Issue 053, Saoirse : Irish Freedom (September, 1991)

              uimh 53 mean fomhair september 1991 30p usa 24 per year brits unleash loyalist death squads john taylor mp - inciting sectarian attacks francis crawford shot by the uff on august 31 since july 20 eight men have been killed by loyalist death squads in the six i counties • september 3 seamus sullivan 24 shot in a random sectarian attack in belfast's springfield road area no condemnation from unionist parties dublin or british government • august 31 francis crawford 57 shot by the uff in north belfast after being lured into delivering a chinese take-away near a large udr base again no unionist dublin/british condemnation • august 24 martin waiters 27 is beaten to death by a loyalist gang in lisburn as he walked home at night no coverage in several dublin papers no condemnation from unionists/dub lin/british • august 16 martin oprey 27 shot at his home by uvf under british army divis tower observation post no condemnations from unionists/dublin british the same day thomas don aghy 38 shot dead arriving for work at kilrea co deny by ttye uff collus ion by british crown forces is probable — his file leaked to loyalists no condemn ation by unionists/dublin/british • august 12 patrick shanaghan 31 shot dead by the uff in castle derg co tyrone collusion file leaked to loyalists no condemnation by union ists/dublin/british • august 10 james carson 33 shot dead in his west belfast shop by loyalist retaliation and defence group red hand commandos known to be closely linked with british crown forces no condemnation by unionists dublin or british governments • july 19 thomas hughes 34 gunned down in his taxi by uvf in full view of divis tower british observation post no condemnations from unionists dublin/british in addition loyalists fired on a bus near markethill co armagh carrying prisoners relatives to long kesh on august 14 last only the courage of the bus-driver | saved the lives of his passengers coverage in the dublin papers was low key coll 1 usion by british crown forces strongly | suspected the eight-week period since the ending of the brooke talks on july 3 last has seen a dramatic upsurge in sectarian assassinations by loyalist death squads which has claimed the lives of eight people in belfast deny lisburn and castle derg see panel allied to this terror campaign has been an orchestrated media campaign for the re-introduction of internment both of these devel opments along with two others are designed to facilitate brit ain's policy objective of renewing the brooke talks process as quickly as possible during the same period the revel ations of the systematic abuse and torture of young people in castle reagh ruc interrogation centre has led the international human rights organisation amnesty internat ional to issue its first ever urgent action call in the six counties in regard to the brutality suffered by 17-year-old belfast youth dam ien austin the same pattern of harassment and abuse especially of young men has been reported from all over counties tyrone and fermanagh in the past weeks this treatment led five members of the casey family in cookstown co tyrone to take refuge in a catholic church for three days and has led to the setting up of the cookstown justice and peace group the belfast-based voices of the inno cent and the fermanagh/tyrone group families against intimidation torture and harassment faith finally there have been the words of certain loyalist politicians intent fe1s 	 na 	 poblachta satharn 7u mean fomhair 1991 c-stan west county seipeal losoid bac teama 1916 - comoradh 75 bliain cainteoiri bernadette mcaiiskey nora de hoir agus gearoid 6 maolmhichil srtunhoir seosamh o maoileoin teileaf on 044 23302 on fanning the flames of sectar ianism in a speech to the young unionists in belfast on tuesday september 3 john taylor mp for strangford ex-mep and former home affairs minister in the old stormont regime said that one of every three roman catholics one meets is either a supporter of murder or worse still a murderer the editorial in the belfast irish news the next day said the next time a team of loyalist para militaries go cruising through a catholic area looking for victims they will think they have a one4n three chance of getting it right the previous night at belfast city council sammy wilson press off icer for the dup described voters in the oldpark ward as 5,000 sub-human animals because he did not like the way they voted peter brooke britain's direct ruler said in his hinting at intern ment speech on sunday august 18 that the loyalist paramilitaries are reacting to the provisional ira those who examine the record of loyalist armed activity and british collusion with it know that this is patently false the british are clearly using the loyalist death squads to terrorise the nationalist people of the six counties into a state of panic whereby they will accept what ever partitionist arrangements a revived brooke initiative will come up with the threats of internment without trial of nationalists is similarly intended to bring the unionists to the table this is the real face of british colonial rule eire nua eve of all-ireland rally gpo o'connell street dublin saturday september 14 4pm prominent speakers