February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Recent incidents include the burning of eight taxis in the north of the city, assaults on three drivers and two women on the Shankill Road and death threats against a woman Presbyterian minister.
The MP for North Belfast, Nigel Dodds, said he’s seriously concerned about escalating loyalist tensions in the area and has appealed to police to stop what he claims is their “softly-softly” response.
Over last weekend, taxis belonging to a firm run by a former UVF man, Jackie Mahood, were attacked. He fell out with his former associates and was later linked with loyalist Billy Wright, who was shot dead in jail at Christmastime 1997.
Mahood has been the target of several shootings in recent years and his taxi company attacked on previous occasions. His brother was shot dead in loyalist feuding.
On Saturday night police arrested three men after shots were fired near a leisure center. The following night, three hooded men smashed the front windows at a house in the Shankill area and threw a container of black tar over two women before giving them 12 hours to leave the area.
A Protestant clergywoman, Ruth Petticrew, has also been threatened for counseling the family of a man shot dead in a loyalist feud. She said she’s living in fear after her car was petrol bombed.
Petticrew said it all began after she started supporting relatives of Alan McCullough, aged 21, who was abducted and killed by feuding loyalists in 2003. “I believe the series of intimidation and threats are from elements within the UDA,” she said.
Meanwhile, there was outrage after news broke that the UDA is demanding