south east antrim uvf
In Belfast, loyalists responded by attacking nationalist districts. [59] The UVF was behind the deaths of seven civilians in a series of attacks on 2 October. '[164], The UVF's satellite organisation, the Red Hand Commando, was described by the IMC in 2004 as "heavily involved" in drug dealing. In 2017, it applied to the Home Office asking to be taken off the list of proscribed organisations. A controlled explosion was carried out and the bomb was later declared a hoax. [44], The charges against Bunting were dropped in 2015 after a number of witnesses withdrew their statements, although Bunting did not return as brigadier, his place having been taken by "Big" Bill Hill, a dissident who had been prominent in the Belfast City Hall flag protests. The vast majority (more than two-thirds)[13][14] of its victims were Irish Catholic civilians, who were often killed at random. This is the first full assessment to emerge publicly, since 2015, when the British Government set out the position with all the different groups, following the IRA murder of Belfast man Kevin McGuigan. we solemnly warn the authorities to make no more speeches of appeasement. The UVF shot dead the first police officer to be murdered during the Troubles. [125] However, from 1977 bombs largely disappeared from the UVF's arsenal owing to a lack of explosives and bomb-makers, plus a conscious decision to abandon their use in favour of more contained methods. [104][105], On 4 March 2021, the UVF, Red Hand Commando and UDA renounced their current participation in the Good Friday Agreement. [47], In October 2016 it was reported that South Belfast brigadier Jackie McDonald had installed Sam "Bib" Blair, a White City-based veteran who had been kneecapped by supporters of the Shoukris in 2003 after attempting to oust them from the leadership, as the new brigadier. Many of the paramilitaries are now involved in criminality and drug-dealing, with tensions between and within groups resulting in serious disorder at times as well as shootings and other attacks. [34], On 12 August 1969, the "Battle of the Bogside" began in Derry. There are certainly plenty of UVF members around there but the last few times there has been drama at the roundabout it has been South East Antrim lads ordered out by Thier commanders (most of the lads had drug debts or something similar that could be used against them so they were pretty much threatened to attend). The attacks on the PSNI were encouraged by both the South East Antrim UDA and UVF who warned teens involved not to riot in loyalist estates, and to instead take the trouble onto the . With a few exceptions, such as Mid-Ulster brigadier Billy Hanna (a native of Lurgan), the Brigade Staff members have been from the Shankill Road or the neighbouring Woodvale area to the west. [21] In February 2006, the Independent Monitoring Commission reported that this feud had come to an end. The men were tried, and in March 1977 were sentenced to an average of twenty-five years each.[56][57]. It set up a paramilitary-style wing called the Ulster Protestant Volunteers (UPV). This was followed by another pub fight in North Belfast in March and this time the UVF members returned armed and shot and killed both Goatley and Fulton, who had been involved in the earlier fight. It sometimes claimed killings using the cover name the Protestant Action Force. Formed in 1965,[7] it first emerged in 1966. In 1984, the UVF attempted to kill the northern editor of the Sunday World, Jim Campbell after he had exposed the paramilitary activities of Mid-Ulster brigadier Robin Jackson. [26] Spence later wrote "At the time, the attitude was that if you couldn't get an IRA man you should shoot a Taig, he's your last resort". [47] John Boreland was shot dead soon after this. Jim 'Jimbo' Simpson - dubbed the 'Bacardi Brigadier' when he was the organisation's north Belfast leader - was believed to have fled Northern Ireland with several supporters shortly after the failed coup. It used submachine guns, assault rifles, shotguns, pistols, grenades (including homemade grenades), incendiary bombs, booby trap bombs and car bombs. Oct 21 // football. Two particular feuds stood out for their bloody nature. Officers from the PSNI's Paramilitary Crime Task Force also seized drugs, cash and expensive cars and jewellery in an operation carried out against the criminal activities of the UVF crime gang. [151][152] Former MI5 agent Willie Carlin said: There were safe houses in Glasgow and Stirling. The LVF was founded by Billy Wright when he, along with the Portadown unit of the UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade, was stood down by the UVF leadership on 2 August 1996 for breaking the ceasefire[16] This origin underscored frequent battles between the two movements. [55] [6] The UDA initially believed the IRA were responsible and intended to kidnap twenty Catholics in retaliation. [26] Two days later, the Government of Northern Ireland declared the UVF illegal. Did this woman die because her genitals were cut? The group also carried out attacks in the Republic of Ireland from 1969 onward. Spence told Radio Ulster that the UVF had been "engaged in murder, attempted murder of civilians, attempted murder of police officers. In November 2007, the UDA issued a statement saying "the war is over". F". Armed men hijacked a van on the nearby Shankill Road and forced the driver to take a device to a church on the Crumlin Road. Notorious attacks by the UFF included the shooting dead of five Catholics at a Belfast bookmakers in 1992 and the Greysteel massacre the following year. [29] On 21 May, the group issued a statement: From this day, we declare war against the Irish Republican Army and its splinter groups. Less extreme measures will be taken against anyone sheltering or helping them, but if they persist in giving them aid, then more extreme methods will be adopted. The Red Hand Commando is affiliated with the UVF and is considered the most secretive of the loyalist paramilitary organisations. Tensions had been further stoked by a graffiti campaign against Bunting's leadership on the York Road, in which expelled members of the North Belfast Brigade, who had come under the wing of their counterparts in the west, called for Bunting's removal as brigadier. He had been a prominent UVF member and was thought to have ordered or participated in about 20 killings. [39] In December, the UVF detonated a car bomb near the Garda central detective bureau and telephone exchange headquarters in Dublin. This move came as the organisation held high-level discussions about its future. Although many are not active, sources say they are still "card carrying" members. [54] A political wing was formed in June 1974, the Volunteer Political Party led by UVF Chief of Staff Ken Gibson, which contested West Belfast in the October 1974 general election, polling 2,690 votes (6%). Birgen, Julia. Earlier this week, the West Belfast UDA were reported to have made threats against two journalists working for the Sunday World newspaper in NI. The chip shop has since been closed down. They have been engaged in orchestrating violence on our streets, and it's very clear to me that they are engaged in an array of mafia-style activities. The gunmen shot dead six people and injured five. Video, The secret mine that hid the Nazis' stolen treasure, MasterChef Australia host Jock Zonfrillo dies, Banana artwork in Seoul museum eaten by visitor, Trevelyan relative 'would consider' famine payment, NFL player's daughter, aged two, drowns in pool, Four dead after suspected pigeon racer dispute, Ding becomes China's first male world chess champion, Indian 'killer' elephant relocated to tiger reserve. [25], Since 1964 and the formation of the Campaign for Social Justice, there had been a growing civil rights campaign in Northern Ireland, seeking to highlight discrimination against Catholics by the unionist government of Northern Ireland. This era also saw a more widespread targeting on the UVF's part of IRA and Sinn Fin members, beginning with the killing of senior IRA member Larry Marley[67] and a failed attempt on the life of a leading republican which left three Catholic civilians dead. Eventually a ceasefire was reluctantly agreed upon by the majority of those involved in the feuding after new procedures were established with the aim of preventing the escalation of any future problems between the two organisations, and after consideration was paid to the advice of Gary McMichael and David Ervine, the then leaders of the two political wings of loyalism.[15]. In February, it began to target critics of militant loyalism the homes of MPs Austin Currie, Sheelagh Murnaghan, Richard Ferguson and Anne Dickson were attacked with improvised bombs. [156] On 10 February 1976, following the sudden uptick of violence against Catholic civilians by loyalist militants, Irish cardinal William Conway and nine other Catholic bishops met with British Prime Minister Harold Wilson and his cabinet, asking them as to where the loyalist militants had acquired guns, to which Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Merlyn Rees replied "Canada". [49], The brigade formed part of the Glenanne gang, a loose alliance of loyalist assassins which the Pat Finucane Centre has linked to 87 killings in the 1970s. [17] The UVF retaliated by murdering two Protestant teenagers in Tandragee, who were both suspected of LVF membership and involvement in Jameson's death. Thu 6 Oct 2022 at 23:00 The South-East Antrim UDA has carried out seven brutal murders in Carrickfergus since 1995, but no one has ever been convicted in connection with them. [163] Loyalists in Portadown such as Bobby Jameson have stated that the LVF (the Mid-Ulster Brigade that broke away from the main UVF - and led by Billy Wright) was not a 'loyalist organisation but a drugs organisation causing misery in Portadown. Two members of the group survived the attack and later testified against those responsible. Oct 28 // football. They shot John Scullion, a Catholic civilian, as he walked home. UDA men patrolling the area had seen the pubs lights on and ordered Shaw and his friends to close the place down and go home. [41] Subsequent reports indicated this brigadier had lasted only two weeks before McDonald replaced him with an unidentified former member of the Loyalist Volunteer Force. [54] Gilmore had been targeted in an unsuccessful crossbow attack the previous August. The murder of Peter Ward, the third victim, brought the UVF and its then leader Gusty Spence to public attention. Loyalist Volunteer Force [ edit] "[159], According to Alan McQuillan, the assistant director of the Assets Recovery Agency in 2005, "In the loyalist community, drug dealing is run by the paramilitaries and it is generally run for personal gain by a large number of people." She died of her injuries on 27 June. [59] This was endorsed by Gusty Spence, who issued a statement asking all UVF volunteers to support the new regime. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. In 1972, the UVF's imprisoned leader Gusty Spence was at liberty for four months following a staged kidnapping by UVF volunteers. Hanna and Jackson have both been implicated by journalist Joe Tiernan and RUC Special Patrol Group (SPG) officer John Weir as having led one of the units that bombed Dublin. In 1990, the UVF joined the Combined Loyalist Military Command (CLMC) and indicated its acceptance of moves towards peace. The new assessment says this is still the position and the IRA is in a much-reduced form and not recruiting or training. [43] This followed the rejection of earlier overtures to West Belfast brigadier Matt Kincaid as he opted to back Spence and Courtney. [5], The following month, UDA Colonel Hugh McVeigh and his aide David Douglas were the next to die, kidnapped by the UVF on the Shankill Road and taken to Carrickfergus where they were beaten before being killed near Islandmagee.
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