Hundreds of health workers yesterday staged demonstrations to protest over loyalist and republican paramilitary threats made against them at three Belfast hospitals. Staff at the Royal Victoria, the Mater and the Ulster Hospital took part.
Senior officials from the health workers' union UNISON are understood to be seeking an urgent meeting with the PSNI Assistant Chief Constable for Belfast, Mr Alan McQuillan, to clarify the situation regarding the authenticity of the threats.
At the weekend the Catholic Reaction Force, a cover-name believed to have been used by the Provisional IRA in the past, issued death threats against three unnamed members of staff with links to the security forces at the Royal and Mater. No recognised codeword was used, leading Sinn Féin representatives to claim it was a loyalist paramilitary threat. Shortly afterwards, the loyalist Red Hand Defenders, a front organisation for the Ulster Defence Association, threatened to kill Catholic workers at the Mater and Ulster Hospitals. That threat was accompanied by a recognised codeword.
The mood among health workers at the rally outside the Mater Hospital was one of anger mixed with deep concern. A nurse who did not want to give her name said: "We are all soft targets if somebody really wanted to get to us. It's hard enough dealing with violent drunks and the like on a nightly basis without this hanging over our heads." Another nurse said that "only by standing together can we show the paramilitaries that we are not having any of it".