BURNING cars and burning, anger prevailed on the Garvaghy Road in Portadown following one of the largest and, according to the Assistant Chief Constable, Mr Freddie Hall, successful security operations undertaken in that area at the weekend.
The aim was to allow the Orangemen to walk down the Garvaghy Road on their return route. The outcome was widespread violence, many people injured by plastic bullets and others by stones. The injury toll stood last night at 18, two people were still in hospital in a "satisfactory" condition following the violent clashes between the security forces and Garvaghy Road residents.
A spokeswoman at Craigavon Hospital said most of the injuries were caused by baton rounds, while some were caused by stones. Thousands of police and British army personnel took over the Garvaghy Road estates around 3.30 a.m. yesterday and sealed off the area, to the fury of residents.
Some youths began rioting and around 300 men, women and children who managed to make their way to the Garvaghy Road to stage a sit-down protest were forcibly removed by the RUC.
The RUC, dressed in riot gear, and the army discharged plastic bullets at youths who threw stones and bottles. Several residents suffered bruising, cuts and head wounds after being beaten by police batons.
Police moved into the Drumcree Parish Church area at around 1 a.m. yesterday and appeared to be erecting barbed wire. At around 2.30 a.m. the siren, set up by the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition to alert residents to serious situations, sounded as a small number of police and army were spotted. Hundreds of people rushed from their homes and the security forces left.
Then around 3.30 a.m. the siren sounded again as thousands of military personnel saturated the entire area. In a massive security operation, military vehicles lined both sides of the Garvaghy Road as the security forces attempted to clear the road.
Hundreds of residents sat on the road huddled together with linked arms. Many said the Rosary as one by one groups of four to five armed police grabbed them and lifted them off the road and put them back behind police lines.
Many of the protesters sustained injuries including one woman who received a deep gash to her head after being hit by a baton. She and others had difficulty reaching the many ambulances in the area as the security forces had blocked the routes.
A number of international observers watched the proceedings as did Father Eamon Stack of the Residents' Coalition, who appealed for restraint. Halfway through the Operation, two SDLP councillors, Mrs Brid Rodgers and Mr Alex Attwood, got through to the protest and begged for calm. However, they were told by a senior police officer that the residents were obstructing the road and had to be removed.
When the last resident, a young woman, was lifted from the road, the police officer demanded that Mrs Rodgers leave the road. Mrs Rodgers protested and said she would remain on the road until she spoke to whoever was in charge of the operation. The officer took her by the arm and pulled her towards the side of the road.
Mr Attwood held on to her and Mrs Rodgers said she would leave the road peacefully if the officer let go of her arm. He continued to hold her arm and they both walked to the side of the road.
A police officer at the scene said: "We have been taking it easy. We have a difficult job to do, you appreciate that. There are observers there and we are doing our best to hurt nobody. We are doing it as gently as we possibly can.
Mr Breandan Mac Cionnaith of the Coalition vented his fury when the RUC removed his colleague, Councillor Joe Duffy, also of the Coalition, from the road. The police said they were doing their best, to which Mr Mac Cionnaith replied: "You're doing your best for David Trimble." The officer replied: "I don't work for David Trimble."
Soon afterwards about six petrol bombs were thrown at the police and army who had taken over the road. Youths also threw stones and bottles. The army retaliated by firing plastic bullets.
About an hour later, after the residents were removed from the road, the police began moving them back into the estates and creating a no-man's- land. Mrs Rodgers asked that the police be moved back, but the senior officer she spoke to said the police would be moving in even further and creating "dead ground". The officer said: "I have been here for four or five hours. I have had petrol bombs thrown at me. I have been stoned. My men have been hurt.
We will take this ground in peace.
One of the residents shouted: "Brid, this is how Labour thank you after 18 years of support."
Early yesterday morning the Mr Hall, appealing for restraint, said: "We came under heavy attack from petrol bombs, stoning and paint bombs. That type of violence directed against the forces of law and order can serve no purpose.
As it became more likely the Orangemen would be allowed to march down the Garvaghy Road, many of the residents gathered in a square at Churchill Park with bin-lids and sticks. When the Orangemen came down the road the noise made by the residents was deafening as they vented their anger against the decision. At the end of the march, the residents cheered and clapped each other with chants of "We've won".
Just before the security forces retreated, Mr Hall was asked how he felt the operation had gone. He replied: "I am very pleased from a policing point of view that our objective of maintaining peace was largely achieved in this part of Portadown. I would like to pay tribute to the residents of the Garvaghy Road and to everyone in this community who assisted us in achieving that particular objective for the parade to pass without incident."
However, as the security forces began to retreat some youths threw bottles and bricks at the soldiers. This small-scale rioting soon escalated and petrol bombs were thrown at the troops. A couple of young men shielded by an iron cage threw stones at the soldiers. At least 40 plastic bullets were fired at the rioters, injuring two men. The rioting lasted about 20 minutes. A short time later two cars were hijacked and burnt out on the Garvaghy Road.
Mr Mac Cionnaith dismissed Mr Hall's claims that the parade had passed off without incident. "From 3 a.m. to 7.45 the RUC engaged in an orgy of violence against our community. We have 17 people in hospital. We have over 100 people injured and we are still receiving reports of other injuries that we weren't aware of because of the way the whole area was sealed off.
"We have had martial law imposed on the community. We have had a complete denial of rights to this community. People here were denied access to the chapel this morning and we were actually forced to have Mass in the open air."