The Five Demands

Il leader del Sinn Fein lancia il guanto di sfida ai dissidenti

Gerry Adams ha definito gli attentatori responsabili dell’attacco messo a segno contro la courthouse di Newry (contea di Down), come ‘soldati del cessate al fuoco, che non hanno interesse in un’Irlanda unita’.
“Che si facciano avanti se ne hanno lo stomaco ed il coraggio per difendere quello che sta succedendo”.
Con il passare delle ore si moltiplicano le testimonianze di chi un qualche modo è stato testimone dell’accaduto.
Mark ha riportato: “Io vivo tre miglia di distanza e le mie finestre hanno tremato, è stato molto forte. Sono disgustato da questo attentato alla vita nel centro di Newry”.
Più dettagliata la testimonianza di Robert Wallace, di Bressbrook, che stava viaggiando a bordo di un taxi che è transitato poco distante dal punto della deflagrazione ed è convinto di aver notato l’auto imbottita di esplosivo.
“C’era una macchina scura seduto a lato della courthouse con le sue luci di posizione accese”, ha dichiarato, affermando che il tassista aveva pensato si trattasse di una macchina della polizia, prima di individuare che la targa era della Repubblica di Irlanda.
Pochi istanti dopo il passaggio del taxi, la bomba è esplosa.
“L’auto è stata scossa e quasi sbalzata fuori strada”, ha riferito Wallace.
“Semplicemente, non avevamo idea di cosa si trattasse perché sono trascorsi da anni da quando abbiamo sentito qualcosa del genere nella zona.”
Si ritiene che l’autobomba di Newry sia il maggior attacco portato a segno, dalla strage di Omagh del 15 agosto 1998.

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Newry residents have desbribed the moment a car bomb blast shook the city for miles around, causing damage to the gates of the courthouse and a nearby historic church.
Moments after the explosion was heard across the city, people started contacting UTV to express their shock at the attack.
UTV user Mark wrote: “I live three miles away and my windows shook, it was very loud. Sickened by this attempt on lives in Newry City.”
Robert Wallace from Bessbrook was travelling in a taxi which drove past as the bomb exploded and believes he saw the car the device was planted in.
“There was a dark car sitting at the side of the court with its sidelights on,” he told UTV, explaining that the taxi driver had thought it was a police car before spotting the Republic of Ireland licence plates.
Moments after the taxi passed by, the bomb went off.
“It shook the car and nearly lifted it off the road,” Mr Wallace said.
“We just hadn’t a clue what it was because it’s been years since we heard something like this in the area.”
Dissident republicans have been blamed for the 250lb bomb which went off at 10.37pm on Monday night, as officers were still evacuating the area.
The gates of the court were blown off and a security hut was damaged, while nearby buildings including a 170-year-old church were damaged.
Windows, including a priceless one commemorating the First World War, are feared broken at Downshire Road Presbyterian Church.
Members of a badminton club had just left the premises when the device exploded and left debris scattered across the road.
‘Sad day’
Rev Brian Colvin said it could be Thursday before they knew the extent of the impact.
“It is a sad day for our community and we thought these days were behind us,” he said.
The minister lives a mile from the blast and heard the explosion.
“There was a loud bang and we knew immediately,” he added.
Newry and Armagh MP Conor Murphy told UTV he also heard the blast in his Camlough home, four miles away.
“Obviously it was a substantial blast,” he said.
“These people have obviously nothing to offer apart from damaging the physical structure of Newry, but also damaging the reputation of Newry.”
A joint statement has been issued by all the churches in Newry across the denominations, condemning what they call the “indiscriminate attack on the whole community”.
“We pray that our community will stand together against such actions in the continued pursuit of a lasting peace for all,” the statement read.
DUP Policing Board member and MLA Peter Weir said dissidents were threatened by the political progress made in recent weeks at Hillsborough Castle.
“It is a reminder of the depravity and cruel disregard for human life of dissident republicans,” he said.
“These people care little for human life in their evil quest to drag us back to the past.
“These people have no mandate and represent only a commitment to a terrorist past that we had all hoped to leave behind in Northern Ireland.”
The attack is thought to be the first time a large car bomb has exploded in Northern Ireland since the Real IRA bombing of Omagh in 1998.

Adams challenges Newry bombers (U TV)
Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams has challenged those behind a car bomb attack in Newry to face the public and justify their actions, branding them ‘ceasefire soldiers’ who ‘have no interest in a united Ireland’.
“Let them come forward if they have any stomach or guts at all and defend what’s going on,” he said of those who planted the device outside Newry courthouse in Co Down.
Dissident republicans have been blamed for the 250lb bomb which went off at 10.37pm on Monday night, as officers were still evacuating the area.
‘Miracle’
The blue Mazda vehicle, which carried registration plates from Co Monaghan, was abandoned after being reversed against the gates of the court.
Police said it was a “miracle” no-one was injured or killed in the explosion.
PSNI Chief Constable Matt Baggott said there was “absolutely no excuse for bringing bombs onto our streets.”
“It was clearly reckless at the best and callous at the worst,” he said.
“But added to that, the timing given was severely limited.”
Coded warnings were phoned in to a local hospital at 10.20pm and a local business at 10.22pm giving officers about 17 minutes to clear the area before the bomb exploded.
The gates of the heavily fortified courthouse were badly damaged and people for miles around said they clearly heard the blast and windows were shaken.
Newry city centre remains sealed off as police forensic experts continue to comb area for clues.
Road closures are causing chaos on what is the main commuter route between Belfast and Dublin.
Trevor Hill, Sandy Street, New Street and the Belfast Road are among those expected to remain closed for up to two days.
Classes at nearby Windsor Hill Primary School have also been cancelled.
Chief Constable Baggott said he understood the frustration of residents, but that the disruption was unavoidable.
“I have been a little disappointed by some of the comments, such as ‘why couldn’t you do it quicker?’,” he said.
“Well I will never, never ask anybody that’s tasked on our behalf with defusing things to ‘hurry it up’, because quite frankly we owe it to these brave courageous people to give them as much time as they need to deal with these things on our behalf.”
The Stormont Assembly opened its proceedings on Tuesday with cross-party condemnation of the attack, which comes just days after a mortar bomb failed to detonate outside a police station in nearby Keady village.
Last March dissidents shot dead two soldiers at Massereene army barracks in Antrim. Two days later they gunned down police constable Stephen Carroll in Craigavon, Co Armagh as he answered a call for help.
In September police discovered a 600lb bomb in the south Armagh village of Forkhill.
Last month a Catholic police officer was seriously injured in car bomb attack in Co Antrim while a number of police stations have been shot at in recent weeks.
The Newry attack is thought to be the first time a large car bomb has exploded in Northern Ireland since the Real IRA bombing of Omagh in 1998.
Reactions:
First Minister Peter Robinson:
“The people who carried out this attack are determined to destroy all that has been achieved in recent months.”
“Their sole aim is to return Northern Ireland to its darkest past.
“They will not succeed, for I am equally determined that we will continue to move forward and to protect and defend the very same institutions they seek to destroy.”
Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness:
“I am determined that last night’s attack will not undermine the progress we have made.
“The perpetrators are acting against the democratically expressed wishes of all of the people of Ireland. They have nothing to offer our society.
“We will continue on the road we have set out upon to deliver a better future.
“Attacks such as this are futile and serve only to strengthen our resolve.”
Prime Minister Gordon Brown:
“Northern Ireland’s politicians have been working incredibly hard to deliver a successful conclusion to the peace process and they will not allow a tiny minority to turn the clock back”.
Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward:
“This is an act of senseless violence by a small handful of people who refuse to accept the people’s overwhelming support for the peace process.
“The best message that could be sent to them is a powerful rejection of violence through the completion of devolution.”
UUP Deputy leader Danny Kennedy:
“If there is to be an appropriate political reaction, there must also, in my view and in the view of my party, be an effective security reponse.”
“I and my party have been concerned for some time that the threats posed by republican dissidents have been viewed with a certain amount of complacency by the chief constable and his senior command, and by senior political figures including the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, in the mistaken belief that these individuals (dissidents) were unrepresentative and lacked the manpower to cause serious problems.”
Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Micheal Martin:
“This was a reckless, cowardly, criminal act which put at grave risk the lives of the community in Newry”.
“This attack cannot be justified or excused. Its only purpose was to inflict suffering. Its perpetrators have no mandate or legitimacy.”
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton:
“I strongly condemn the bombing last night. It was another cowardly act of violence by those who would prefer to plant bombs than to argue for votes and participate in the political process.
“The parties in Northern Ireland have similarly condemned that action in the strongest terms and I urge that everyone continue to work towards seeing the devolution of authority and a better future for Northern Ireland.”