Sunday, March 16, 2008
“So he would be very well known..”
The 51-year-old man left critically ill after being attacked at his home yesterday evening was later named as a former Provisional IRA prisoner who, according to one report [not online], was convicted of a bomb attack on a bar. According to various reports, Frank McGreevey was assaulted at his home in Ross Street shortly after 1830 GMT on Saturday by at least two men. The Chairman of the Falls Road Residents’ Association, Robert McClenaghan, said “He is a former prisoner who served a life sentence. So he would be very well known.” The BBC report also notes Update It’s now a murder inquiry. And One man has been charged.
Police are treating the incident as attempted murder. A 20-year-old man is being questioned by police. Acting Detective Superintendent Jeff Smyth said they were following a definite line of inquiry.
...
“As such last evening in the middle of the night, members of the PSNI, under my direction, searched a number of houses in this community looking for a suspect,” he said. Detectives later said the 20-year-old man had handed himself in at Grosvenor Road police station.
And the RTÉ report has this
Local Sinn Fein Councillor, Tom Hartley, says residents of the area had phoned the police about some of the parties involved in the incident and they were unhappy about the slow response.
Pete Baker @ 10:51 PM
“By the way,that whole area has been left devoid of any proper policing, with teenage thugs being able to run amok....£10 pound touts the local residents call them!”
Firstly I hope the guy who was attacked makes a full recovery, however on the above post I wonder what type of policing SF and its supporters thought they were signing up to. It is a fact of life in the UK, that the police give an extremely poor service to working class areas. Why would the PSNI be any different on this from the Met, Greater Manchester, etc.
The problem with all police committees in the UK is that they are not allowed beyond fluff to deal with policing on the ground, this lays with the Chief Constable and the Home Office, I am afraid you have been sold a pup by SF over policing.
Still we are where we are, what is needed is for the north’s political parties, especially the SDLP and SF to draw up a policy paper/whatever on policing, for the problems of UK policing working class areas goes far deeper that 50% etc.
I would like to have been able to include those who represent politically the loyalist working classes, but as that is mainly the UU and DUP I really cannot see the point, for they are happy with the current arrangements of giving priority to the middle class areas.
Posted by on Mar 17, 2008 @ 02:17 PMThey werent sold a pup by Sinn Fein they were sold the pup by the english who assured them their neighbourhoods would be safer with regular police patrols.
Republicans were not given a choice, if they wanted to move on they had to accept inferior policing by this “world class” police force.
Posted by on Mar 17, 2008 @ 02:33 PMThe big difference between policing here and in the UK…
The police there didn`t murder and collude in murder…
As to calls for the sdlp to be involved, why???
The only time they are seen are at elections and thats not a cliche…
They have no idea what goes on in working class estates...sure their solution was to vote for plastic bullets to be retained, refuse to meet residents groups associated with the CRJ strategies, refuse to meet with the families and the groups highlighting British security force collusion...etc, etc..
As to Pete Baker, if he is allowed to continue to start blogs on this site after that allegation then it re-enforces the belief that this site has lost touch with reality and is the retreat of anti-Nationalists…
6 county ulster you should be ashamed off yourself for condoning the senseless attack but then with 2 brain cells what else would we expect.
Posted by on Mar 17, 2008 @ 03:04 PMSo to conclude, Pete Baker is evil and the police need some serious looking at.
Posted by on Mar 17, 2008 @ 03:13 PM“The big difference between policing here and in the UK… ”
who told you Twinbrook isn’t in the UK? Trust me, they’re telling you lies!
Posted by on Mar 17, 2008 @ 03:18 PMNo baker made allegations and tried to justify an attack on an innocent man, simply because he was a Republican…
How many names is he using on this tread!!Ulster trying to justity a brutal attack and then laughing it off is the sign of a political immature moron wh need medical help…
Posted by on Mar 17, 2008 @ 03:29 PMTwinbrook, have you ever considered a motive for this attack? Did this young guy(s) just randomly select the ex-provo? Was his house randomly targeted? Was it a foiled burglary? Don’t think so. Why did the young guy hand himself in? It doesn’t seem like a routine mindless action. It seems like there is more to it and there was in fact a motive to it. But surely a republican terriorist wouldn’t have made enemies during his past? No-one in their right mind would suggest that would they?
Posted by on Mar 17, 2008 @ 03:50 PM“Ulster trying to justity a brutal attack and then laughing it off is the sign of a political immature moron wh need medical help… ”
“Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.”
Posted by on Mar 17, 2008 @ 03:50 PMUlsters my homeland: How old is the earth? Go on give us a laugh....
Posted by on Mar 17, 2008 @ 03:57 PMAntrim Springfarm
Here’s an idea: why don’t you set up your own blog where you can smear a victim of a savage beating, who is now on life support, and imply that he had it coming from this ‘young guy’. You could call the blog “Harry Holland got what he deserved as well”.
Posted by on Mar 17, 2008 @ 04:06 PM“How old is the earth? Go on give us a laugh....”
lol, what has me quoting scripture got to do with how old the earth is? How old do you think it is?
Posted by on Mar 17, 2008 @ 04:11 PM“Did this young guy(s) just randomly select the ex-provo?”
This ‘young guy’ is a career criminal, scum lowlife hood with a record as long as your arm, and who absconded while on leave from Hydebank Young Offenders home.
In the period he was out the already high levels of crime in the area went through the roof.
Of course, he may have went to this man’s house to show him his stamp collection and maybe a wrong word over an obscure former Soviet block stamp may have provoked him into to beating him over 60 times with a pickaxe handle.
But then, I’m sure you would understand such provocation and if I need someone to justify the actions of the Shankill Butchers or the La Mon bombers, I’ll know whose bleeding heart to call on.
Something tells me I might have more success on one over the other.
Posted by on Mar 17, 2008 @ 04:11 PMGrassy, you or no-one else is answering my obvious question in this story.
WHY DID THE YOUNG ‘THUG’ VISIT FRANK?
And since you raise the topic of the s’kill butchers - maybe this is just like what happened to Basher.
After all Basher was ‘an innocent ex-paramilitary’ just locking up the bike shop after work.
Posted by on Mar 17, 2008 @ 04:30 PMOne news source suggests Frank was attacked after confronting hoods nearby his house.
Posted by on Mar 17, 2008 @ 04:38 PMI think it’s pretty obvious why he visited him. To beat him to death.
Posted by on Mar 17, 2008 @ 04:38 PMWHY DID THE YOUNG ‘THUG’ VISIT FRANK?
Now Antrim (and Pete) - do you have an answer to this? Anthing based on fact or evidence other than handing rubbing schadenfreude would be good? Would it make what happened less wrong if the victim had kicked this young fella’s dog? Had stolen his bike? Had wished him good evening in passing and thus rubbed him up the wrong way?
There is an interest in blogging pieces of this nature Pete, but i do think that, as you did with the “Martin McGuinness brother-in-law” joke of a piece you kept pushing, you’re well off the ball. It would be easier if you just showed your cards and said exactly what you mean rather than hidng behind a cloud of links and Finbar Saunders-esque double entendres.
A poor bloggin of a serious incident.
Posted by on Mar 17, 2008 @ 05:27 PMSo circles, I posted just above you with a story from one news source on a theory why he was attacked.
Republicans must take the blame for the collapse in youth society in this area. For years it was a police no-go area. Youths were encouraged by Republicans to riot against the police and were wheeled out when necessary.
Ironically this philosophy has come back to haunt and indeed result in a prominent republican receiving a severe beating.
Can republicans wash their hands of the society in the lower falls that they helped to shape?
Again the police are being blamed. The community is just promoting the view that has been fed to them for the last 30 years.
Posted by on Mar 17, 2008 @ 05:41 PMAntrim, I am sure going by your logic Robert McCartney had it coming as well? After all, he was apparently confronting thugs before he was savagely beaten to death, too.
Posted by on Mar 17, 2008 @ 05:44 PMsameoldprejuduce, i’m looking forward to our friend’s response to that one.
Isn’t Slugger great for hearing moral high horse riding unionists ties themselves in knots to defend/excuse the actions of violent criminals?
Posted by on Mar 17, 2008 @ 05:53 PMWell our “high moral horse riding” has served us well hasn’t it? Do we have the same stories of hoods in the east of the city?
That is hilarious! Two republicans using the Robert McCartney incident to lecture on morality and knot-tying!!
With an Ex-terrorist involved my initial reaction is skepticism; in this case it might transpire to be a young hood reacting to some telling off.
This all goes to show how unionists and republicans view on paramilitaries vary and their integrity.
Posted by on Mar 17, 2008 @ 06:12 PM“The big difference between policing here and in the UK…
The police there didn`t murder and collude in murder…”
Twinbrook
Sadly you are still in the UK and to deny that fact will not help change it, if you mean the UK police across the Irish sea, you could not be further from the truth, as was proved by the death of Mr Jean Charles de Menezes and a number of other innocent people, including an Irish lad whose name I forget, whose only crime was having a chair leg in a carrier bag.
If the need arose I have absolutely no doubt the English police would act in much the same way as the RUC have.
As to the SDLP you may not like them but they still represent a fair number of working class people and this is the reason they need to be involved. As to your claim that it was the British which sold SF the pup, Well, I can only reply more fool Mr Adams for buying into it.
Posted by on Mar 17, 2008 @ 06:25 PMWhoops, Grassy Noel, I fixed your post:
--------------------------------
Isn’t Slugger great for hearing moral high horse riding [republicans] tie themselves in knots to defend/excuse the actions of violent criminals?
--------------------------------To be fair to Springfarm, McCartney wasn’t an IRA member, so presumably Springfarm wouldn’t feel he shared any culpability in banjaxing his area and unleashing the hoodlums. I don’t agree with him BTW, but at least get a handle on the guy’s logic before arguing with him.
And to be fair to Pete Baker, he hasn’t said anything remotely like “McGreevey probably deserved what he got”. The only thing he’s implied is there might be more details that aren’t readily apparent, not necessarily extenuating ones.
Honestly, is it any wonder you lot have been blowing each other up for thirty years.
Posted by on Mar 17, 2008 @ 06:25 PM‘Frank McGreevy was jailed for life for murder in the 1970s and served around 20 years before being released’ - Irish Times.
Even so, what happened should not have.... there can only be one law for everyone. Not one law for terrorists and gangsters and another for everyone else.
Posted by on Mar 17, 2008 @ 06:26 PM“Even so, what happened should not have.... there can only be one law for everyone. Not one law for terrorists and gangsters and another for everyone else.”
Sadly, there is a law for terrorists and gangsters and another law for everyone else, not everyone gets a get out of jail free pass when they’ve been sentenced to life.
Posted by on Mar 17, 2008 @ 06:47 PMUMH - Sadly, there is a law for terrorists and gangsters and another law for everyone else, not everyone gets a get out of jail free pass when they’ve been sentenced to life
There is a third law - security forces never need a get out of gaol card as they never get charged
Posted by on Mar 17, 2008 @ 06:54 PM
