The Northern Ireland Housing Executive yesterday reported that it had received "priority" applications from nine people seeking rehousing as a result of intimidation or attack in the last week. The cases were still under investigation, but it is understood that most involved Catholic or mixed-religion families who had come under attack by loyalists. Intimidation of Catholic families living in predominantly Protestant working-class areas and of Protestant families in Catholic areas is a traditional feature of the July marching season, whether or not there is heightened tension over the Drumcree issue. This year, sources from the main loyalist paramilitary organisations say they expect that their own younger members and loyalists from dissident and splinter groups will engage in sectarian attacks on Catholic targets. Churches, businesses and houses in mainly Protestant areas are the most common targets.
A number of these attacks in the past week have been potentially murderous. A petrol bomb was thrown through the living room window of a young Catholic couple with two young children at Ballygallin Park, Coleraine, Co Derry, early yesterday. The house caught fire and police said the family were lucky to escape. The couple's two young sons suffered smoke inhalation but otherwise they were uninjured.
The loyalist rioters in Coleraine also petrol-bombed an insurance brokers in the town centre. The Catholic parochial house at Larne Road in Ballymena was also slightly fire-damaged in another overnight petrol bomb attack. The parish priest was away at the time and there were no injuries.
The Ballymena loyalists had stockpiled petrol bombs, apparently intent on more attacks. According to local sources, they are determined to cause trouble for Catholics in the town and are intent on attacking the Harryville Catholic church, which was the object of prolonged picketing by loyalist demonstrators.
Another Catholic house was attacked with a home-made bomb in Carrickfergus, Co Antrim overnight. The couple and their three children escaped unhurt.
These cases, which are typical of every loyalist marching season, passed with almost no political comment in the North.
Virtually the only group to comment was Families Against Intimidation and Terror (FAIT), whose spokesman, Mr Glynn Roberts, called on the Orange Order to withdraw from Drumcree to avert a situation where there would be a fatal attack on some isolated Catholic or mixed-religion family by loyalists.
He said: "I am worried that last night's violence will be only the tip of the iceberg, and as long as the Drumcree protest continues then this mindless destruction will increase. "The Orange Order must share some of the responsibility for last night's violence, as even though they have called for peaceful street protests, it was always inevitable that mindless thugs would exploit this and use the situation for violent confrontations." According to sources in the main paramilitary organisations, most of the sectarian attacks outside Belfast are being carried out by groups associated with the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF), the group formed by the extreme loyalist figure Billy Wright, who was shot dead by republicans last Christmas. LVF members, the sources insist, were responsible for last week's co-ordinated arson attacks on 10 Catholic churches.
Loyalist paramilitary sources say there is also a variety of other dissident Orange, ex-security forces and loyalist paramilitary figures who appear to be emerging into the vacuum caused by the four-year loyalist ceasefire. One group calling itself Ulster Protestant Action (UPA) has already said Belfast docks and the International Airport at Aldergrove will be blockaded if Orangemen are stopped from marching. Loyalist sources said they were unaware that such a group existed. Ulster Protestant Action (UPA) was a name used in the 1960s and before by loyalists associated with the Rev Ian Paisley. The stated object of the original UPA, was to "keep Protestant and loyal workers in employment in times of depression, in preference to their Catholic fellow workers".