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Ballot Box Bullies

February 16, 2011

By Staff Reporter

By Anne Cadwallader

BELFAST — Loyalists allegedly threatened a Sinn Fein candidate for a council seat in Newtownabbey at the weekend. Kevin Vernon narrowly escaped injury when loyalists armed with sticks and hatchets, travelling in three cars, attempted to run him down.

In the same constituency 24 hours later, a Sinn Fein election agent was beaten on the back by a baton-wielding RUC officer after election workers putting up Sinn Fein posters were confronted by a 40-strong loyalist mob.

Meanwhile, in West Tyrone, the SDLP candidate and minister of agriculture Brid Rodgers, alleges that she has been verbally abused, SDLP posters have been destroyed and an election worker threatened. Republicans are supposed to have been behind the threats in this predominantly nationalist constituency where Rodgers is in a close race with Pat Doherty, vice president of Sinn Fein. Sinn Fein has strongly denied the charges.

Vernon, one of three Sinn Fein candidates for council seats in the Newtownabbey area north of Belfast, was putting up election posters on Saturday afternoon when he was approached by a loyalist.

Vernon said the man threatened him and gestured with an imaginary gun pointing to his head. He said, "This is for you, Kevin," before walking away. Moments later, three cars carrying five men in each arrived at the scene. The loyalists, all aged in their 40s, were armed with sticks and hatchets.

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It was shortly after noon on Sunday when around a dozen Sinn Fein election workers went to Glengormley to put up posters. At the junction between Hightown Road and Antrim Road, they were confronted by a handful of loyalists who shouted sectarian abuse.

A short time later, the loyalists returned, but this time their ranks had swelled to over 40.

Sean Caughey, election agent for Martin Meehan, described the incident: "The RUC arrived in full riot gear with their batons drawn, but instead of confronting the loyalist mob, the RUC focused their attention on the handful of Sinn Fein election workers and candidates and began pushing us back."

A number of senior republicans, including Meehan and Assembly member Gerry Kelly, made repeated attempts to persuade the RUC to allow the election team to continue, but the RUC blocked their way with Land Rovers.

"I was trying to keep everyone calm when an RUC officer standing behind me repeatedly jabbed his baton into my back," Caughey said. "The RUC’s aggressive manner made a bad situation 10 times worse."

After a tense standoff, Sinn Fein party officials withdrew. The following night the RUC watched but failed to intervene when loyalists tore down Sinn Fein election posters erected in the mainly Catholic Hightown Road area of Glengormley.

The attacks followed an inflammatory statement by Northern Ireland Unionist Party candidate Norman Boyd, who labeled Sinn Fein’s electoral presence as "republican aggression." During an interview with a local newspaper, Boyd called on unionists to "stop Sinn Fein from corrupting the democratic process."

Meanwhile, a former UVF man was shot dead in the bathroom of a pub in central Newtownards on Sunday night by two masked gunmen who singled him out and fired at close range. It’s thought the murder was linked to a row over drugs and the ongoing loyalist feud.

The dead man was Stephen Manners, a loyalist who had drug convictions and who had served a short prison term for the murder of a Catholic woman in February 1992.

In a significant escalation of violence in Portadown, with over a month to go until the annual disputed Orange Order parade, the RUC say 57 officers were injured as nationalists rioted against a junior Orange parade being allowed near the Garvaghy Road.

Breandan Mac Cionnaith of the Garvaghy Road Residents’ Coalition, said one reason for the anger was the Parades Commission decision to allow the march to go ahead, despite nationalist objections.

He also said the presence of members of the Parachute Regiment and locally recruited, mainly Protestant Royal Irish Regiment throughout the day in the area had led to mounting tensions.

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