The long-suffering nationalist population were once more put to the test when Catholic churches were attacked in the early hours of July 2. Of the most seriously damaged were St James, Aldergrove, near Belfast, which was reduced to a blackened shell after a midnight attack; St Joseph’s church at Kilcorig near Lisburn, Co Antrim and the Church of the Immaculate Conception at Leitrim near Castlewellan, Co Down, which were completely gutted.
It is understood the north Antrim LVF formulated a “tour of destruction” policy to be put into effect if Britain’s Parades Commission should re-route the Orange march away from the nationalist Garvaghy Road.
While Orange boot boys were allowed to camp in the grounds of Drumcree, they could use themselves as a decoy while their fascist allies in the pro-British death squads could embark on real damage. In this burning hatred instigated by British Military intelligence, St Colmcille’s on the Upper Newtownards Road received scorch and smoke damage; Mary Queen of Peace, Blackscull, Dromore received minor smoke damage ; the roof of the church at Mullavilly Tandragee, Co Tyrone was burned; St Columba’s, Clanmore Road, Dungannon, Co Tyrone suffered smoke and water damage, Glen Church, Glen Road, Banbridge, Co Down had minor damage, while Killyman Church, Dungannon, Co Tyrone received scorch damage.
Intruders who broke into Our Lady of Lourdes church, Grange near Kilkeel, Co Down, are believed to have run off after triggering the alarm system.
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More than 100 people packed the venue for the launch of the book which deals with Comdt-General Tom Maguire and the Second (All-Ireland ) Dáil. Thanking those in attendance for their interest and for buying the book, the Republican Sinn Féin President then spoke about the situation after the referendums on the Stormont deal:
“The historic Irish nation whose homeland is the island of Ireland did not cease to exist on May 22. History did not stop evolving on that day and Irish people will continue to strive for an Ireland free of British rule.
“Comdt-Gen Tom Maguire gave all of his long life – spanning almost the entire 20th century – to the service of the Irish nation. His example, and the example of so many others of his generation, will continue to inspire succeeding generations of Irish people to give service to the same cause.
“The high standards set and maintained by people like Tom Maguire, Mary MacSwiney, Count Plunkett, Brian O’Higgins and JJ O’Kelly (‘Sceilg’), Deputy for Louth in the First and Second (All-Ireland) Dáil have been debased by those with access to power in the 26 Counties.
“These remarkable men and women and those associated with them in their time sought only the welfare and advancement of the entire Irish people. They rejected personal gain, put their lives at stake and gave a lifetime of service without any recompense so that Ireland might be free and independent.
“History teaches that the permanent peace we all so earnestly desire will not be achieved while foreign occupation continues in Ireland. As long as the Irish people and the historic Irish nation endure the right – common to all nations – to resist foreign aggression will remain intact.”
The launch of the book was performed by the Donegal writer Pádraig Ó Baoighill who now lives in Monaghan. Dr Seán Maguire, Castlebar, Co Mayo, son of General Maguire, also spoke.
He reminded those in attendance of England’s history of duplicity and tyranny in Ireland and offered a hand of friendship to that disaffected section of the Irish people, the unionists, most of whom are descended from the dissenter tradition embodied in the United Irishmen.
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Michael Donnelly (49), his wife Martina (47), and two of their children, Niamh (10) and Caoimhe (6) arrived at the house at 11.10pm. Five minutes earlier they had been stopped by members of the British colonial police (RUC) and interrogated at length as to their movements that night, and in particular, if they would be going home soon.
Michael’s son Deaglán (22), described the subsequent attack to SAOIRSE:
“My parents and sisters returned from a trip to buy milk. My other sister Úna (11), my fianceé Tina (22) and I were also at home and we were all in the living room. Exactly ten minutes later four masked men wearing combat clothing burst into the room and one shouted ‘IRA Provisionals’. One sprayed ‘mace’ tear gas into my mother’s eyes and into my little sisters’ faces and started to beat my father.
“They had baseball bats studded with nails and iron crowbars. Niamh climbed on top of the armchair and jumped on one of the thugs to protect her Daddy, but he threw her to the ground and clubbed her on the leg with a nail-studded baseball bat.
“Úna then jumped across her father to protect him and her back was badly beaten. Caoimhe was still sitting on his knee and she was also beaten by the Provisional thugs.
“Despite the ferocity of the attack, my father made it to his feet and was able to tackle three Broy Harriers while I grabbed the fourth’s iron bar and fought back. We were beating them out of the room towards the front door, but one pulled a revolver and fired a shot. We turned to protect the children and as my father stood over the girls they beat his back.
“A fifth Broy Harrier, also carrying a baseball bat, then came into the kitchen. He was obviously the driver and was worried that the others were taking so long — they weren’t expecting a fight. He came after me, along with the one who pulled the gun on me and another, but I got away and raised the alarm.
“They went back into the kitchen and all five cease-fire soldiers went about beating one unrepentant Republican, as he lay on the ground, for refusing to surrender his ideals. Although my father was now lying on the floor with a broken leg he wrenched a crowbar from one of them and kneecapped him with it. My mother tried to intervene, but one of them stuck his arm in her face and said ‘IRA Provisionals, fuck off’. Tina got to the phone and raised the alarm, the Broy Harriers left.
“Although five members of the Provisionals’ party militia walked into our house two of them had to be carried out. Some of them fell on the driveway and one injured himself badly on some building blocks by falling on them. The blocks were covered in blood.
“The fascists escaped in a hijacked taxi which they dumped in Shantallow. Local people saw the car and have told us that its seats and floor are covered in blood. The Broy Harriers’ blood shows the Provisionals’ party militia have failed to break my father and it is common knowledge in Derry that they will never defeat Michael Donnelly, neither physically or politically.
“In 1971 my father was singled out for special torture by British police and the SAS. He was one of the longest serving internees and the last of the original internees of August 9, 1971, to be released. They failed to break him then.
“The new British policemen who attacked our family on June 28 learned the hard way that Michael Donnelly will not surrender to any British agent, whether that Brit be foreign born or a native imperialist.
“The Republican Sinn Féin boycott campaign was very successful and in Derry it lost the Provisionals one seat that they thought would easily be theirs, Gerry O’Hara’s, while Mary Nelis only got in on the eight count. What saved her seat was the fact that she was in the SDLP until 1983 and got second preferences from SDLP voters. That is why they attacked our family.
“The Republican Movement is beating them politically and is exposing them as the British agents and quislings that they are.”
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McGuinness opened his door but stepped back into his hallway on recognising Martina. When she asked him why five members of his party beat her children and her husband with iron bars and baseball bats studded with nails, McGuinness replied, significantly, “I wasn’t here.”
He then stepped forward in what an eyewitness described as “an absolutely threatening manner” and proceeded to point his finger into Martina’s face. He then said “Your husband has been calling me a traitor all around this town for the past twelve months”.
After a slight pause Martina said “Oh, so that’s why you did it”. McGuinness did not deny this accusation and Martina said “Sure, that’s all you are, Martin – a traitor and a collaborator. On Wednesday you’ll be sitting with the British government in their assembly. In fact, you’ll be part of the British government there.”
McGuinness replied, “Keep your voice down. My children are inside” while his wife, Bernie shouted “Just shut the door on them”. Martina then asked, “What about my children? You sent five masked men to spray gas into my children’s eyes and to beat them and their father up.” McGuinness then declared “I’m not listening to this” and slammed his door violently.
Martina then addressed him loudly through his open window repeating “child-beater”, “collaborator” and stated “Sure, you’ll be running the place for them on Wednesday”.
On Wednesday, July 1, three days after the Provisionals attacked the Donnelly family in their home, Martin McGuinness signed himself into the British parliament at Stormont where he is now a colonial assemblyman.
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Deaglán Ó Donghaile has also received threats, one issued by two individuals from the Provisional office in Creggan.
They stated that if they had gone to carry out the attack “Deaglán would not be walking now. But that doesn’t matter because he is next anyway.”
Both cease-fire soldiers went on to celebrate the fact that Michael’s children had been sprayed with teargas and beaten, saying that “they deserved it for getting in the way”.
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The decision by Britain’s Parades Commission ann-ounced on July 6, to force the Orange parade through, has angered locals. One man in Artana Street explained to the Belfast Irish News that the streets were closed off for 27 hours during these periods.
A relative of one of the five people killed in the British-backed death squad massacre at Seán Graham’s bookie shop six years ago has also slated the decision.
Patricia Breen of Dromora Street, an aunt of 18-year-old Peter Magee who was shot dead in the 1992 UDA/UFF attack said she was “disgusted” at the Parades Commission ruling.
Since the death squad murders, Orange marchers parading past the site of the slaughter have incensed relatives with the five fingers sign in reference to the number killed.
The small nationalist enclave of the Lower Ormeau Road is a soft option for Britain’s management enforcers surrounded as it is by loyalist areas. British military personnel and armoured cars can station themselves outside people’s houses and at each entrance to the area to prevent nationalists from elsewhere coming in to join a protest.
A series of other decisions on Orange marches was also announced by the Parades Commission on July 6. No restrictions have been imposed on the Orange march through Crumlin village, Co Antrim, where the nationalist pop-ulation has grown considerably since the last Orange parade 14 years ago.
The Lurgan Orange parade is also permitted although the Parades Commission admits the potential for “public disorder” in this part of Co Armagh if the Orange bands parade along the mainly Nationalist William Street.
The Greencastle , Co Antrim parade will go ahead on its normal route. The same is the case for parades through the predominately nationalist towns of Newtonbutler and Downpatrick (July 12 and 13). No restrictions have been placed on the Orange march in Belfast‘s Whiterock road.
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