Pastor Kenny McClinton, who acts as a mediator for Loyalist Volunteer Force prisoners in the Maze, has said that a gun attack on his home in Belfast was the work of fascists and would not stop him from speaking out.
Several shots were fired through the window of his home in McIvor's Place in the Shankill early yesterday. Mr McClinton, who was lying on the sofa at the time, escaped uninjured. His wife Wendy, who is pregnant, was in bed upstairs. She was not hurt, but was badly shaken.
No organisation has claimed responsibility for the shooting, but it took place as fears intensified that the UVF might attack the LVF or other dissident loyalists. Mr McClinton says he has no links with the LVF but has simply been attempting recently to resolve a dispute involving the group's prisoners in the Maze. "I am opposed to all violence," he said. "This attack was clearly aimed at killing me. It was an attack on democracy. But I will not be intimidated. I will continue to speak out against totalitarianism and fascism." When asked who he believed was responsible, he said he did not want to point the finger at any organisation.
The Progressive Unionist Party leader, Mr David Ervine, condemned the attack and described it as "deplorable". But his party colleague, Mr Billy Hutchinson, refused to condemn it. He did not think the UVF was involved in the attack but he said the PUP did not enter into "the politics of condemnation".
Mr McClinton, a former UDA prisoner who renounced violence 18 years ago and became a born-again Christian, said he was watching television when the gunman struck. "The attacker came right up to the window and aimed directly at me. This wasn't an attempt to scare, it was an attempt to kill. The pellets came through reinforced glass and lodged in the settee. I am very lucky to be alive. I have no idea why I was targeted. I have clearly stated that I oppose all violence."