Reports and Transcripts Courtesy of the Irish American Information Service, the Northern Ireland Information Service and Irish American Post staffers
 

CHURCHES UNITE TO CONDEMN SECTARIAN ATTACKS
09/07/05 07:34 EST

Sectarian attacks on churches, schools and homes in the North have been condemned as immoral by the leaders of Ireland's four main churches. 

Following a meeting with Northern Secretary Peter Hain at Stormont to discuss a summer of violence in Belfast, north Antrim and elsewhere, Catholic Archbishop Sean Brady, Church of Ireland Primate Archbishop Robin Eames, Presbyterian Church leader the Rev Harry Uprichard and Methodist leader the Rev Desmond Bain condemned all attacks. 

They said: "The present level of violence on our streets is totally unacceptable. On behalf of our churches and members we condemn any words or actions which cause danger to anyone because of their religious or political identity. Attacks from any source on churches, schools, halls, homes, the elderly and the young cannot be justified, excused or accepted. Apart from their criminality such actions are immoral." 

The church leaders urged all those with influence in the community to join them in condemnation and to reach out to all communities. 

They also urged people to not utter any word or do anything which would increase fears. 

"There is no substitute for resolute and even handed police action to bring to justice those who are engaged in, encouraging or assisting any form of violence at this time," they added. 

In recent months, Catholics in Democratic Unionist leader the Rev Ian Paisley's north Antrim constituency have come under a sustained campaign of sectarian intimidation and violence. 

There have been petrol and paint bomb attacks on church property and Catholic homes in Ballymena, Ahoghill and Rasharkin. 

Police have issued Catholic families in the area with fire blankets following sustained attacks. 

After the talks, Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain said he had discussed with the church leaders a number of measures which could be taken to address sectarian violence. 

"We are absolutely united, standing together to say this grizzly violence - sectarian but also between loyalist groups - must end," he said. 

"This is staining the whole reputation of Northern Ireland at a time when Northern Ireland and its people are moving forward into a period of much greater prosperity, stability and political optimism than has been the case for many decades. We have got to put it behind us. We have got to stop this kind of violence. We are all united, the churches and the government, in this and have agreed a whole series of measures which will be taken forward in the next weeks and months," Mr. Hain said. 

Meanwhile, Irish President Mary McAleese has scrapped plans to visit a loyalist part of Belfast tomorrow because of recent rioting in the area. 

As rival politicians clashed over her planned meeting with Northern Ireland chief constable Sir Hugh Orde, Áras an Uachtaráin revealed a late change to her itinerary because of a new outbreak of violence in the Shankill Road area. 

She had been due to meet staff and children at a primary school, but will now see them in another part of the city. 

Belfast-born Mrs McAleese was forced to pull out of a visit to the Shankill earlier this year after she was criticized for making controversial comments about sectarianism in the Protestant community. 

On Monday, there was serious rioting in the Woodvale area of the Shankill involving gangs of masked youths following police raids in the area. 

Lorries were hijacked and burnt and police Land Rovers attacked with petrol and paint bombs, stones and bottles as youths responded to the security operation in connection with an Ulster Volunteer Force show of strength on Saturday. 

The violence was not connected with her visit, and among the areas she will be visiting tomorrow will be the loyalist Taughmonagh estate. 

The change of plans was announced as rival members of the Northern Ireland policing board clashed over her meeting tomorrow with the chief constable. 

The SDLP's Alex Attwood defended the planned meeting. But the DUP's Ian Paisley Jnr questioned the reasons behind the trip and claimed Sir Hugh should have consulted the Policing Board. 

West Belfast MLA Mr Attwood said: "Increasing numbers of people don't take Ian Jnr seriously. Mary McAleese has done more than virtually any other citizen to try to build bridges on the island of Ireland. People appreciate her work. They do not see her in any way in the terms outlined by Ian Jnr." 

A spokeswoman for the president confirmed a meeting with Sir Hugh would go ahead. 

Following the visit to the Police Service of Northern Ireland headquarters, Mrs McAleese will meet staff, pupils and teachers of Edenbrooke Primary School at a special reception in a south Belfast hotel. 

This will be followed by visits to Taughmonagh Primary School and Aquinas Grammar School. President McAleese will then visit Nazareth House Care Village on the Ravenhill Road before returning to Dublin. 

HARROWING ACCOUNT OF SECTARIAN MURDER ATTEMPT IN BALLYMENA
09/09/05 08:14 EST

A Northern Ireland man has given a harrowing account of how he had to fake his own death to stop three men from repeatedly stabbing him in a sectarian attack. 

Michael Reid, a Catholic, was at a friend's house in the Harryville area of Ballymena in 2003 when the men arrived at the door and attacked him. 

Neil White, 30, of Wakehurst Road, Ballymena, pleaded guilty today to charges of attempted murder. He was remanded in custody to await sentencing. Two other men sought in connection with the attack remain at large. 

Reid was visiting a Protestant friend in the loyalist Harryville area on 11 October, 2003, when White and two others came to the house. He said his friend was upstairs sleeping when the attackers arrived. They asked him where he was from in Ballymena, and attacked him when they discovered he was a Catholic. 

"Basically, there was cable thrown around my neck, they started to strangle me, then a second person started to stab me repeatedly," he said. 
"I think I got stabbed seven times and I was smashed over the head." 

He said he believed he was going to die during the sustained attack, so he decided to "go limp" and pretend to be dead. 

"I lay on the floor for maybe 10 to 15 seconds while the three of them started panicking and discussing what to do with the body," Mr Reid said. 

"While this was still going on, I was lying on the floor pretending to be dead. Two of them left to get a saw to cut me up. I left it maybe 20 seconds after the two of them had left the house and made a dash for the door but Neil White was still in the house." 

Reid was stabbed again in the side by White. 

"I took the knife out and pushed it up into his throat - I managed to headbutt him and knock him unconscious. I made my escape from the house, running about 150 yards down the road then collapsed at the side of the road." 

Reid said it was fortunate that the first vehicle to pass him was a police Land Rover. He does not know whether his friend was sleeping upstairs throughout the attack or was just scared. 

Doctors told him that he was lucky to be alive as he had lost so much blood, but the knife had missed his vital organs. He said it was not surprising that such a sectarian attack had taken place in Ballymena, and he insisted he would never return to the town. 

"It's not safe for Catholics to walk about certain areas of Ballymena, especially Harryville," he said. 

Ballymena is the largest town in DUP leader Ian Paisley's westminster constituency. It is also well known as the home town of actor Liam Neeson. 

Neeson was nominated last year by Ballymena town Council to recieve the freedom of the town but his nomination was rejected by the DUP because of alleged derogatory remarks Neeson made about his experiences growing up in the County Antrim town. 

Neeson was quoted as saying in an American magazine last year that he felt "second class" as a Catholic growing up in the mainly Protestant town and felt he had to stay indoors during the loyalist July 12 commemoration of the Battle of the Boyne. 

DUP councillor Maurice Hayes said he felt Ian Paisley and the now disbanded Ulster Special Constabulary should be honored instead.