Newry Armagh Sinn Féin Sinn Féin -- Building an Ireland of Equals

Intimidation and violence condemned - Cathy Rafferty

Published: 13 August, 2008

Councillor Cathy Rafferty has condemned the thuggish behaviour of a group of Loyalists which attacked a young man and cars in the Mall area on Friday 9th August.

'I have been receiving numerous complaints from angry motorists about how these people were stepping in front of cars, thumping windscreens and shouting sectarian abuse at the occupants. In one case a car full of children were left in floods of tears by the aggressive behaviour, as an Armagh GAA car - window flag was ripped from their car and their father who was driving verbally threatened. Other car drivers passing through this area at the junction of Barrack Hill and

Barrack Street

have reported similar experiences '

The Sinn Féin representative continued, 'In another more serious incident, which by the descriptions given, may well be related to the same gang, a young Nationalist was attacked and beaten in the College Street area, thankfully a passing lady motorist witnessed the incident and was able to stop him being more seriously hurt, she was also able to identify the assailants to a passing police patrol who took action.'

'The Mall is recognized and deemed as 'shared space' in Armagh City. It is not a no go area for any part of the community. This is why my colleague, Mayor Noel Sheridan, raised the issue of the flags flying around the Gaol. Some people believe they are 'marking out their territory', which is totally unacceptable and should not be tolerated. I would also question just what the so called community representatives in this area are doing when this behaviour is taking place. If similar events take place in the West of the City, I am able to call on hard working voluntary community representatives to try and nip it in the bud - yet a group with well paid staff on the pay roll either ignore such happenings, have no control over them or simply lock their funded office doors at five o'clock and go home. Just what are these people getting paid for if not to try and prevent drunken youths intimidating people and assaulting people in their area?'