south east antrim uvf south east antrim uvf
[111][112] This uniform, based on those of the original UVF, was introduced in the early 1970s. Matters had come to a head when Wright's unit killed a Catholic taxi-driver during the Drumcree standoff. [26] The 'Paisleyites' set out to stymie the civil rights movement and oust Terence O'Neill, Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland. In another incident the County Londonderry town of Coleraine saw tumult in the form of an attempted expulsion of UVF members by UDA members, which was successfully resisted by the UVF. [17] The UVF retaliated by murdering two Protestant teenagers in Tandragee, who were both suspected of LVF membership and involvement in Jameson's death. Their weapons stock-piles are to be retained under the watch of the UVF leadership. This was in retaliation for attacks on Loyalist homes the previous weekend and after a young girl was hit in the face with a brick by Republicans. During the brawl Bunting was knocked unconscious and had his mobile phone stolen. Sat 26 Mar 2022 at 01:30 A leading figure of South East Antrim UDA was murdered by his fellow members who threw him off Belfast's Cave Hill, the Sunday World has been told by a loyalist. [51] Some of the new Brigade Staff members bore nicknames such as "Big Dog" and "Smudger". [12] Later that night, C Company gunmen shot up the Rex again, this time from a passing car. [106], In April 2021, riots erupted across Loyalist communities in Northern Ireland.[relevant? The "dissident" South East Antrim UDA is having its drug-dealing empire dismantled by the Paramilitary Crime Task Force,. "For the. Is climate change killing Australian wine? The UVF's leadership is based in Belfast and known as the Brigade Staff. Mark Davenport from the BBC has stated that he spoke to a drug dealer who told him that he paid Billy Wright protection money. The Shoukri brothers are a pair of Northern Irish loyalist paramilitaries. UVF bosses in the Rathcoole estate in Newtownabbey are now demanding SEA UDA leader Gary Fisher punishes his out-of-control member, who was also involved in an assault on a teenage boy the same night. [89] The Independent Monitoring Commission stated Moffett was killed by UVF members acting with the sanction of the leadership. 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). Widely known as a man with a fearsome reputation, Gregg was considered a " hawk " in loyalist circles. Colin Wallace, part of the intelligence apparatus of the British Army, asserted in an internal memo in 1975 that MI6 and RUC Special Branch formed a pseudo-gang within the UVF, designed to engage in violence and to subvert the tentative moves of some in the UVF towards the political process. [26] Some unionists feared Irish nationalism and launched an opposing response in Northern Ireland. The feud between the UVF and the LVF began as an internal feud but quickly changed when Billy Wright established the LVF as a separate organisation. [118] At other times, attacks on Catholic civilians were claimed as "retaliation" for IRA actions, since the IRA drew almost all of its support from the Catholic community. Twenty tons of ammonium nitrate was also stolen from the Belfast docks.[45]. He was shot dead by the IRA in November 1982, four months after his release from the Maze Prison. 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. The damage from security service informers started in 1983 with "supergrass" Joseph Bennett's information, which led to the arrest of fourteen senior figures. View 13 homes for sale in South Rim, UT at a median listing home price of $627,000. [24] Harding Smith survived two separate shootings but crucially lost the support of other leading Shankill Road UDA figures and eventually left Belfast after being visited by North Belfast Brigadier Davy Payne, who warned him that he would not survive a third attack. [46] On 17 May, two UVF units from the Belfast and Mid-Ulster brigades detonated four car bombs in Dublin and Monaghan. A former high-profile leader of the UFF is Johnny Adair, who was released from prison in 2005 after serving two thirds of a 16-year sentence for directing terrorism on behalf of the organisation. The organisation was later involved in various atrocities including the bombing of McGurk's Bar in Belfast, the sectarian killings of the Shankill Butchers and the Loughinisland massacre. [26][27] A new generation of leaders emerged at this time and decided that the woes facing the UDA, including a lack of arms and perceived poor leadership by ageing brigadiers, were being caused by the continuing leadership of Andy Tyrie. social club in which the LVF supporters were severely beaten. [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. "[22], In November 2013, after a series of shootings and acts of intimidation by the UVF, Police Federation Chairman Terry Spence declared that the UVF ceasefire was no longer active. The Sunday World's offices were also firebombed. According to an MI5/police intelligence assessment in 2021, the South East Antrim UDA"has access to arms and is heavily involved in drugs supply, community coercion, intimidation and other criminality". They managed to procure a large cache of weapons and ammunition including L1A1 Self-Loading Rifles, Browning pistols, and Sterling submachine guns. Two members of the group survived the attack and later testified against those responsible. [90][91] Fifty-year-old Stockman was stabbed more than 10 times in a supermarket in Belfast; the attack was believed to have been linked to the Moffett killing. [156][157] These shipments were considered enough for the UVF/UDA to wage its campaign, most of which were used to kill its victims. The UVF struck back on Monday morning, shooting dead two Adair associates, Jackie Coulter and Bobby Mahood, as they sat in a Range Rover on the Crumlin Road. Is climate change killing Australian wine? "The Dublin and Monaghan bombings: Cover-up and incompetence". [48] Jackson was allegedly the hitman who shot Hanna dead outside his home in Lurgan. A man released by police following a South East Antrim UDA investigation has been targeted by loyalist paramilitaries. 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. Last month, the Independent Reporting Commission (IRC) warned paramilitary groups still pose a "clear and present danger" to Northern Ireland. "[102], In June 2017, Gary Haggarty, former UVF commander for north Belfast and south-east Antrim, pleaded guilty to 200 charges, including five murders. [96], In July 2011, a UVF flag flying in Limavady was deemed legal by the PSNI after the police had received complaints about the flag from nationalist politicians. (801) 377-1791. But its first victims, a Protestant woman and two Catholic men, had no connections with the IRA. House of Commons: Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, Cusack & McDonald, p.3435, 105, 199, 205, The Lost Lives, David McKittrick, Page 1475, Timeline of Ulster Volunteer Force actions, protests throughout Northern Ireland, some of which became violent, Provisional IRA campaign 1969-1997 Loyalists and the IRA killing and reprisals, Republic of Ireland national football team, Independent International Commission on Decommissioning, "Report drawn up on behalf of the Political Affairs Committee on the situation in Northern Ireland", https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfGe4WO8yok, "More Polish homes targeted by racist thugs in fresh bout of 'ethnic cleansing' by UVF", "UVF 'behind racist attacks in south and east Belfast': Loyalist paramilitary group behind attacks says PSNI", "Loyalists linked to 90 per cent of race crime", "Sutton Index of Deaths: Organisation responsible for the death", "Sutton Index of Deaths: Crosstabulations", "Inside the UVF: Money, murders and mayhem - the loyalist gang's secrets unveiled", "UVF mural on Shankill Road being investigated by police", 'UVF behind all the drug dealing in East Belfast, says PSNI', "UVF 'behind racist attacks in south and east Belfast'", Chronology of Key Events in Irish History, 1800 to 1967, "Irish tighten security after Dublin bombing", "Call for probe of British link to 1974 bombs", "Collusion in the South Armagh / Mid Ulster Area in the mid-1970's". Although many are not active, sources say they are still "card carrying" members. From that time until the early 1990s the Mid-Ulster Brigade was led by Robin "the Jackal" Jackson, who then passed the leadership to Billy Wright. [132] A British Army report released in 2006 estimated a peak membership of 1,000. [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. While there, he was "ribbed by the regulars about having allowed his local to be closed". (2006) "Neglected Intelligence: How the British Government Failed to Quell the Ulster Volunteer Force, 19121914. "CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths crosstabulations", "UVF disbands unit linked to taxi murder", Law and order Belfast-style as two men are forced on a 'walk of shame', 'Report of the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning', Twenty-Fourth Report of the Independent Monitoring Commission, "David Madine admits trying to kill loyalist Harry Stockman", "Police say UVF gunman seen in Rathcoole during trouble". Explosives for the north were mostly shipped in small boats which set out at night from the Scottish coast and made contact at sea with vessels from Ulster ports." 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". [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. 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. Many members of the 2nd Battalion Shankill Road West Belfast Brigade, commonly known as 'C' Company, stood by Adair and White, while the rest of the organisation were involved with attacks on these groups and vice versa. [41] It also continued its attacks in the Republic of Ireland, bombing the Dublin-Belfast railway line, an electricity substation, a radio mast, and Irish nationalist monuments. It was formed in 1966 and adopted the names and symbols of the original UVF, the movement founded in 1912 by Sir Edward Carson to fight against Home Rule. The group is a proscribed organisation and is on the terrorist organisation list of the United Kingdom. Malcolm Sutton's Index of Deaths from the Conflict in Ireland, part of the Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN), states that the UVF and RHC was responsible for at least 485 killings during the Troubles, and lists a further 256 loyalist killings that have not yet been attributed to a particular group. 1774 N University Pkwy. Read about our approach to external linking. [121], Like the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), the UVF's modus operandi involved assassinations, mass shootings, bombings and kidnappings. Referring to its activity in the early and mid-1970s, journalist Ed Moloney described no-warning pub bombings as the UVF's "forte". [97], During the Belfast City Hall flag protests of 201213, senior UVF members were confirmed to have actively been involved in orchestrating violence and rioting against the PSNI and the Alliance Party throughout Northern Ireland during the weeks of disorder. [60] The hawks had been ousted by those in the UVF who were unhappy with their political and military strategy. [62] In 1976, Tommy West was replaced with "Mr. F" who is alleged to be John "Bunter" Graham, who remains the incumbent Chief of Staff to date. That recommendation is now backed by former Secretary of State Lord Mandelson. That year, a string of tit-for-tat pub bombings began in Belfast. [58] This killing, however, was not part of a feud but instead carried out as a form of internal discipline from within the Mid-Ulster Brigade. Below: the UVF flag Dates of operation May 1966 - present (on ceasefire since October 1994; officially ended armed campaign in May 2007) Group(s) Young Citizen Volunteers(youth wing) Protestant Action Force(cover name) Progressive Unionist Party(political representation) Headquarters Belfast Active regions Northern Ireland(mostly) [19] The LVF then linked up with Johnny Adair's C Company for a time as their feud with the UVF took centre stage. It was involved in a feud with the UVF in the early 2000s. Uniquely among loyalist paramilitaries it uses an Irish language motto. [43] This came to a climax on 4 December, when the UVF bombed McGurk's Bar, a Catholic-owned pub in Belfast. The UVF agreed to a ceasefire in October 1994. Its first leader was Gusty Spence, a former British Army soldier from Northern Ireland. [81][82][83], In January 2008, the UVF was accused of involvement in vigilante action against alleged criminals in Belfast. [54] Gilmore had been targeted in an unsuccessful crossbow attack the previous August. In March and April that year, UVF and UPV members bombed water and electricity installations in Northern Ireland, blaming them on the dormant IRA and elements of the civil rights movement. The gunmen shot dead six people and injured five. [128][129], The strength of the UVF is uncertain. [98] Much of the UVF's orchestration was carried out by its senior members in East Belfast, where many attacks on the PSNI and on residents of the Short Strand enclave took place. Oct 07 // football. [22][23][24] Some members have also been found responsible for orchestrating a series of racist attacks. [citation needed] The feud between the UVF and the LVF erupted again in the summer of 2005. 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. The gang comprised, in addition to the UVF, rogue elements of the UDR, RUC, SPG, and the regular Army, all acting allegedly under the direction of the British Intelligence Corps and/or RUC Special Branch. On the basis of that, we as a federation have called for the respecification of the UVF [stating that its ceasefire is over]. Violence broke out between UVF men who had been standing outside the Rex watching the procession and the group involved in unfurling the contentious flag, which had been discreetly concealed near the tail end of the parade. Carrickfergus. 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 UVF has ordered the removal of Catholic families from a housing estate in Carrickfergus in what has been termed a "form of 21st century ethnic cleansing". Set up by the UK and Irish governments, the Commission provides an annual assessment of progress towards ending paramilitarism, and has called for a process to begin to disband the groups. In October 1975, the UVF was undermined when soldiers and police swooped on houses in Belfast and East Antrim and arrested 26 men. An hour later Adair's unit burned down the PUP's offices close to Agnes Street, the de facto border between the UVF-dominated Middle and Upper Shankill and the UDA-dominated Lower Shankill. They shot John Scullion, a Catholic civilian, as he walked home. [13] Violence also spread to North Belfast, where members of the UVF's Mount Vernon unit shot and killed a UDA member, David Greer, in the Tiger's Bay area, sparking a series of killings in that part of the city. Did this woman die because her genitals were cut? [80] This was to take effect from midnight. "FIFTH REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT MONITORING COMMISSION", Select Committee on Northern Ireland Affairs - Part One: The continuing threat from paramilitary organisations, "Inside story: Why the IRA never attacked Scotland", "Revealed: how Scots loyalists sent gelignite to paramilitaries. Six of the victims were abducted at random, then beaten and tortured before having their throats slashed. [4] With antagonism growing, another man was killed in a drunken brawl on 21 February 1975, this time the UDA's Robert Thompson. [38] Tiger's Bay had emerged as the stronghold of the anti-Bunting faction. [1] The bad blood originated from an incident in the Ulster Workers' Council strike of May 1974 when the two groups were co-operating in support of the Ulster Workers' Council. [55] [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". The UDA had remained a legal organisation until it was banned in August 1992. [144] In 2002 the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee estimated the UVF's annual running costs at 12 million per year, against an annual fundraising capability of 1.5 million. Earlier this week, the West Belfast UDA were reported to have made threats against two journalists working for the Sunday World newspaper in NI. Western Illinois University. Other military-style ranks are used by the group for its members, Timeline of Ulster Defence Association actions, Timeline of Ulster Volunteer Force actions, Timeline of Loyalist Volunteer Force actions, "UVF disbands unit linked to taxi murder", "Building bridges with the UDA". [72] According to Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN), the UVF killed 17 active and four former republican paramilitaries. The UVF was also clashing with the UDA in the summer of 2000. On 23 October 1972, the UVF carried out an armed raid against King's Park camp, a UDR/Territorial Army depot in Lurgan. The following March they were sentenced to a total of 700 years . [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". Did this woman die because her genitals were cut? Along with the UDA, it helped to enforce the strike by blocking roads, intimidating workers, and shutting any businesses that opened. [134] Another estimates that over a 30-year period women accounted for, at most, just 2% of UVF membership. Briefings, obtained by BBC NI's Spotlight programme, cover all the paramilitary groups and are based on PSNI and MI5 intelligence. It issued a statement vowing to "remove republican elements from loyalist areas" and stop them "reaping financial benefit therefrom". [162] It was around this time that Sunday World journalists Martin O'Hagan and Jim Campbell coined the term "rat pack" for the UVF's murderous mid-Ulster unit and, unable to identify Wright by name for legal reasons, they christened him "King Rat."
Allen Martin Obituary,
Geordan Murphy Wife Aneka,
Articles S