BY CHRIS MORRIS

BELFAST, Northern Ireland - The crisis of British rule in the six counties of Northern Ireland intensified as nationalists staunchly resisted rightist marches through their streets and the intimidation of their communities. Graphic images of complicity of British armed forces with the rightist street gangs, headed by Unionist politicians, were beamed by the media all over the world.

Working people in Britain, many for the first time, began to see the real face of anti-Catholic violence and discrimination.

On Friday night July 12 in Derry, the police fired 1,000 plastic bullets - six-inch-long and one-inch-wide batons that can be fatal - at Catholic protesters, according to the Irish News, injuring 200.

The following morning one of the protesters, Dermot McShane, was killed when a British army vehicle drove over him. That evening 10,000 marched, many carrying black flags, in protest to Derry city center, where Sinn Fein leader Martin McGuinness charged the British Army with murder.

More than 100 Catholic families had been forced out of their homes in Belfast by the rightist violence as of mid-July. Ursula Slavin was one of the last Catholics to leave Cliftonpark Avenue. "One of my neighbors had to run for her life with her children in arms. Her house went up in flames behind her as she ran," she said. "They were shooting after people as they ran."

At a protest on the Falls Road here July 14, one of the signs read, "1996-1969 Nothing has Changed." In 1969 resistance to pogroms like these led to the British Army being sent to Northern Ireland, beginning 27 years of direct occupation.

The nationalist demonstration, which marched through West Belfast, was in protest to the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) police decision to allow Orange Order marches through Catholic areas July 12. The action grew along the route as hundreds of bystanders joined it, eventually linking up with another march from the Andersonstown district of the city. Several other such protests took place throughout Northern Ireland.

Rightists launch anti-Catholic attacks
The RUC decision, endorsed by the British government, had come after a week-long standoff between the loyalist (pro- British) Orange Order marchers and the police. During this time the rightists attacked the cops and carried out anti-Catholic riots, burning homes and cars. Catholics throughout Northern Ireland were subjected to a virtual blockade, with many roads and rail routes as well as telephone lines cut off by loyalists, and hundreds of Catholic homes being assaulted. On July 7 Michael McGoldrick, a Catholic taxi driver in Lurgan, was shot dead.

The two flash points were the Orange Order marches down the Garvaghy Road in Portadown and Lower Ormeau Road in Belfast. After residents protested, the courts and police had agreed the Loyalist marches should be rerouted. They are just two of 3,000 such marches by the rightist groups.

Ostensibly called to celebrate the Battle of the Boyne 300 years ago, the loyalist actions are aimed at preserving the caste-type system through which Protestants are treated preferentially to Catholics. This system is the keystone of British rule.

Increasingly these marches have also celebrated murders of Catholics by loyalist gangs. At the height of the standoff between the loyalists and the police, the marchers were joined by David Trimble and Ian Paisley, the two central Unionist politicians in Northern Ireland.

The decision to reverse the previous agreement to reroute the marches has thrown the London government's goals of stabilizing its continued rule of this part of Ireland into crisis and has provoked a public division with the Dublin government.

With Prime Minister John Major's government already deeply unpopular in Britain, its ability to use its stance on Ireland to claim credibility has suffered a major blow. Night after night TV viewers watched the scenes of the RUC and loyalist gangs clubbing and beating Catholics with not a blink from Major.

When the RUC then moved to clear the route for the Orange Order marchers down Garvahgy Road, the British Army soldiers cleared away the barricades erected by the Catholic residents. London announced July 10 it was sending an additional 1,000 troops to Northern Ireland, bringing the total to 18,500, the most since 1982. A few days later the government said it was pulling 500 soldiers back out again.

Earlier in July, the British government drew protests for its decision to send the Army Parachute Regiment back to Ireland. That unit was responsible for the 1972 massacre of 13 nationalist demonstrators in Derry in what became known as Bloody Sunday, as well as other abuses.

`We are not second-class citizens'
Signs held by the protesters here in Belfast July 14 included, "Stand up for nationalists against Orange bigotry," "End the nationalist nightmare in the six counties," referring to the part of Ireland ruled by Britain, "Disband the RUC," "We are not second-class citizens," and "Reroute sectarian marches."

Interviewed at the Belfast demonstration, Pat McCaffery of Springfield Road Colin Residents' Association said, "There are two or three marches a year through our road. When we have held sit-down protests, the RUC have beat and battened us off the road. They have kicked and punched women and children."

This week, he added, "we organized 24-hour shifts to protect the area. Loyalists threw petrol bombs to set light to our houses. When we ran to warn people, the RUC fired baton rounds and drove jeeps at us to try to stop us."

The protests and call by Catholic residents for the re- routing of the Orange Order marches is backed by a new level of confidence. An Phoblacht, the paper that supports Sinn Fein, reported that in the past many would take a holiday away from home over the July 12 weekend; even An Phoblacht didn't print that week. Now attitudes are changing and Catholics are no longer prepared to stand aside. Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams has made clear their call is not for the banning of the Orange marches, but for their re-routing so that they do not march provocatively through the Catholic areas.

Speaking to the Belfast demonstration Adams said, "If anyone ever wanted a reason why the IRA [Irish Republican Army] said it will not surrender its weapons then look back on what has happened in the past week." He pointed out "there is nothing more risky than being a Catholic in the six counties.

"There can be no preconditions," Adams continued. "Let no one talk about democracy down the barrel of a plastic bullet gun or armored car." Referring to Sinn Fein's continued exclusion from the multiparty talks he said, "Be sure of this: David Trimble and Ian Paisley orchestrate a campaign of intimidation for four or five days. And then both go into talks as if they had no responsibility for what happened. While we are locked out."

The nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party withdrew its representatives from the Northern Ireland Forum in protest at the RUC decision not to reroute the Orange marches. The Forum was set up by London following elections at the end of May.

Several of the SDLP's local representatives were interviewed on TV saying they felt the ground had been taken from them by the British government and RUC. Sinn Fein has not participated in the Forum from the outset, in protest at their exclusion from the multi-party talks.

John Bruton, Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of the Dublin government, criticized the British government, saying, "I believe that the peace process depends on politicians who support democracy all the time, not on an a-la-carte basis, who support nonviolence all the time, not just when it suits them taking their courage in their hands and proceeding to make agreements."

Even the British Labour Party, which has a totally bipartisan policy with the Tories toward Ireland, tried to distance themselves from Major's recent tactics, claiming that they were in favor of an independent body to establish the routes of marches.

Sinn Fein leader Adams said, "I want to say clearly that the peace process lies in absolute ruins, and the responsibility for that and restoring it lies with John Major."

The British prime minister replied, "It is absurd to suggest that the peace process is in ruins unless there are those who wish to ruin it."

McCaffery, from the Springfield Road association, said, "The RUC are the puppets of the Orange Order. Get the Brits out, let us deal with it ourselves, we will work something out. The vote for Sinn Fein went up last time because people want them to be in talks, and it will go up again. They can't have talks without Sinn Fein having their say, the people having their say."

Meanwhile, 70 protesters in London mounted a picket July 12 at Major's residence on Downing Street, demanding the re-routing of the Orange marches. Protesters chanted, "Orange Order - Ku Klux Klan" and "Disband the RUC."

On July 14 a bomb exploded in a hotel in Enniskillen injuring 17 people, the first such bomb explosion for several years in Northern Ireland. The IRA denied responsibility for it. Adams blamed "dirty tricks" and said the timing was "fortuitous" when "the British government and the unionist leadership are clearly in the dock."

In another attempt to shift the ground, police in London arrested six people July 15 under the infamous Prevention of Terrorism Act, alleging they had a bomb factory.

Chris Morris is a member of the Amalgamated Electrical and Engineering Union in Manchester, England. Jim Spaul is a laid off rail worker in London.  
 
 
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