Order is allowed to march along the Garvaghy road.

N. IRELAND:

British Security Forces Employ Engineers To Implement Anti-Riot Measures

British soldiers on Wednesday erected high metal barriers in a new effort to block a bridge at the Northern Irish flashpoint of Drumcree. The action was taken after a third night of rioting by pro-British Protestants. In what is considered to be a significant intensification of anti-riot measures at the bridge, which is near a Roman Catholic area, troops put in place a 20 foot high metal fence, topped with razor wire, and backed it up with two huge metal containers.

The bridge has been the focal point of a vicious confrontation between hundreds of Protestants and security forces enforcing an official order barring a Protestant parade from entering the pro-Irish, Catholic district. The bridge, in the shadow of a tiny Protestant parish church, has been the scene of bitter clashes during similar march bans in past year.

Helicopters, heavy army patrols and sporadic rain dampened down violence in Northern Ireland early Thursday. Helicopters hovered low over potential trouble-spots in Belfast and British soldiers patrolled the streets of the city for the first time in a year...

05 July 2000

14:00CDT/20:00GMT - 05 July 2000

N. I. Police Chief Says He Fears Escalating Violence...

Belfast, N. Ireland (EmergencyNet News) -- Sir Ronnie Flanagan, N. Ireland police chief, told the BBC television news this evening, "We've had disturbing reports all day of the intent of some evil people on the extreme fringe of loyalism in terms of what they intend to do this evening, in terms of the attacks they intend to carry out against my officers up to and including the use of blast bombs, and indeed firearms." Flanagan's comments follow three days of confrontations between police and loyalist hard-liners who demand the right to march in predominantly Catholic neighborhoods, and which could spark a resumption of "tit-for-tat" violence with pro-Catholic extremist splinter groups 

N. IRELAND

Third Night Of Violence In Northern Ireland

There were a half a dozen flashpoints in Belfast early Wednesday as anti-Catholic extremists vented their rage at British authorities' determination to restrict traditional Protestant parades from Catholic areas. Violence in the British province escalated during a third night of unrest by hard-line Protestants. Police exchanged shots with gunmen in a Protestant area of north Belfast on

Tuesday night, and masked youths hijacked vehicles and set them on fire in several parts of the city. Near the volatile town of Portadown, 30 miles to the southwest, police used water cannons -- rarely used in Northern Ireland -- to disperse several hundred people protesting the banning of a Protestant march through a Catholic neighborhood this coming Sunday.

Paramilitary militants coordinating the mayhem have warned that rioting will intensify unless the Orange Order is allowed to march along the disputed Garvaghy Road. Britain and the province's police commander, Chief Constable Ronnie Flanagan, says that won't be allowed to happen... 

04 July 2000

N. IRELAND:

Outbreaks Of Violence Reported

Outbreaks of violence were reported in several areas of Northern Ireland overnight when Protestant hard-liners expressed their anger at a ban on a march through a Roman Catholic enclave. The BBC reported that a police officer fired two shots when a police patrol was attacked by hardliners in the town of Portadown. No one was injured in the shooting but a policeman was reported to have been injured when his vehicle was attacked by stone-throwers. 

The BBC also said there was violence in Belfast where firebombs had been thrown and barricades set on fire. The outbreaks of violence began with a second successive night of rioting at the sectarian flashpoint of Drumcree, a hamlet near Portadown, despite a heavy security force presence backed by armored vehicles.

Dozens of Protestant hardliners attacked security forces with bricks and bottles before troops and police wielding batons and shields charged and scattered them across fields. The hardliners were said to be angry that authorities had banned them from marching through the nearby Garvaghy Road area -- a Catholic stronghold.

Next Sunday's Drumcree march is the most contentious of the Protestant "marching season" because the Orange Order organizers maintain they have a traditional right to go through the Catholic Garvaghy Road area.

03 July 2000

N. IRELAND

RUC Chief Warns Of Growing Terrorist Threat

As Northern Ireland geared up for a volatile period of pro-British parades, police blamed Irish republican militants for a bomb that exploded on Friday. RUC chief Sir Ronnie Flanagan said the so-called "Real IRA" and other renegade factions posed a growing threat after the small blast on part of a railway line to the Irish republic.

Flanagan also sounded a warning that pro-British hardliners might try to stir trouble at marches in Drumcree, a traditional flash point for sectarian clashes about parades that commemorate ancient Protestant victories over Roman Catholics. The British government has bought in 2,000 troops to back up the police in the run-up to the 12 July climax of the traditionally tense Protestant "marching season" which faces a stiff test with parades this Sunday and Sunday 9 July at Drumcree, a village near the town of Portadown...