south east antrim uvf south east antrim uvf

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 Irish home rule. Adair's former ally Mo Courtney, who had returned to the mainstream UDA immediately before the attack, was appointed the new West Belfast brigadier, ending the feud. W County Londonderry, podzia w tych wyborach bya 56,2% Unionistw / 43,8% Nacjonalistyczna. Loyalists were successful in importing arms into Northern Ireland. Eventually a ceasefire was reluctantly agreed upon by the majority of those involved in the feuding after new procedures were established with the aim of preventing the escalation of any future problems between the two organisations, and after consideration was paid to the advice of Gary McMichael and David Ervine, the then leaders of the two political wings of loyalism.[15]. [128][129], The strength of the UVF is uncertain. The vast majority (more than two-thirds)[13][14] of its victims were Irish Catholic civilians, who were often killed at random. Birgen, Julia. Carrickfergus. (Thesis 2017). Colin Horner was fatally shot in front of his three-year-old son at a busy shopping centre. [47] Both the UVF and the British Government have denied the claims. Such retaliation was seen as both collective punishment and an attempt to weaken the IRA's support; it was thought that terrorising the Catholic community and inflicting such a death toll on it would force the IRA to end its campaign. The ferry [between Scotland and Northern Ireland] was pivotal in getting arms into the north and anything like checkpoints, or armed police and Army in Scotland would have b******d that all up.[153] An Irish government memo written by David Donoghue stated: "The commonest contribution of Scots UDA and UVF is to send gelignite. More militant members of the UVF who disagreed with the ceasefire, broke away to form the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF), led by Billy Wright. F". Earlier this week, the West Belfast UDA were reported to have made threats against two journalists working for the Sunday World newspaper in NI. [46] On 17 May, two UVF units from the Belfast and Mid-Ulster brigades detonated four car bombs in Dublin and Monaghan. [25], South Belfast Brigadier John McMichael was killed by the Provisional IRA in December 1987 but it was later admitted that UDA member James Pratt Craig, a rival of McMichael's within the movement, had played a role in planning the murder. [4] With antagonism growing, another man was killed in a drunken brawl on 21 February 1975, this time the UDA's Robert Thompson. The UVF also shot up the Ulster Democratic Party headquarters on the Middle Shankill. See pricing and listing details of South Rim real estate for sale. Some of them left much of Belfast without power and water. [16] Jackie McDonald replaced Kerr, becoming, for the second time, leader of the South Belfast Brigade. [22] The main problems were between East Belfast chief Tommy Herron and Charles Harding Smith, his rival in the west of the city, over who controlled the movement. Although the two organisations had worked together under the umbrella of the Combined Loyalist Military Command, the body crumbled in 1997 and tensions simmered between West Belfast UDA Brigadier[10] Johnny Adair, who had grown weary of the Northern Ireland peace process and the Good Friday Agreement, and the UVF leadership. It is believed about 7,500 members are in the UVF and 5,000 in the UDA, The assessment says the IRA "still has access to weapons", The secret mine that hid the Nazis' stolen treasure. [130], The UVF has killed more people than any other loyalist paramilitary group. These included the Miami Showband killings of 31 July 1975 when three members of the popular showband were killed, having been stopped at a fake British Army checkpoint outside Newry in County Down. In return. [73], According to journalist and author Ed Moloney, the UVF campaign in Mid-Ulster in this period "indisputably shattered Republican morale", and put the leadership of the republican movement under intense pressure to "do something",[74] although this has been disputed by others.[who?]. It was involved in a feud with the UVF in the early 2000s. It sometimes claimed killings using the cover name the Protestant Action Force. UVF bosses in the Rathcoole estate in. The community centre hosting the event and 25 nearby homes were evacuated and a funeral was disrupted. [94] The UVF leader in East Belfast, who is popularly known as the "Beast of the East" and "Ugly Doris" also known as by real name Stephen Matthews, ordered the attack on Catholic homes and a church in the Catholic enclave of the Short Strand. That year, a string of tit-for-tat pub bombings began in Belfast. The Ulster Defence Association, formed in 1971, had tens of thousands of members at its peak. Twenty tons of ammonium nitrate was also stolen from the Belfast docks.[45]. [132] A British Army report released in 2006 estimated a peak membership of 1,000. In October 1975, after staging a counter-coup, the Brigade Staff acquired a new leadership of moderates with Tommy West serving as the Chief of Staff. [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. One study focusing in part on female members of the UVF and Red Hand Commando noted that it "seem[ed] to have been reasonably unusual" for women to be officially asked to join the UVF. Wright is believed to have dealt mainly in Ecstasy tablets in the early 90s. [106], In April 2021, riots erupted across Loyalist communities in Northern Ireland.[relevant? [31], The other five brigadiers in the UDA leadership decided to expel Andre Shoukri, his brother Ihab, and another associate in June 2006. [31], On 26 June, the group shot dead a Catholic civilian and wounded two others as they left a pub on Malvern Street, Belfast. 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. The loyalist insider said Lisa's killing and disappearance has caused huge disquiet in the south-east Antrim UVF and RHC. However, the UVF spurned the government efforts and continued killing. A controlled explosion was carried out and the bomb was later declared a hoax. The Shoukri brothers are a pair of Northern Irish loyalist paramilitaries. [100][101], In October 2013, the policing board announced that the UVF was still heavily involved in gangsterism despite its ceasefire. [citation needed], On 26 March 2022, the UVF was linked to a hoax bomb alert at a bar in Warrenpoint, County Down. [42], The IRA had split into the Provisional IRA and Official IRA in December 1969. Following the attack both Bunting and Howcroft were arrested on suspicion of involvement. [92][93], On the night of 20 June 2011, riots involving 500 people erupted in the Short Strand area of East Belfast. [60] The hawks had been ousted by those in the UVF who were unhappy with their political and military strategy. [18] Meanwhile, the UVF attempted to kill the hitman responsible for killing Jameson, unsuccessfully, before the LVF struck again on 26 May, killing PUP man Martin Taylor in Ballysillan. Both groups have been active in Carrickfergus in recent weeks, with the UVF sending 25 masked men onto the Glenfield estate to intimidate a family following a dispute between teenage girls. [123] In the late summer and autumn of 1973, the UVF detonated more bombs than the UDA and IRA combined,[124] and by the time of the group's temporary ceasefire in late November it had been responsible for over 200 explosions that year. In 1972, the UVF's imprisoned leader Gusty Spence was at liberty for four months following a staged kidnapping by UVF volunteers. It began carrying out gun attacks to kill random Catholic civilians and using car bombs to attack Catholic-owned pubs. [111][112] This uniform, based on those of the original UVF, was introduced in the early 1970s. [26] The group called itself the "Ulster Volunteer Force" (UVF), after the Ulster Volunteers of the early 20th century, although in the words of a member of the previous organisation "the present para-military organisation has no connection with the U.V.F. Notorious attacks by the UFF included the shooting dead of five Catholics at a Belfast bookmakers in 1992 and the Greysteel massacre the following year. The South East Antrim UVF is being linked to a 100,000 cash and drugs haul seized in Carrickfergus. The UVF shot dead the first police officer to be murdered during the Troubles. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Provo, UT 84604. However, whilst the statement was signed by McDonald and Birch, no representative of the West Belfast Brigade had added their signature. [136][137] This activity has been described as its preferred source of funds in the early 1970s,[138] and it continued into the 2000s, with the UVF in County Londonderry being active. [17][18][19][20][21] The other main loyalist paramilitary group during the conflict was the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), which had a much larger membership. The incumbent Chief of Staff, is alleged to be John "Bunter" Graham, referred to by Martin Dillon as "Mr. 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. Is climate change killing Australian wine? [130] Historically, the number of active UVF members in July 1971 was stated by one source to be no more than 20. A feud in the winter of 1974-75 broke out between the UDA and the UVF, the two main loyalist paramilitary organisations in Northern Ireland. Luther's signature was also painted into the strained glass window of an old Martin Luther mural in the lower Shankill - see Here I Stand I Can Do No . C Company then went on the rampage in the Lower Shankill, attacking the houses of known UVF members and their families, including the home of veteran UVF leader Gusty Spence, and evicting the inhabitants at gunpoint as they wrecked and stole property and set fire to homes. . University of Central Arkansas. [43] This followed the rejection of earlier overtures to West Belfast brigadier Matt Kincaid as he opted to back Spence and Courtney. In January 2000 UVF Mid-Ulster brigadier Richard Jameson was shot dead by a LVF gunman which led to an escalation of the UVF/LVF feud. Mark Davenport from the BBC has stated that he spoke to a drug dealer who told him that he paid Billy Wright protection money. Explore in 3D: The dazzling crown that makes a king. The chip shop has since been closed down. It later said it had stood down the UFF and all UFF weapons were being put "beyond use", but that did not mean they would be decommissioned. [36], As the feud rumbled on Bunting became a target for a number of attacks. It claimed the pubs were used for republican fundraising. [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". The UDA's leadership were persuaded to call off their plan by a Protestant clergyman, who convinced them that the IRA were not involved. [37][38] There were further attacks in the Republic between October and December 1969. It killed hundreds of people during the Troubles in Northern Ireland and often claimed responsibility for sectarian murders using the cover name the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF). Democratic Unionist Party MP Gavin Robinson said his party were mindful of the situation. for a proxy bomb attack targeting a "peace-building" event in Belfast where Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney was speaking. SoundCloud . Colin Horner was fatally shot in front of his three-year-old son at a busy shopping centre. Did this woman die because her genitals were cut? Former PSNI superintendent Ken Pennington said he. While there, he was "ribbed by the regulars about having allowed his local to be closed". [47], In October 2016 it was reported that South Belfast brigadier Jackie McDonald had installed Sam "Bib" Blair, a White City-based veteran who had been kneecapped by supporters of the Shoukris in 2003 after attempting to oust them from the leadership, as the new brigadier. Oct 21 // football. News. Though, for its own purposes, it assumed the same name it has nothing else in common. [26] Some unionists feared Irish nationalism and launched an opposing response in Northern Ireland. Along with the newly formed Ulster Defence Association (UDA), the UVF started an armed campaign against the Catholic population of Northern Ireland. Matters had come to a head when Wright's unit killed a Catholic taxi-driver during the Drumcree standoff. They shot John Scullion, a Catholic civilian, as he walked home. [52] Beginning in 1975, recruitment to the UVF, which until then had been solely by invitation, was now left to the discretion of local units.[53]. [84], In 2008, a loyalist splinter group calling itself the "Real UVF" emerged briefly to make threats against Sinn Fin in County Fermanagh. [23], However, with Tyrie confirmed in overall control of the UDA, Harding Smith initially remained silent until, in 1974, he declared that the West Belfast brigade of the movement was splitting from the mainstream UDA on the pretext of a visit to Libya organised by Tyrie in a failed attempt to procure arms from Colonel Qadaffi. During this time he restructured the organisation into brigades, battalions, companies, platoons and sections.