Ulster Begins Week Of Peace Moves

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32076, 26 August 1969, Page 19

Ulster Begins Week Of Peace Moves

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright)

BELFAST, August 25.

Northern Ireland today began a week of bridge-building between the alienated Protestant and Roman Catholic communities, but in a climate of mutual accusations concerning the recent riots.

If peace efforts fail, the province may well face a repetition of the bitter strife which has left eight dead and hundreds injured in Belfast and Londonderry. British troops hope to have forestalled further riots outside the capital and Londonderry by moving into four more towns. The British forces increased in number to 6600 men during the week-end, and Government officials hope that the situation will have stabilised by the time the British Home Secretary (Mr Janies Callaghan) arrives in Belfast on Wednesday “to meet reasonable and responsible people of all sections of the community.” Sealed Off The Army is apparently settling in for a long spell of peace-keeping, and has made it a matter of policy that barricades can be removed only by persuasion. At the moment, few people are ready to be persuaded. One-third of Londonderry and one-eighth of Belfast are sealed off from the police and traffic; the banned Tricolor of the Irish Republic flies from many houses and lampposts in these Roman Catholic areas. Political leaders inside the Roman Catholic barricades are increasing their demands to include the abolition of Stormont, Ulster’s Parliament, and the introduction of direct rule from Westminster. Despite the formation of more interdenominational street committees to keep the peace, leaders of both religious and political groupings have expressed opposing views as to who started the trouble. Ulster’s Minister of Commerce (Mr Roy Bradford) yesterday challenged the statement issued jointly by Cardinal William Conway, the Roman Catholic Primate of All Ireland, and the bishops who represent the province’s Roman Catholic minority of 35 per cent. In a statement, the Church leaders expressed horror at the violence,' and said that Roman Catholic districts in Belfast during the ridts were invaded by “mobs equipped

with machine-guns and other firearms.” ‘The community, which was virtually defenceless, was swept by gunfire, and streets of Roman Catholic homes were systematically set on fire,” the statement said. ‘One-Sided’ Mr Bradford, who is emerging as a spokesman for the Protestant Unionist Government, said that the cardinal’s statement was a one-sided version of what took place. “The shooting started in Belfast, when an open call went out from the riotous Bogside, in Londonderry, to the sympathisers in Belfast and other cities to create disturbances to draw off the police in Londonderry,” he said. “The spark that ignited Belfast was a direct result of this appeal.” Dr John Carson, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church, the largest single

Church among Northern Ireland’s one million Protestants, described the cardinal’s statement as “not likely to contribute to a spirit of trust, and one that can only exacerbate tension.” He added: “We appeal to all people not to be eased or goaded into illegal violence.” London Protest In London yesterday about 600 demonstrators paraded demanding full civil rights for the Roman Catholic minority in Ulster. A delegation of civil rights workers handed in a petition to No. 10 Dawning Street, calling for the immediate release of 24 political prisoners said to be held without charge or trial in Belfast. The petition also called for the abolition of Northern Ireland's Special Powers Act, under which the 24—a1l members of the Republican Movement—were detained.