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Ethnic cleansing pursued by rampant republicanism throughout
Northern Ireland has changed the faces of many districts.
Parts of Belfast, Londonderry, Portadown, Lurgan and other
large towns where Protestants and Roman Catholics once lived
happily beside one another have become republican dominated.
Very few, if any Protestants now remain in such areas, and
any there generally tend to be elderly, and unable to find
suitable alternative accommodation.
An 'Orange Standard' representative recently chatted to a
number of residents of former Protestant districts in various
parts of the Province, now 100 per cent - or heading that
way - Roman Catholic.
Without exception, all stressed they had no objection to
living beside decent Roman Catholics, and indeed they said
they preferred areas to be 'mixed' rather than be 100 per
cent unionist or nationalist.
But none felt in a position ever to be able to return to
a district where Roman Catholics dominated. Not because of
the fact it has a Roman Catholic district, but because republicans
tend to become militant and aggressive once there is a Roman
Catholic majority.
The real names of the people have been withheld, because
they still have friends living adjacent to nationalist areas,
and because they do not feel that real peace and normality
has returned to the Province.
'Fred' who lives in the Waterside area of Londonderry, is
a former resident of the famous Fountain district of that
city. He paid tribute to Alistair Simpson and others who live
in the Fountain and who maintain a Protestant presence on
the west bank.
But he feels infinitely sad about what has happened to Londonderry
in the past 30 years.
He told us, "I was born and brought up in the Fountain
and it was always a great area. It was an area of small terrace
houses, similar in many ways to places like the Shankill Road.
"By today's standards we were poor, but very happy,
as there was a great community spirit. There were always Roman
Catholic families in the Fountain. Not many, but the very
fact that a number lived there, proved it was not a sectarian
ghetto, and these people were never interfered with.
"What a happy place the Fountain was in the 1940's and
50's. I can remember Her Majesty the Queen visiting Brooke
Park, not far from the Fountain in 1953 and the huge crowd
which turned out to greet her.
"Everyone in the Fountain played their part in community
life on the city side. We supported Derry City for example,
and I remember great games against Linfield and Glentoran
in the Irish Cup when many bus loads left the Fountain and
adjoining areas like Park Avenue and Northland Road.
"The real change came after the Troubles of August 1969
when Protestants were forced out of streets close to the Fountain.
The constant uproar, attacks on the security forces and the
turmoil made it impossible for Protestants to feel safe.
"Soon the exodus had gathered into a flood. Over 200
Protestant families left the Creggan, others fled from the
Glen estate, and the streets off Park Avenue.
"Only the Fountain remained, and it has changed drastically,"
Fred said.
Fred praised the various residents' groups of the Wapping
and Fountain area and said they had achieved an enormous lot.
"We have new houses going up and a new school. But we
need more new houses to encourage young families to return,"
he said.
He praised Alistair Simpson, Governor of the Apprentice Boys,
and other Orange and Unionist leaders for what has been achieved.
Recently, a well-attended dance in the Memorial Hall brought
together residents and former residents of the Fountain.
"It was great to talk about former times. The Fountain
has always produced great people. In the 1960's we had the
top beauty queen in Northern Ireland living in the Fountain,
and there have been many sportsmen and women.
"It is a great community, even though there are only
a third of the people now living there compared to pre-development
days," said Fred.
He deplored the knocking down of so many houses, but above
all the huge decline in the Protestant population of the west
bank. "Something like 16,000 have left since 1968. What
does that say? It says that Protestants are not welcome on
the west bank and in spite of fine words by the S.D.L.P. and
other nationalists, that remains the case," he said.
'William' who lives in Portadown, comes originally from the
lower Garvaghy Road area, and can recall the time when this
area - 'The Walk' as it was known in Portadown - was a happy,
integrated district.
"It's hard for many people to believe, but as recently
as the mid-1960's, this was a contented and sought-after district.
Protestants lived cheek-by-jowl with their Roman Catholic
neighbours and they shared the joys and sorrows of life -
the ups and downs, the good times, the bad, and the ordinary
run of the mill, humdrum times.
"There was no sectarianism and Roman Catholics from
Woodside, Castle Avenue and Parkmount used to stand at their
front doors and watch the Orangemen parade on the Sunday before
the July 12 from Drumcree Parish Church.
"The Roman Catholics also attended the bonfires in Parkmount
and Woodside, and their children received the lemonade, buns
and sweets as well as the Protestant kids," said William.
He said the 'Walk' had always been integrated. "My family
roots go back over 100 years, and I always heard my relatives
speak of the happy district this was with Protestants enjoying
Parkmount Flute Band and Orange lodge on parade.
"There was a Roman Catholic man who lived a few doors
from my mother in the district when she was growing up. She
told me he was in the A.O.H. and used to go to their parades.
Everyone knew that was where he was going and no-one objected
- indeed many expressed good wishes to him for a good day's
enjoyment," he said.
William said that sectarianism had been practically unknown
until the 1970's when the I.R.A. moved into the district and
forced Protestant families out of Churchill Park estate, further
up the Garvaghy Road.
"It began in a slow way, but it was sinister and it
grew. The authorities turned a blind eye or adopted a softly-softly
policy and this encouraged the republicans. They stepped up
their ethnic cleansing and gradually took over the whole of
Churchill Park.
"Then they turned their attention to Woodside, then
Parkmount, and now they are down almost to the corner of Park
Road, the last Protestant part of the road," said William.
"It was a planned affair, and has one objective - the
clearing of the last Protestants from Garvaghy Road, and the
control of the Public Park, the Ulster Carpet factory, and
other places a few hundred yards from the town centre.
"But Protestants have said enough is enough, and are
determined to resist this bid by the so-called Garvaghy Road
Coalition to take over this famous part of Portadown. Most
of them are Johnny-come-latelys and have no roots in the 'Walk'
- indeed a high proportion do not even come from Portadown
at all - yet they want to dominate the town and push its people
out of an area their forefathers have lived in for generations,"
he said.
William can remember his relatives telling him about packed
Methodist prayer meetings in a house in Parkmount in the years
just after the Great War. Of the Lambeg drums of the district
parading Garvaghy Road and weeknights before the 'Twelfth'
and the surrounding country roads. And the street parties
for Parkmount men returning from the 1914-18 War, and for
Coronations and Festival of Britain.
"This is part of our culture and heritage, and it is
non-threatening and non-sectarian. How dare the so-called
Garvaghy Road Coalition spokesmen and women tell us it is
unacceptable," he said.
Finally, our representative spoke to a former Protestant
resident of the Ardoyne area of Belfast, now living in a seaside
town.
He recalls the friendly atmosphere in the Ardoyne between
Protestants and Roman Catholics in the 1940's and 1950's and
how it all changed.
"It changed in the early 1960's as republicans began
to flex their muscles. They had their eyes on Protestant houses
in Farrington Gardens and adjoining streets and as July 12
approached each year they shouted threats at the Protestant
people living in these streets.
"The intimidation had begun years before August 1969,
but from then on it became intense, and finally at the time
of internment in August, 1971, the Protestant families - over
300 of them - were forced out of Farrington Gardens.
"In short, our houses were burned down, and we were
forced to become refugees. One Protestant woman was not so
fortunate and was shot dead.
"Very little was made of it in the national media at
the time, and what little did come across television screens
made it appear that it was a non-sectarian thing - the I.R.A.
fighting the army and that sort of thing.
"It was nothing of the sort, it was naked sectarianism
and ethnic cleansing as vicious as any of that in Yugoslavia.
But because it was Protestants and Unionists on the receiving
end, the press and television people did not want to know
and republicans got away with it," he said.
The stories of these men, and others, certainly proves the
point that ethnic cleansing of Northern Ireland has been widespread
over the past 30 years.
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