Newry retail centre is devastated by incendiary attacks

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk...

Dissident republicans are believed to be responsible for the attacks and a spokesmen for the business community of Northern Ireland have warned consumers to be on guard incase this is a start of a dissident campaign. This might be linked to the fact that on the 8th August 1981 an IRA member died in jail during a hunger strike (this was a theory presented on BBCUlster).

The Real IRA has been activity lately, it has had numerous truck bomb plots prevented by police and army in the area. The Real IRA (unlike the PIRA) does not support the peace argeement and continues to maintain a terrorist element (along with the CIRA).

Member some ATS members from Northern Ireland can build on this? (Mainland news hardly touched on this)

I'd say "devastated" (the term the PSNI used) is putting it a bit strongly, it was 2 stores destroyed (a carpet shop and a JJB outlet) by fire and 2 damaged (a TK Max & a MFI store) in Newry.

I'm sure Newry will recover and they will either be rebuilt or replaced.

Interesting too though to see Sinn Fein's comments -

Sinn Fein blamed republican "micro organisations".......

.......Davy Hyland of Sinn Fein said the attacks looked like the work of dissident republicans.

He added: "There is very, very little if any support for what happened. Newry has been through difficult times, but in recent years it has gone through a resurgence. Jobs are now in danger of being lost."

news.bbc.co.uk...

- How times have changed, eh?
I expect this to be a sporadic and infrequent 'feature' of NI life for a wee while yet.

I suppose the only 'good' thing to come out of it is that as jobs and prosperity are threatened (in a border area populated mainly by Irish nationalist/republicans) the pressure this is bound to generate from the 'ordinary public' there might hasten the day when SF feels able to join the Policing board and we finally lay the ghosts of 'the troubles' to rest and behind us.......

.......at which point the spotlight will go back on those hypocritical and loopy unionists who on the one hand have claimed long and loud to want SF joining the Policing board and a republican movement committed to 'normal Policing' like anywhere else but who have on numerous occasions threatened to walk off of the Policing board if SF join it.
Bluffs are soon to be called, IMO.

But as for the attacks?
Well, it's pretty well known that the RIRA and the CIRA are fairly well penetrated by the security services north and south.
They might get a little 'success' once in a blue moon but they aren't the threat they imagine themselves to be, thankfully.

But it's not like this indicates a return to the dark days of 1969 and onward.

Thank God none of them are in a position (nor have public sympathy, reason nor support) to return us to that version of hell.

There have been afew hoaxes, but it would be unlikely (and very stupid) if any republican group decided to "respark" the troubles. MI5 did recently say that republican terrorism is still a threat to the UK (which i was suprised by)

True, but then again MI5 are 'players' in this themselves and are hardly a source of unconnected and unbiased comment.

In the strictest terms what they said is true but surely it needs some qualification?

Dissident republicanism is still a threat but a threat almost exclusively contained to NI (which is a part of the UK).

I wouldn't 'rate' their threat as being a particularly great one though (IIRC since GFA one man - unconnected to any republican feud - has died at their hands in an attack).
They're a dangerous menace but thankfully a small and contained dangerous menace.

sminkeypinkey, we were right



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