Fresh violence erupted on the Shankill Road in Belfast yesterday as attempts were made to end the loyalist feud which has so far claimed three lives. The trouble delayed the start of exploratory talks between the political wings of the UDA and the UVF.
However, the negotiations eventually went ahead. No loyalists from the Shankill were involved. The Progressive Unionist Party, the UVF's political wing, was represented by Mr David Ervine and Ms Dawn Purvis. The Ulster Democratic Party, the UDA's political wing, was represented by Mr Gary McMichael and Mr David Adams.
Sources said no truce was agreed during the talks but another meeting will be held. It is understood that representatives from the Shankill will attend. One man was injured and two houses and a bakery attacked during the disturbances yesterday. At one stage, British troops and RUC officers had to keep the rival groups apart.
The UDA claimed UVF men assaulted one of its members as he left a flat on the Crumlin Road.
The UVF claimed the UDA attacked a bakery belonging to a former UVF prisoner. They then attacked the home of his estranged wife, Ms Nicola Dunwoody. "They said that my husband would be getting it next," she said. Later, the security forces had to stop 30 UDA supporters who were heading up the Shankill Road, armed with pick-axe handles. A group of 60 UVF supporters were waiting further up the road. Mr William Smith of the PUP said that the UDA's Shankill unit was out of control. "This is all crazy. I have been around a very long time and I have never seen anything like it."
Mr John White of the UDP blamed the UVF for the increasing tension. "We have entered these talks in a very positive manner but it has not been reciprocated by the UVF." Patsy McGarry adds: A "very sad chain of events" linked the latest violence in Northern Ireland with "the depraved frolics" of loyalist paramilitary Johnny Adair at Drumcree, an editorial in the Church of Ireland Gazette said.
"If our failures within the Church of Ireland to deal with the issues surrounding Drumcree, if our turning a blind eye at the General Synod to the problems that were going to emerge at Drumcree once again this year, if the unwillingness of many of our parishes to put into effect the resolutions passed by the General Synod in 1999, have had even a small link to the present violence, then apart from offering hope and vision, the church will also have to consider offering repentance and sorrow," it said.
