WHEN THE MASK SLIPS

Mob violence . . .
masked Donald Mercer
pictured leading the attack on police.
A Garvaghy Road (Portadown) residents'
leader pulls on a mask and attacks police - just days
after peace talks with Mo Mowlan.
The shocking photo shows Donald Mercer, hurling missiles
at officers before the Drumcree march last year
(1997).
Days earlier he had joined a high-powered delegation from
the residents' group which had "proximity
talks" at Hillsborough Castle.
Security cameras captured Mercer, of Garvaghy Park,
leading a mob which pelted police with missiles.
One shot showed him prowling the street with a rock in
each hand. He disappears but seconds later
re-emerges wearing a makeshift mask before launching his
attack.
"The Sun" 30 June 1998

Gerard Rice, Spokesperson for the Lower Ormeau Concerned Community
who oppose Orange parades on the Ormeau Road, Belfast.
Served four years imprisonment for
membership of the I.R.A. and possession of arms (Sunday
Life, 14th May, 1995).
In the Belfast Telegraph 27th March,
1997, Mr. Rice said "The L.O.C.C. would like to
see an exhibition which presents the Orange Order's view
of itself."
On 28th March 1998, Mr. Rice was among a
republican crowd protesting outside an Orange Order
cultural exhibition at Belfast's Waterfront Hall. The
protest degenerated into serious verbal and physical
assaults on people attending the exhibition.
IRA
MAN' IS IDENTIFIED AS PROTEST CHIEF
The main figure behind Springfield Residents Action
Group has been identified as Sean "Spike"
Murray, a leading IRA member who has served time for
explosives offences.
Murray, from the lower Springfield Road area, was in
control of a crowd of protesters opposing the Orange
parade as it proceeded down Workman Avenue to cross the
peace-line.
Murray was found guilty in 1982 of possession of
explosives with intent, possession of explosives in
suspicious circumstances and of carrying out an act with
intent of causing an explosion. He appealed in 1983
but was unsuccessful.
According to security sources, Murray and Frances
McAuley were in the front line of protests.
"They were under the same codes of conduct and
guidelines as the Orangemen but they breached every
article under these codes of conduct, including diverting
from the route and refusing to co-operate with the
police.
"The protest was clearly shown to be orchestrated
by these people and there were clearly outsiders
involved," said the source.
News-letter 2 July 1998
.SENIOR PROVOS STIRRING
ORANGE MARCH TROUBLE
Republicans believed to be behind recent opposition to
Orange parades in Ulster, are planning to extend their
campaign to middle class areas, it has been
claimed.
Residents in Glengormley, on the outskirts of Belfast,
say senior Provos have visited the bourgeois commuter
belt in an effort to kick-start local resistance to
Orange marches.
The move is consistent with Gerry Adams assertion at a
recent Sinn Fein Ard Fheis, when he told supporters that
his party were the driving force behind forcing Orangemen
to re-route parades.
It is understood both Gerard Rice of the Lower Ormeau
Residents Group and Brendan McKenna, who speaks for the
Garvaghy Road residents, have recently made contact with
republicans living in Glengormley.
Both Rice and McKenna have served jail sentences after
being convicted of republican terrorist crimes.
Sunday World 11 May 1997
SINN
FEIN 'ORCHESTRATED DRUMCREE DISTURBANCES'
Last nights RTE Prime Time programme alleged that Mr.
Adams told a private republican conference last November
in Athboy, Co. Meath, that the party was behind the
protests on the Garvaghy Road, Portadown, the Lower
Ormeau Road, Belfast and other areas.
The Prime Time reporter, Justin O'Brien, said that the
programme had a transcript of a speech made by Mr. Adams
in Athboy.
Mr. O'Brien said that a crucial part of Mr. Adams's
speech read: "Ask any activist in the North did
Drumcree happen by accident, and they will tell you 'no'
..... three years of work on the Lower Ormeau Road,
Portadown, and parts of Fermanagh and Newry, Armagh and
Bellaghy, and up in Derry".
"Three years' work went into creating that
situation, and fair play to those people who put the work
in". According to Mr. O'Brien, the Sinn Fein
president concluded: "And they are the type of scene
changes that we have to focus in on, and develop, and
exploit."
The Irish Times 5 March 1997
BRENDAN
McKENNA - A PROFILE.
The chairman of Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition is a
former republican prisoner. Aged 24, he was jailed for
six years for his part in the 1982 I.R.A. bombing of the
Royal British Legion Club, Portadown.
Mr. McKenna received concurrent sentences for a
fire-arms offence, false imprisonment and
hijacking. He was one of two masked men who held a
Churchill Park family hostage for three hours while their
car was stolen.
Given his republican background, his involvement in
the Coalition is seen as sinister, and an attempt by
republicans to manipulate the parades issue.
Belfast Telegraph 28 January 1997
COURT
TOLD OF 'VICIOUS' ATTACK ON ORANGEMEN
A senior police chief has
described to a court a "brief but quite
vicious" incident when Orangemen were attacked by
protestors during a pre-Twelfth Sunday Church parade in
Keady, last year.
Supt. Blakely said the parade was due to start at 6.30
p.m. Immediately prior a group of protestors - he estimated
300 - who had assembled at St. Patrick's Street/Kinelowen
Street, blocked the roadway.
Witness said he approached the protestors and
spoke to Sinn Fein councillors Sean McGirr and Brian Cunningham.
Supt. Blakely explained: "They said the
protestors wanted to register their protest by remaining on
the road, blocking it, until the parade actually reached their
point. They said the protestors would then fall back to the
Monument."
The Supt. said he refused their proposal, informing
them it was unacceptable and would create a serious public
order issue. He told them the organisers of the parade were
very keen it should pass off peacefully.
Eventually, said the police chief, a compromise
was reached. When the parade started off from the Orange Hall,
Cllrs. McGirr and Cunningham were to ensure that the protestors
fell back to behind the Monument leaving a distance of 15-20
metres between them and the marchers.
Having reached the Monument there was some difficulty
he said. According to Cllrs. McGirr and Cunningham the majority
of the crowd did not want to fall back.
Supt. Blakely told the court there was a substantial
number of civilian stewards and he was given the assurance
they would link arms in front of the protestors to form a
barrier.
He spoke of how when the tail of the parade
was almost past one man managed to break between or under
the stewards line and make towards a marcher whom he physically
attacked.
"The line broke and a number of people
attacked Orangemen" he said.
Supt. Blakely described the behaviour of the
marchers as they passed as "impeccable". He said
there was a brief but quite vicious melee, after the line
broke, before order was re-established.
The officer said he advised Mr. McGirr that
he had accepted the organisers assurances in good faith but
was now of the opinion they were no longer in control of the
protest.
One of the Orangemen attacked gave evidence
of being punched in the face by a man who broke from the protestors.
"I was punched, I could feel myself being
pulled and thumped. They were right round me, trying to pull
me to the ground by the back of the neck and jacket. It was
ripped".
He said he sustained nose and ear injuries and
got a sore back.
A Reserve Constable recalled that, as the last
dozen or so marchers approached the Monument, a man broke
from the crowd and lunged at one of the Orangemen.
He alleged the attacker, who was about six feet
tall, lunged with an arm and attempted to kick the Orangeman
who was almost to the ground.
The Officer alleged he had heard one Orangeman
called an "UDR bastard". There were shouts at two
brothers about their father being shot.
The Orangeman, he said, had kept walking on.
THE ULSTER GAZETTE, 7th October 1999.
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