Mother forced to flee
By Mick Naughton.
A young mother forced to flee her Derry home last Sunday 25 May
joined a long list of those targeted by sectarian gangs. Like a
north Belfast family also attacked at the weekend, 23 year old
Sharon Ferguson is the victim of loyalism. She is now living at a
secret location with her four year old daughter.
The attack on Ferguson's home started when two masked men, armed
with cudgels, forced their way into her Heron Way home at 12.30am
last Sunday. A week earlier a brick was thrown through the living
room window of her home in the loyalist Clooney housing estate in
the Waterside.
``I heard a noise and thought another brick had been thrown. Then
two masked men carrying batons came into the room shouting `Get
out, fenian scum. I pleaded with them not to hurt the baby,'' she
said.
Newly elected Sinn Fein councillor for Derry's Waterside, Lynn
Fleming described those involved as ``sectarian thugs''. She added
that the attack was the latest on nationalists in the Waterside.
Earlier this year, loyalists attacked the few remaining
nationalist homes in the Clooney estate. During one attack a
householder saw a masked gunman outside his home; he fled after
his gun appeared to jam and a bullet was subsequently found at
the scene.
``It is an orchestrated campaign by loyalists to force Catholics
from the area,'' continued Fleming. Ms Ferguson's parents' home
was attacked by loyalists five years ago and all her brothers
moved to the West Bank following that attack.
Around the same time as the Waterside attack Bernadette Reilly, a
mother of five told how her Wyndam Street home in North Belfast
was attacked by loyalists at 4.am on Sunday morning, for the
second time in a week.
``I was so afraid that I just froze. After last week's attack I
couldn't sleep. They must have been watching because I had only
switched the lights off and was standing in the kitchen when I
heard the bang,'' she said.
Last week two of Reilly's young children had a lucky escape when
their bedroom window was smashed; this week it was the living
room. Lauren, (4) and Paul (8) were asleep when loyalists
attacked last week. Sunday's attack is the sixth on her home
since last July. Around the corner dozens of Catholic families
were forced out of their homes in the Torrens area and an Irish
language nursery school was also the target of loyalists.
• An Phoblacht has received reports of attempts to kidnap
nationalists walking alone in the Lower Falls and New Lodge
areas. In separate incidents reported to Sinn Féin five
nationalists told how they were almost abducted by roaming
loyalists in incidents reminiscent of the Shankill Butcher gang.
One young New Lodge Road man who was almost bundled into a car
near Trainfield Street told of his frightening experience.
``I was walking down the street when a car pulled up and I was
asked directions. As I leaned over a man grabbed me by the arm
and tried to get me into the car. I fought him off and ran back
up the street to a taxi depot. The next day I heard the same
happened on the Antrim Road near Girdwood barracks. God help
anybody they get. That's the last time I'm walking alone while
these thugs are about.''
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