Target Democracy

1. 1994 Britain's Dirty War
2. Shoot to Kill
3. Covert Operations
4. Target Democracy
5. Legal System
6. British Garrison in Ireland
7. Conflict's Deaths
8. Orange Myths

TARGET DEMOCRACY:
The British and Loyalist murder and intimidation campaign against the Sinn Fein Party

The Nationalist community in the North of Ireland overwhelmingly supported and voted for Sinn Fein prior to the establishment of the garrison sectarian State in December, 1920. The political party was then made illegal and in the early months and years of the Loyalist regime hundreds of Sinn Fein supporters were murdered by the Royal Ulster Constabulary -- often in reprisal killings strikingly similar to the shoot-on-sight killings of today. The civil rights campaigns of the sixties made many Nationalists more conscious of the need for political voice. When Sinn Fein was made legal in 1975, England's greatest fears were realized. Instead of an impotent and ineffective showing at the polls as they had counted on, Sinn Fein showed surprising strength across the community.

Britain has always made Nationalists pay dearly in blood for democratic freedom. The campaign to silence the voice of the victims never really ended. Now it was to accelerate. In January 1977, Michael McHugh, Chairman of Sinn Fein in Castlederg, Co. Tyrone, was assassinated. Brendan McLaughlin was killed in February, 1980 in an attempt to assassinate Sinn Fein Councilor Joe Austin. A Sinn Fein member in Co. Monaghan, Jeff McKenna, was killed on November 8, 1982. This preceded by two weeks the killing of Peter Corrigan, a Sinn Fein election worker, on October 25, 1982.

Bobby Sands, elected to British Parliament

In 1981, Bobby Sands was elected to the British Parliament while on hunger strike, followed after his death by the election of his election agent, Owen Carron. Two other protesting, Republican prisoners, Kieran Doherty and Kevin Agnew, were elected to the Dial in the South. All this, added to the election success of Sinn Fein in October, 1981, made the prospects for the 1982 Assembly elections intolerable for the British. A special RUC unit was established in December, 1982, for the express purpose of improving intelligence data and thereby hardening the targets -- Sinn Fein activists. By feeding information on the movements of these activists and leaders of Sinn Fein to the Ulster Defense Regiment and Loyalist paramilitaries, their death certificates were as good as issued.

In March 23, 1984, a Sinn Fein Councilor, Sean McKnight, topped the poll in a local election in Belfast defeating a Paisley backed Democratic Unionist Party [DUP] candidate and badly defeating a Social Democratic and Labour Party [SDLP] candidate. The SDLP share of the vote had dropped 50%! This showing despite every manner of intimidation, censorship, and official skullduggery that the British and their Loyalist allies could conjure up.

Murder and Official Cover-up

The anti-Sinn Fein campaign includes many elements of abuse of law and civil rights and this sample listing is intended to reflect only a part of the total number of incidences. The Stalker Inquiry found government cover-up of official killings and the Stevens Inquiry found government collusion with Loyalist paramilitaries. Neither report was made public for reasons of national security. Her Majesty's government has thus "enabled" the violence against organized and democratic political opposition. This study will show that a pattern has emerged establishing a prima facie case for British government-sponsored violence against a democratically elected political opposition

All of these unsolved murders take place in areas heavily patrolled by British forces. Many of these areas like the Sinn Fein Advice Centre on the Falls Road in Belfast are under constant electronic surveillance (secret and open). In a recent example, Sam Marshall, a Sinn Fein activist, was killed coming out of an RUC station with two companions. A secret camera monitoring the house of one of those companions was discovered days later. The Government makes little effort to investigate or prosecute those responsible for these type of killings. Why should they? The trail would simply lead back to them. Constable Stalker, who led a British investigation into killings by the RUC, was dismissed precisely for that reason.

The 1990s: Sinn Fein makes advances despite harassment and murder campaign

In August, 1991, Sinn Fein, for the first time ever, won the North Belfast Council seat in a straight, fair one on one political showdown. Joe Austin's victory gave Sinn Fein 9 seats in Belfast making it the second largest party on the City Council. No sooner had Austin won than the RUC arrested, beat and inflicted burns on his son Damien while in custody. This resulted in the first ever Urgent Action Alert that Amnesty International has ever issued for Northern Ireland. This election success of Sinn Fein only invited more attacks. The loyalists finally took away the Parliament seat held by Gerry Adams by voting for the SDLP candidate; for Loyalists to vote for a Catholic for any reason was considered unthinkable, but this example of strategic voting was well organized. It was a triumph for bigotry, violence and injustice. It was a victory for forces against democracy and in favor of the armed enforcement of the British occupation. The successful SDLP candidate, Joe Hendron, was subsequently found guilty of election violations, but the court refused to call for another election.

In the Fall of 1992 Sheena Campbell was killed as she socialized with friends who were fellow students at Queen's University. Sheena was the second woman Sinn Fein leader to be assassinated since 1975. Just before Christmas, Malachy Carey, a Sinn Fein candidate, and Martin Lavery, the brother of a Sinn Fein Councillor Bobby Lavery were gunned down.

Election 1993: 12th Sinn Fein Murder Since The Last Local Elections

The latest, local council elections brought more state-sponsored violence against Sinn Fein. On Sunday, May 3rd, 1993, just 2 weeks before the elections and at the height of the campaign, Alan Lundy of Sinn Fein was murdered in the home of Sinn Fein Councilor Alex Maskey. The murder squad claimed that Councilor Maskey was the intended target. It was noted that there was considerable security force activity around the Maskey home during the week -- "then suddenly they left." Councilor Maskey has survived two previous murder bids. In November 1986 his house was bombed and in May 1988 he was shot at point blank range in the stomach by a gunman carrying a sawn-off shotgun.

Two days prior to the 1993 elections, a man armed with an AK47 assault rifle entered the Sinn Fein Advise Centre in the New Lodge area of North Belfast and opened fire. Bullet proof glass shattered and election workers dived for cover as up to thirteen high-velocity rounds were fired. The gunman fired a further burst through the security gate before fleeing. A statement from the "Combined Loyalist Military Command" - which includes the UFF and UVF - said its "members will be watching the results of tomorrow's council elections" and warned of "a Loyalist backlash." The statement said that the UFF had intended to murder "a Sinn Fein Councilor and two Sinn Fein workers."

The following article, "Sinn Fein Councillor's Son is Shot Dead By Loyalists", By Barbara Graham, The Irish News, 9 August 1993, shows the extent of the sacrifice made by republican political leaders, and their families, who attempt to participate in British "democracy":

"The son of Belfast Sinn Fein councillor Bobby Lavery was shot dead at his home in north Belfast last night. Sean Lavery [21] was wounded when up to 30 shots were fired from automatic weapons at the house on the lower Antrim Road, near the New Lodge area. He died in hospital.

"Sinn Fein condemned the attack as an 'attempted mass murder of the Lavery family.' The UFF later claimed responsibility. The dead man's father, Bobby Lavery, is on of ten Sinn Fein members of Belfast city Council. He, along with his wife, and five of their seven children aged between 5 and 21 years, were in the living room at the time when the shooting started just before 9:30pm. A number of neighbors' children were visiting the Lavery home when the gunfire started.

"Only Sean was hit in the sustained gun attack. He was shot three times in the upper body and critically wounded. he was taken to the nearby Mater Hospital where he died a short time later. Sinn Fein Councillor Joe Austin who visited the family shortly after the shooting, said it was an indiscriminate attack on the family. 'This was not an attack on Bobby Lavery alone but on his entire family. It is only the latest of a series of similar attacks in which loyalists have tried to murder Sinn Fein members and their families.'

"It is the second time that tragedy has hit the Lavery family within the last six months. Five days before Christmas, Councillor Lavery's 40-year-old brother Martin was shot dead in a similar attack as he sat wrapping presents with his five-year-old daughter in his north Belfast home. Last month Councillor Lavery escaped unhurt when loyalists attempted to bomb a Sinn Fein office in the New Lodge area while he was working inside.

"This latest murder came hours after thousands of people marched into the centre of Belfast from all over the city to mark the 22nd anniversary of internment. It was the first time that a major nationalist parade had been permitted to enter the centre of the city to hold a rally outside the City hall. In the past year there have been nearly a dozen attacks on the homes of Sinn Fein members."

The Price of Political Participation for Sinn Fein Is Often Death

Sinn Fein political leaders, workers and their families and neighbors put their lives on the line for their political beliefs. None of these Sinn Fein political activists over the many years covered by this study, were doing anything illegal. On the contrary, all of the victims were unarmed and often at home, work or engaged in electioneering for their political party.