Some figures on paramilitary assaults to consider in a Belfast Telegraph report by Alan Murray. The figures quoted are for the three months prior to the recent accreditation of restorative justice schemes. They are not huge numbers, but they are on the increase. Adds And another “paramilitary style” shooting.
PSNI figures show that between April and June this year the number of paramilitary attacks trebled compared to the same period in 2007 and reported attacks last month show that the bid to exert control in nationalist areas in particular is continuing unabated.
Figures compiled by the PSNI show that between April and June this year dissident republicans carried out three so-called punishment shootings compared to none in the same three months last year. And assaults carried out by republican paramilitaries and loyalist paramilitaries doubled in the same period compared to the same three months last year. Assaults by loyalists doubled to four as did attacks attributed to republicans by the PSNI between April and the end of June this year.
Overall paramilitary shootings and assaults recorded by the PSNI rose to 11 compared to just four assaults and no shootings carried out between April and the end of June last year. And while the volume of attacks so far this year is well short of the total of 52 for last year, the tripling of the figures for the three months to the end of June is a worrying sign.
