A 15 year old catholic boy is tonight on a life-support machine after receiving a vicious sectarian beating at the hands of a loyalist mob in Ballymena. The incident follows the stabbing of another catholic youth by loyalists in the town last month (Today FM is reporting the incident in more details.)
Update
Tragically, young Michael McIlveen has lost his fight for life tonight.
Coming up to the Halloween holiday, some people might be frightened of the idea of Voices from the Grave – but for others, the chance to hear an oral history of the Troubles from the mouths of two (in)famous protagonists, PUP leader and former UVF member David Ervine, and Brendan “The Dark” Hughes, is not [...] read our review »
Unionists, Loyalists, and Conflict Transformation in Northern Ireland is a new academic tome by lecturer and researcher Lee Smithey. In the book the Pennsylvania academic outlines his findings based on 67 interviews over eighteen months with grassroots activists in unionist and loyalist communities and organisations. This is largely a book about men, even though they [...] read our review »
What a way to round off the council’s annual public festivities.
http://www.paradescommission.org/parades/Parade.cfm?id=13845
These people are scum. What threat does an innocent fifteen year old catholic boy pose to their twisted sense of ‘God and Ulster.’ Without either the provos to duke it out with they turn again to innocent children. What a pack of sick, sick bastards.
And to think it’s the nationalists who are being accused of ‘failing to implement a cross comunity project’ in Ballymena. God, what a bunch of hypocritical scum bags. In most cases I would differentiate between the loyalist cross-community workers and a loyalist mob but the people on the loyalist side of that particular cross-community pact were just as eager to put back up their filthy pro-terrorist propaganda.
Who ever did this deserves the same treatment in return.
God help him! I hope he pulls through and as a bonus is able to describe and ultimately identify his attackers.
bertie,
well said. I completely agree with you.
Yes, agree with Bertie. This is the sort of nasty attack that I hope people can be caught and punished for. Let us pray that the boy will pull through.
Let us hope that his 15-year-old mates can consider this calmly and rationally, and not immediately demonize every Protestant in Ballymena. And engage in ugly reprisals.
We’ve seen this shit in too many generations. The cycle of hatred has to end somewhere.
well said bertie and DM
David,
“We’ve seen this shit in too many generations. The cycle of hatred has to end somewhere.”
I agree entirely. These eejits not only harm their dirrect victims but risk inspiring a new generation of hatred and mistrust. These scum bags are a plague on both communities.
So for the second marching season in a row Ballymena takes an early lead in the sectarian hatred stakes.
Will the local MP be available for comment this year? Let’s hope so.
Stand up against Sectarianism
let me pre-empt what the loyalist politicos will say. I CONDEMN THIS AS I CONDEMN ALL SECTARIAN ATTACKS. they will then go on about something that they say goes unreported all the time. i just hope the young lad pulls through.
I hope it’s not true, but from what I hear the signs for this fella pullin through aren’t good.
Well said bertie
A savage attack, deserves to be condemned by all right thinking people.
I don´t normally pray but I will for this young fellow.
As a father I can only dread what his family are going through at the moment.
The thugs must never win.
Not that it matters much, as this is still a young lad who is fighting for his life, but is it certain it was sectarian?
My own daughter was left unconscious in Newry about 2 years ago after being in a night club while waiting for a taxi. She was mown down in the street and her friends had to jump into the canal. Its been a long slow recovery for her, but she is back in school.
This is every parents worst nightmare, no matter what the circumstances, and my prayers join all the others
Qubol
Do you have inside knowledge or have you seen a recent update in the public domain.
Missfitz I’m glad your daughter is on the mend. Ket’s hipe that this young lads parents will one day be in a position to make a similar report.
Missfitz
i have read your regular sensible commentary for some time and have rarely disagreed.
i was aware of the newry incident and but for the grace of god as i would have waited for a lift in the same area a lot of years ago and often wondered about the long term outcome for the girl concerned in this incident.
my prayers are with you that your daughter makes as good a recovery as is possible after such a horrible event. doesnt seem like two years though
What an utter disgrace! It would be nice if Ian Paisley would offer some specific words to directly condemn the attack, criticising the Loyalist gang and asking the public to give information to the Police. It is the job of the local MP do such a thing at the very least. It is going to be another very unpleasant marching season if this is anything to go by.
I second that. Sorry for your troubles, Missy
Thank you ecce,for your kind words
Well its 18 months to be precise. She had to lose a semester at Queens and still suffers from back problems, and gets anxious in crowds, but hey, she walks and talks and at one point I didnt think that would happen.
I really dont want to take away from the thread, as this belongs to that wee lad, but briefly, when the police (eventually) came to the house, their attitude was one of “But shure everyone knows you cant go out at night in Newry”
That really pissed me off at the time, the idea that we have lost control of our streets and neighbourhoods to the thugs and lowlifes who can swagger about with machetes and take swipes at kids out for the night? We still dont own the streets, and I dont let my children out in Newry.
English
“What an utter disgrace! It would be nice if Ian Paisley would offer some specific words to directly condemn the attack, criticising the Loyalist gang and asking the public to give information to the Police. It is the job of the local MP do such a thing at the very least. It is going to be another very unpleasant marching season if this is anything to go by.”
Spare a thought for this wee lads family before politically point scoring.
Missfitz
Remember reading about this a while back, glad to hear she´s on the road to recovery.
The thugs must never win.
Doctor Who,
I wasn’t trying to score political points, I was making an entirely reasonable statement in my opinion. I hope that this vicious attack is directly and clearly condemned by the local MP, this is a reasonable enough request in a democracy. It also might help prevent such behaviour, if their leader stands up and speaks up against it! Secondly, such behaviour does not bode well for the marching season – again a fair statement.
I have every sympathy with the young lad and his family – he has his whole life ahead of him.
bertie – its the grapevine. I heard he was set upon with a baseball bat and a knife. Can’t stand by it but thats the word going round Ballymena at the minute.
Guys just read this:
http://www.u.tv/newsroom/indepth.asp?pt=n&id=73066
I’d be surprized if this isn’t sectarian, I know a number of people hit on the way home from the cinema in sectarian beating, none however anywhere near as bad as this.
I would be surprised if there wasn´t collusion in this attack as the PSNI in this area are loyalist thugs without masks. This family could do without the crocodile tears of unionists.
This society can do without the mindsets of HarryO
Qubol
If people have been attacked before then the chances are that this attack is not the first time the perpetrators have been involved and therefore someone should know something and this will increase the chances them being caught.
Harry – i’m no fan of the police either but wind your neck in. Whether the police actually do their job right and produce a conviction is another matter but to say they might have help orchastrate this is beyond belief.
bertie – possibly, I really don’t know, but there are quite a few cameras in the area – around the army base and in the town centre so maybe they’ve been caught out there. like I said though, hopefully the investigation won’t be messed up.
Could do without HarryO certainly, but there is a need for leadership every time something like this happens.
There are always going to be leaders and followers. Its been so long now with such a profound democratic deficit that we could be cynical about leadership, but it demonstrates that beating people and threatening their lives is not acceptable behaviour in civilised society.
The Barbarians may be inside the gates, and it may be too late to stop them advancing, but human decency dictates that we should try.
I wont get into who should say what, but if we were really to share a future, we should all know when to stick up for what is right. No matter what the consequences. That is bravery and that is leadership.
And that is what we lack.
The sectarian attacks in Ballymena and surrounding area started around this time last year, hopefully the police will be pro-active this year in catching the culprits and organisers of the sectarian campaign.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Northern_Ireland/Story/0,2763,1563265,00.html
Missfitz
i agree that its bad form to go off the thread and this one is about sectarianism and the violence associated with it rather than violence in general.
BUT…Whilst it was dangerous to hang about in newry when i was a child you could probably get away with it. A few years later if you were a boy with long hair you were fair game for a kicking and as you know girls then became fair game also and you do wonder what is next. drive bys stabbings outside entertainment venues. it scares me shitless as i have 3 young kids and i fear for them when they will inevitably start going out at night when they are are older.
What possesses anyone to commit such an utterly pointless crime? What makes anyone think they can terrorise and murder? The attitudes that caused this are an affront to us all and endanger us all.
This is vile, and unfortunately it happens all too frequently in this sick place. It doesn’t matter what the reason, or pathetic justification that may be offered, as with all serious crime it is the responsibility of us all to assist the police and insist that the perpetrators meet the full rigor of the law.
No whataboutery, no excuses; its simple; this is a crime; it is utterly intolerable and it is in all our interests that we establish an ethos where no one is under any illusion that this society will not tolerate any such behaviour.
Like everyone else I hope the young lad makes a fast and full recovery and I wish there was something that could be done to lessen the terrible suffering that his family must be going through.
All this sudden Unionist angst over ‘thuggery ‘and oh the terrible ‘knife culture‘.
Maskey didn’t get away with it! You won’t.
Attempting to cover up another brutal slaying on the edges the 6 month long Orange hate-fest still won‘t wash.
Unionism murdered this boy. Orangism created the context. The UVF trained the youth mindset. The DUP pulled the trigger, again.
Usual Unionist bullshit. Usual dead Catholic boy.
How many more dead do your ‘cultural’ summers demand?
Those who did this, most probably, did it in the full belief that what they were doing was right and the best interests of their community.
It is for Unionists and Protestants to decide what they must do to challenge this attitude in their community, not me or any other member of the Nationalist and Catholic community.
It is for Nationalists and Catholics, however, to decide what we can do to create the circumstance whereby such acts cannot be justified.
I am not advocating that the ‘croppy lies down’, as some would suggest I am. We should not accept injustice for a ‘peaceful’ life. Indeed, it is true that the present of peace is the absence of injustice.
What I am advocating though is that Nationalists, Republicans and Catholics analyse the reasons for the fears which give rise to this violence and move to allay them.
The cease-fires were a major move in this direction, but we must rid ourselves of our own sectarianism. As Gandhi said, be the change which you want to see in the world. Lead by example.
Violence is only a manifestion of the fundemental problem of fear in our society. Remove the fear and end the violence.
Dualta
Those who did this, most probably, did it in the full belief that what they were doing was right and the best interests of their community.
I doubt this, unless their standards are totally base. All communities have people who are violent and if it isn’t pure hate, racism or sectarianism it will be the wife, the children or anybody who they take grievance at. Add to this a bit of herd instinct and you have problems. Many of these crimes are not random, people go out of their way to carry them out, they go out of their way to position themselves so that they can participate in such violence. It is deliberate.
I would suggest that we separate cause (or excuse) and concentrate with the act. Its a crime against society and this individual and his family in particular. The people who did this must be brought to justice.
As for dealing with the alleged causes, fear, envy, hate, insecurity, racism, tribalism, sectarianism, division, demonising others outside our tribe, a Nelsonian approach to such matters by our politicians, tacit support to criminals as their are our criminals, life is literally too short. Much easier if we as a society simply act in unison and demand justice and any other crime and that in itself is a step towards normalisation and addressing the cause.
Crataegus said:
[i]I doubt this, unless their standards are totally base.[/i]
Crataegus,
Human history is littered with appalling actions committed by people who thought what they were doing was right, and whose standards were totally base.
Whilst I agree that there are always people in society who have a tendency to act violently towards others, this crime was sectarian and it would be wrong to assume that someone else was ‘going to get it’ had a Catholic kid not been at hand.
You cannot simply separate cause and act if you seek to remedy the situation. You can if you simply want to condemn, but not if you want to work to ensure that such things don’t happen again.
Also, in trying to identify the reasons for a person’s behaviour in any given circumstance, be it beating a family member they profess to love or slaughtering millions of people in concentration camps, I reassert my belief that you don’t have to look much further than fear for your answer.
I repeat, in order to end the violence, deal with the fear.
you “smart” people still dont get it…..Ireland Unfree Shall Never Be At Peace…the only way to end violence like this is to break the connection with england….by not pushing for a united ireland, you are complicit in this so dont cry crocodile tears when you are just as much to blame as whoever actually meted out the hiding
i hope the revenge attack is more severe
here comes summer…and the DUP bleat on about how the party of most 6 co nationalists are somehow “unfit” for government-its the same mentality
“A Police Service spokeswoman said the motive for the attack was being investigated and they would not speculate on claims in the town that it was sectarian.”-UTV
How shy the PSNI/RUC are if ther’s a chance that loyalists were involved.. republicans on the other hand and they cant run to their press puppets soon enough
Fartrick
“i hope the revenge attack is more severe”
Lovely.
I’m sure if ther poor lad’s family read comments like that, they’ll feel greatly comforted.
Bootmen
“here comes summer..”
And here come the trolls, they can’t even let an occasion lke this pass without spouting out their usual offensive, illiterate nonsense.
Show a bit of respect for Christ’s sake before you start the point-scoring.
Can Chris Donnelly confirm an official Sinn Fein position on whether or not information should be passed to the police? This is a serious question.
Either Sinn Fein supports a policing-led resolution to this issue or they prefer other methods. Or no solution. Which is it?
I wouldnt be sure that Ballymena or Newry are any more dangerous than anywhere else?
The wee Devlin boy was murdered in a leafy suburb last summer. This terrible attack has shades of that, sadly. Can moderators not simply trace/remove such utter garbage as has been written above by sick mind (or one mind) One of the above is clear incitement to hatred.
As someone from the South who has spent far too little time in the North, can anyone offer any real insight as to why these things happen?
Is it simply mindless, where groups of loyalist thugs get together, go drinking, spot a guy with a Celtic shirt, and attack him? While horrendous and appalling, it seems that that racism / loutishness is to be dealt with in the same way as the racist lout who put the Lithuanian man in a coma in Dublin last year (http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0428/dunnek.html).
What concerns me a little more however is whether this is pre-meditated, and I don’t know if it is.
Anthony B: “whether this is pre-meditated”
well anthony I’d say the baseball wasn’t there because of a game of rounders. The fact is in Ballymena certain places are a no-go if your a Catholic. If you’re wearing a celtic top or if the wrong person knows your face then you could be in trouble. Loyalists in the town like to see the town centre as ‘theirs’ and they deeply resent that William Street in the centre is where Nationalists socialize. This poor guy was hit because loyalists don’t want Catholics in their part of the town.
qubol, pre-meditated is probably the wrong phrase – I suppose pre-planned would be more apt. Therefore re-framing the question, are there loyalist mobs seeking out targets, or are these attacks opportunist? Your reply seems to indicate opportunism / not pre-planned, which is no comfort to their victim, but at least suggests that the kind of co-ordinated mindlessness (an oxymoron?) of the past is not being ressurected.
does anyone really care what political, or religious persuasion these scum were who done this?
Dear me, the posts on here are so full of vitriol and pathetic point scoring it is unreal.
One poster blames unionism, the dup, the uvf blah blah blah…
I think the people who done this must be either on drugs, or severely retarded, also, those posters like fartick fall into the same category.
Hope this poor lad is ok, and his family get the deserved support from ordinary people, from both sides.
yeah but stephen it’s no coincidence that in places where Unionists can’t share power with their neighbours this kind of violence exists. Monica Digney, the SF councillor in Ballymena said on the radio earlier that Unionists shot down her motion on prescription charges just because it came from her. Indeed even in the council chamber Nationalists are threatened. In a climate such as this, how can the political leaders of these thugs give leadership without appearing to be hypocrites. The inevitable conclusion to unionist policies in places like Ballymena would seem to be sectarian hatred and ultimately violence.
Anthony B: “I suppose pre-planned would be more apt”
I’ve no idea – Its quite possible that these guys set out to do this that night but such attacks can often be opportunistic. who knows?