GARVAGHY ROAD RESIDENTS COALITION
Portadown
Co. Armagh, Ireland
Phone/Fax: Int.Code +44 (0)1762 392898
E-Mail Garvaghy @ aol.com
16:30 Local Time
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
A convoy of over 150 cars from community groups throughout Belfast drove down to the Garvaghy Road to deliver needed food, baby supplies and children’s toys. En route, the cars were stopped at an RUC checkpoint as they approached the area on the Dungannon Road. They were held for forty minutes while the cars were searched by RUC in riot gear. They took two hammers from a car’s toolbox, and claimed that a child’s baseball bat was an "offensive weapon." While the Belfast cars were stopped, the army allowed other cars coming to and from Drumcree church to pass freely through the checkpoint. Eventually, the convoy made it through the first checkpoint, only to be stopped at a second. While troops allowed only one car of the convoy through at a time, loyalists on the road broke car windows with axe handles while the RUC stood and watched. Two women were injured when loyalists broke the windows of their car. Everyone was shaken, but made it into the Garvaghy Road community intact and able to deliver the supplies.
"Loyalists and Orangemen, with their weapons, are allowed to pass freely, while a convoy bringing humanitarian aid to the Garvaghy Road is openly harassed and attacked," said Caitriona Ruane, Director of the West Belfast Festival, who was part of the convoy. Ms. Ruane also noted that the Festival Artist Collective came to paint murals and do arts workshops with the children of the Garvaghy Road. Ciaran Kearney, of the Falls Community Council, who also participated in the convoy, thanked the people of Belfast who generously gave nappies, canned food, supplies and toys for the children in the besieged area of Portadown. "This community response shows that community groups throughout Belfast are very concerned for the needs of the people and especially the children of the Garvaghy Road."