By Dave Riley
While the world's media have focused on the confrontation at Drumcree, Unionist bigots have unleashed a wave of firebombings across Northern Ireland.
July is the main loyalist marching season. Thousands of Orangemen commemorate the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, which represents to them the great victory of Protestantism over Catholicism. Rolled into the event this year are many disparate elements, all a rallying call for Orangemen: 308 years of being on top; the Battle of the Somme during World War I (in which 60,000 loyalists were killed fighting for England); 30 years of "the troubles"; and three months of the Good Friday peace agreement.
From July 11 to 14, there were 554 parades in Northern Ireland, each one a triumphalist procession aimed at asserting loyalist privilege over the minority Catholic population.
This year was supposed to be different. This year the "peace process" was supposed to ensure that sectarian conflicts could be resolved non-violently. Despite the 86% vote in favour of the Good Friday agreement, however, along Garvaghy Road, the peace process is looking limp.
Garvaghy Road in Portadown, 60 kilometres south-west of Belfast, has been a flashpoint for the last four years. This time, the Parades Commission — which regulates the routes of sectarian marches throughout the Six Counties — ruled that the Drumcree Orangemen could not march down the Garvaghy Road on July 5. After the same decision in 1996, the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) overturned the ruling and forced the march through.
This year, an extra 800 British troops were sent to Northern Ireland to join the 17,000 already garrisoned there. The line was to be drawn at Drumcree: an 2.5 metre deep moat was dug, barbed wire was strung around the small Catholic community, and thousands of troops waited for the loyalist onslaught against an agreement which promised that these conflicts were a thing of the past.
The Orange Order gathered at Drumcree in their thousands and demanded to march down the Garvaghy Road. When refused, they camped on a hill overlooking the town and, as expected, a stand-off ensued.
Meanwhile, a pogrom was unleased against Catholics throughout the Six Counties. In the week of the march, 10 Catholic churches were burnt, many Catholics were beaten up and 112 homes fire bombed — including the Quinn family's home at Ballymoney in County Antrim.
The death of three young Quinn brothers — Richard (11), Mark (10) and Jason (nine) — broke the Drumcree siege. Neither the RUC nor the British army were going to do it. Catholics living along the Garvaghy Road were imprisoned by the siege, relying on motorcades to run the Orange blockade for essential supplies, while loyalist thugs hurled abuse and incendiaries over the perimeter.
With the death of the Quinns, Orange arrogance subsided somewhat; by July 15, only a few diehards occupied the hill overlooking Drumcree.
Amidst the public mourning that followed the deaths, however, Catholic residents along the Lower Ormeau Road in Belfast — another march flashpoint in recent years — were granted no respite. On the day after the Quinn killings, the Orange lodges gathered once again to mark their ascendancy — this time with Parades Commission sanction. The Lower Ormeau march route was allowed, supposedly to offset the "deep hurt" felt by loyalists over the prohibition at Drumcree.
Twenty-eight hours before the parade was due to take place, British troops and the RUC moved into the area and denied access to everyone except residents. The ability of the RUC to restrict access to the Lower Ormeau while allowing thousands of loyalists to gather nightly at Drumcree appears to have escaped the notice of the media.