Even by the violent standards of Northern Ireland’s Troubles, the events of August 1971 were particularly shocking
Even by the standards of Northern Ireland’s Troubles it was a tumultuous, violent couple of days.
The British army swept into nationalist neighbourhoods across the region on the morning of 9 August 1971 as part of Operation Demetrius, rounding up hundreds of suspects without trial in the hope of snuffing out the IRA’s campaign.
Continue reading...Two army veterans acquitted of Joe McCann’s murder after judge ruled some evidence inadmissible
Two former British army paratroopers accused of murdering an Official IRA commander during the Troubles have been acquitted after their trial in Northern Ireland collapsed.
The two veterans, known as soldiers A and C, had been accused of murdering Joe McCann on 15 April 1972, in a closely watched trial with political ramifications.
Continue reading...Rioters have been blasted with water cannon by police on the streets of Belfast, Northern Ireland, as unrest continued into a seventh day.
Stones and fireworks were thrown at police by gangs of youths gathered on the nationalist Springfield Road, close to where riots took place on Wednesday night
After calls for calm this week, there was a heavy security presence, with water cannon and riot officers at the scene as police charged the youths with dogs
Continue reading...Gangs of youths gathered near the scene of Wednesday night’s violence and hurled stones and fireworks at police
Rioters have been blasted with a water cannon by police as unrest stirred on the streets of Northern Ireland once again.
After calls for calm this week, violence again flared up on the streets of west Belfast on Thursday. Stones and fireworks were thrown at police by gangs of youths gathered on the nationalist Springfield Road, close to where riots took place on Wednesday night.
Continue reading...Chief constable briefs party leaders after political crisis intensified by another night of riots in Belfast
Northern Ireland’s power-sharing executive is holding an emergency meeting in Stormont after another night of riots scarred parts of Belfast and ratcheted up a political crisis.
Simon Byrne, the chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, briefed party leaders on the security situation on Thursday before a debate at the assembly, which has been recalled from its Easter break.
Continue reading...My friend, Roddy Evans, who has died aged 97, was a skilled surgeon and a remarkable man, whose commitment to his worldwide community was highly significant.
A Christian, he was drawn to the Moral Re-Armament movement (MRA, now Initiatives of Change) because it was based on practical Christianity: putting your own life in order first so that you can help others. Roddy lived a simple life and he believed that God would provide for him.
Continue reading...Acts of state violence, and repeated official denials, drove some Northern Irish Catholics to armed resistance. But not everyone in west Belfast supported the IRA’s methods
When Johnston Brown, a 27-year-old detective with the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) – the overwhelmingly protestant police force of Northern Ireland – volunteered in late 1977 to serve at Andersonstown police barracks in Catholic west Belfast, he was given a few pieces of very clear advice. He should never stop at a red light in west Belfast if it was safe to drive on. He should assume that any pedestrians who wanted to cross the road may be part of a trap – members of the security forces had lost their lives this way. Nor should Brown ever indicate that he was turning into a police barracks. He should approach with the flow of the traffic and then swerve suddenly in through the gates, to reduce the risk of being shot, and to make it harder for anyone to make a note of his registration number. And if he were unfortunate enough to fall into the hands of gunmen, he must attempt to shoot his way out – never try to talk himself out of trouble.
“I remember clearly,” Brown wrote in 2005, “one older detective sergeant, a man in his late 40s, telling me sternly: ‘Here you have at most between five and eight minutes at the door of any house you may call at on an enquiry. You have that much time to conduct the enquiry and get the hell out of those areas, because five to eight minutes is all the time it takes for the Provos [the Provisional IRA] to get hold of a weapon and a volunteer who will be only too keen to kill you before you conduct your enquiry and leave.’”
Continue reading...Embassy in London claims construction project is covered by diplomatic immunity
A row over the construction of a wall at the Chinese consulate in Belfast has escalated after China said it would ignore a legal order to temporarily halt the work.
A letter from lawyers for the Chinese embassy in London to residents objecting to the security wall said diplomatic staff did not recognise the jurisdiction of courts in Northern Ireland.
Continue reading...Air travel bosses want assurances that science is driving the move, and that a clear exit strategy is in place
A two-week quarantine period for all travellers arriving in Britain risks devastating an aviation industry already crippled by the Covid-19 outbreak, Boris Johnson is being warned.
It is understood that the 14-day quarantine period will be announced by the prime minister, alongside a slight loosening of the lockdown measures that were introduced to slow the spread of the virus. Mass quarantine upon arrival has not previously been used as part of Britain’s response.
Continue reading...The reporter was a ‘ceasefire baby’ who grew up in Northern Ireland in the 90s. This is the essay she was working on at the time of her murder last year
They call my generation the “Ceasefire babies”, though I’ve always hated that name. I hated the mocking tone in which it was usually said, as if growing up in the 90s in Belfast was a stroll. There were still soldiers on the street when I was a kid. I remember them – in uniforms and maroon berets, at checkpoints, on pavements, crouching down on one knee, as if ducking out of sight of an enemy the surrounding civilians couldn’t see. I remember walking past one with my sister, then aged about 16, after she had picked me up from school. “Do they wear hats on their heads to stop them from getting cold?” I’d asked. “Yes,” she’d replied, smiling, and the pale-skinned recruit I’d gestured to had smiled as well. He looked barely older than her, perhaps 18. That was around the time I learned that the toy gun I used for games of cowboys and Indians could not be brought outside, in case a passing patrol saw it and mistook it for a real one. It didn’t matter that it was silver with an orange trumpet-top on the end of the barrel.
It had happened, my mother assured me, to a little boy, on the same street where I’d seen the teen soldier. I was never sure if this was urban legend, but the only time I took the gun outside, to the back yard – which was surrounded by a 10ft concrete wall – I’d had the arse smacked off me. The helicopters were out; what if they’d seen it with their cameras, my mother said, and thought it was real? The scenario seemed unlikely to me: that a helicopter, thousands of feet up in the air, would spot a kid playing with a toy and send a patrol to our house. But my mother wasn’t taking any chances.
Continue reading...Healthcare workers on the frontline of the coronavirus outbreak in Northern Ireland have made an appeal to the public. In a video, doctors and nurses from the Belfast trust respiratory team urge people to stay at home in order to save lives
Continue reading...The Guardian’s Rory Carroll is reporting from the constituency of Belfast East to find out what issues people there care about most – and he wants your help
Are you a Belfast East voter? The Guardian will be reporting from Belfast East next week ahead of the General Election, as part of a series of pieces from across the country focused on finding out what matters to the people who live there.
Traditionally a unionist seat, Belfast East is facing deep political uncertainty. It’s held by the DUP which supports Brexit but is not happy with Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal in case it weakens Northern Ireland’s position in the UK.
Continue reading...More than 20 people including senior security force personnel and ex-IRA members may be considered for prosecution
The agent code named “Stakeknife” was one of British military intelligence’s most valued assets, operating inside the Provisional IRA. Recruited in the late 1970s, the spy rose through the IRA’s ranks in Belfast to become head of the paramilitary group’s informer-hunting unit known as “the nutting squad”. He had the power of life and death over IRA members accused of being informers for the security forces during the Troubles. His unit used torture methods to extract admissions from those in the IRA accused of treachery. Often their so-called “confessions” were taped and on occasion played to their close relatives to convince them that the victim had been “guilty” of treachery.
Continue reading...Belfast prosecutors considering action against ‘Stakeknife’ and his British army handlers
A police inquiry into one of the biggest spy scandals in the history of British intelligence has recommended that more than 20 people including senior security force personnel and ex-IRA members be considered for prosecution, the Guardian has learned.
Operation Kenova, the multimillion-pound investigation into “Stakeknife” – the army agent at the heart of the IRA during the Northern Ireland Troubles – has now sent files identifying military commanders and at least one IRA veteran with a so-called “get-out-of-jail” card to the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) in Belfast.
Continue reading...Three officers injured as officers are forced to retreat from pyre to mark 1971 mass internment
Youths in north Belfast have attacked riot police in a standoff over an unauthorised republican bonfire.
The officers withdrew in their Land Rovers from the New Lodge area on Thursday afternoon after coming under a hail of bottles, bricks, fireworks and other projectiles that injured three officers.
Continue reading...Hundreds of people take park in three-day walk in memory of murdered journalist
Friends of Lyra McKee have started a three-day peace walk from Belfast to Derry, five weeks after the journalist was murdered while watching clashes between police and dissident republicans.
At Writer’s Square in Belfast on Saturday morning, hundreds of people turned out, many wearing T-shirts in her memory and carrying flags bearing messages of peace.
Continue reading...Four thousand skilled jobs at risk in Northern Ireland as Canadian firm unveils sell-off
The Canadian aerospace firm Bombardier is to sell its wing-making operation, which employs 4,000 people in Northern Ireland, sparking concern among trade unions and MPs about the impact on highly skilled jobs.
A spokesman for the prime minister said the government did not expect jobs to be affected but the trade union Unite said it was seeking stronger assurances from the government and the company.
Continue reading...Breakout is second in recent weeks after runaway red panda found in a nearby garden
Chimpanzees have used a branch to escape from their enclosure at Belfast zoo in the second breach by animals in recent weeks.
They took advantage of damage caused by stormy weather to stage a breakout, which visitors caught on film.
Continue reading...