Violence in Northern Ireland as Deadliest Bomb Attack Remembered in Omagh
August 16, 1999 - 0:0
OMAGH, Northern Ireland -- Northern Ireland on Sunday marked a year since the Omagh bombing, the province's bloodiest attack, amid a climate of growing violence and the persistent blockage of the peace process. Even as preparations were going ahead here to mark the attack in which 29 people died, violence flared across the province in Londonderry. Stores were looted and about a dozen cars set ablaze by angry Catholics protesting over Protestant marches through the divided community.
Young protestors, many wearing hoods, also set fire to three banks and threw objects at firefighters who turned up to put out the blazes. Police said a total of 250 molotov cocktails were hurled in the violence. Nine people were detained during the overnight violence that followed a series of clashes Saturday between police and Roman Catholic nationalists seeking to disrupt Protestant marches in Londonderry, Northern Ireland's second city and home to a Roman Catholic majority, and in Belfast. The marches commemorate a Protestant victory in Londonderry in 1689, but are increasingly seen, notably by Catholics, as provocative and outdated.
At least 27 policemen were hurt, 19 in Belfast and eight in Londonderry, and a number of civilians were also injured in the clashes Saturday. Clashes also occurred in Lurgan. The continuing trouble made the Omagh anniversary an even more Sombre affair. The town had called for calm throughout the province. A dissident group of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), fighting for an end to British rule, claimed to have carried out the bombing, the worst attack in 30 years of "the troubles".
Despite the promises of London and Dublin, and the questioning of some 4,000 people, the murderers remain unpunished. Only one man, 46-year-old Colin Murphy, has been charged in connection with a Dublin enquiry into the attack. His case continues. The province's peace process, launched by the historic Good Friday Accord of 1998, remains stalled, with the IRA and Unionist parties unable to come to agreement on the terms for disarmament and the creation of a joint administration.
The Protestant Unionists refuse to form a power-sharing government that includes the IRA's political wing Sinn Fein until disarmament begins. Talks to try to resolve the impasse broke up amid acrimony last month, and the peace process is effectively on ice until September. (AFP)
Young protestors, many wearing hoods, also set fire to three banks and threw objects at firefighters who turned up to put out the blazes. Police said a total of 250 molotov cocktails were hurled in the violence. Nine people were detained during the overnight violence that followed a series of clashes Saturday between police and Roman Catholic nationalists seeking to disrupt Protestant marches in Londonderry, Northern Ireland's second city and home to a Roman Catholic majority, and in Belfast. The marches commemorate a Protestant victory in Londonderry in 1689, but are increasingly seen, notably by Catholics, as provocative and outdated.
At least 27 policemen were hurt, 19 in Belfast and eight in Londonderry, and a number of civilians were also injured in the clashes Saturday. Clashes also occurred in Lurgan. The continuing trouble made the Omagh anniversary an even more Sombre affair. The town had called for calm throughout the province. A dissident group of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), fighting for an end to British rule, claimed to have carried out the bombing, the worst attack in 30 years of "the troubles".
Despite the promises of London and Dublin, and the questioning of some 4,000 people, the murderers remain unpunished. Only one man, 46-year-old Colin Murphy, has been charged in connection with a Dublin enquiry into the attack. His case continues. The province's peace process, launched by the historic Good Friday Accord of 1998, remains stalled, with the IRA and Unionist parties unable to come to agreement on the terms for disarmament and the creation of a joint administration.
The Protestant Unionists refuse to form a power-sharing government that includes the IRA's political wing Sinn Fein until disarmament begins. Talks to try to resolve the impasse broke up amid acrimony last month, and the peace process is effectively on ice until September. (AFP)