Republican and loyalist paramilitaries along Belfast's peace line are not defending their communities but destroying them, Northern Ireland Secretary Dr John Reid claimed today.
Dr Reid was speaking to Protestant residents in one flashpoint area near the nationalist Short Strand.
|
|
Dr John Reid claims paramilitaries are destroying their communities
|
But residents of Cluan Place - on the loyalist side of the peace line - told Dr Reid that they were the victims of IRA expansionism.
Ms Jean Barnes, of the East Belfast Women's Concern Group, told Dr Reid during his walkabout with Security Minister Ms Jane Kennedy: "The IRA has an awful lot to answer for."
Dr Reid met families, some of whose homes were burned out. He was greeted with placards from some loyalists describing him as "Dr Dolittle". Another read: "Fourteen months later, Dr Reid arrives."
He visited several homes including the burned out shell of one which was daubed with the slogan "Burnt out by IRA scum".
Dr Reid told Ms Barnes that paramilitaries on both sides were to blame for the violence.
On the nationalist side of the peace line, Dr Reid was confronted by angry residents who accused loyalist paramilitaries of engaging in a pogrom against their community.
They also condemned police tactics, with some people insisting officers were not welcome in the area.
|
One angry woman told the Northern Ireland Secretary: "This community has been under siege these past few months.
"I can't use the doctor's, the chemist's, the Post Office, the library. What are you going to do about that?
"Are you going to put the same police presence there as you have here and protect people using the facilities? We want to live our lives in peace," she said.
Dr Reid told the angry Short Strand residents that aggression was not the answer. The woman said: "You have to understand our anger." He replied: "I understand the anger of Catholics and Protestants."
Dr Reid visited several homes which had been attacked in recent months. As he toured the houses, residents held pieces of paper quoting from the Belfast Agreement, stating everyone had "the right to live free from sectarian harassment".
Banners were propped up against some of the houses, proclaiming: "Civil law. No martial law. Imagine Belfast free from institutionalised sectarian apartheid."
PA