By Anne Cadwallader
PORTADOWN, Co. Armagh — Members of a County Derry Orange lodge attacked and assaulted an American woman observer on Saturday night as they played "The Sash" outside St. John’s Catholic chapel during evening Mass.
Shannon Eaton, a former Boston resident now studying in Ireland, was one of 100 U.S., Canadian and international observers on the Garvaghy Road, many from New York and Boston, who came to monitor the Orange parade.
The assault was described as "disgraceful carry on" by Bill Flynn, chairman of the American Committee on Foreign Policy, who described the victim as a "dear associate." Flynn said the woman was "almost killed."
Media attention to the attack was slim. Eaton spoke to a press conference and described her injuries to cameramen and reporters, but Sunday evening’s TV news broadcasts on Ulster Television and the BBC made only passing reference and showed no pictures of her testimony.
Breandan Mac Cionnaith of the Garvaghy Road residents group contrasted this with what could have been expected had an Orangeman been attacked by nationalists.
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Eaton, who has worked on behalf of Friends of Sinn Féin in the U.S., sustained a broken arm, a dislocated wrist, a slash on her forehead, bruising to her head and cuts on her leg. She was treated in Craigavon Hospital for suspected concussion.
Eaton was sitting on a low wall alongside the graveyard taking photographs as the County Derry support march for the Orange protest at Drumcree passed.
The bands arrived at the Dungannon Road end of the Garvaghy Road during evening Mass. Had they left Portadown at the expected time, they would have arrived after Mass, but they had left earlier than expected.
The first band stopped playing music as it reached the chapel, but the second band, "The Pride of the Bann" from Coleraine, deliberately struck up "The Sash," contrary to Parades Commission rulings.
The band stopped about 50 meters from the church and a group of supporters grabbed Eaton by the leg and tried to pull her off the wall. An Orangeman then darted out from the parade with his flagpole, running straight at her.
"I am lucky to be alive," Eaton said. "I have to thank two women who came to my aid and dragged me to safety. Had they not done so, I believe I would have been killed.
"I thought he was going to impale me on the pole, but he caught me a glancing blow on the head, which cut my forehead. I then somehow managed to turn myself and he brought the pole down on the back of my head.
"Two women got hold of my other leg and managed to pull me over the wall. I fell to the ground, which is when I think I hurt my wrist and arm. The men then jumped over the wall and gave chase.
"They caught up with me and beat me around the head, stomach and legs. I ran toward some policemen, who began to try and bundle me into the back of an armored car.
"I thought they were going to arrest me. I was screaming that I wanted to reach my American friends and they changed their minds and I was taken to another vehicle."
Speaking to a press conference on the Garvaghy Road Sunday, Bill Flynn described the Orange Order as "the laughingstock of the world" and said the behavior of its members put "all Christians to shame."
Half-a-dozen U.S. groups were represented among the international observers on Garvaghy Road. They included the New York-based Irish Parades Emergency Committee, who had 45 people present, many lawyers and teachers, who stayed with families on the Garvaghy Road. The group included Pat Doherty from New York City Comptroller’s office.
The Lawyers Alliance for Justice in Ireland had 12 people on the ground, led by Walt Pollard of Boston. This group met the Orange Order in Portadown, including its spokesman, David Jones.
There were six Canadian MPs present, along with eight people from Peace Watch Ireland of Boston. In addition there was a delegation from the Irish American Unity Conference.
On July 6, a congressional delegation arrived in Ireland, visiting first Dublin and then Belfast. The delegation was jointly led by Reps. Ben Gilman and James Walsh, Peter Stark, Ciro Roderiguez and Tom Ewing.