Orange Volunteers

This article is about the group established in 1998. For the group established in 1972, see Orange Volunteers (1972).
Orange Volunteers
Orange Volunteer Force
Leader(s) Clifford Peeples (until 2001)
Dates of operation July 1998 – present
Active region(s) Northern Ireland
Ideology Ulster loyalism
Protestant fundamentalism
Anti-Catholicism
Status active
Size less than 25 members[1]

The Orange Volunteers (OV) or Orange Volunteer Force (OVF)[2] is a small Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in 1998 by loyalists who opposed the Belfast Agreement and the loyalist ceasefires. Over the following year it carried out a wave of bomb and gun attacks on Catholics and Catholic-owned property in rural areas, but since 2000 has been relatively inactive. The group has been associated with elements of the Orange Order and has a Protestant fundamentalist ideology. Its original leader was Pastor Clifford Peeples. The OV are a Proscribed Organisation in the United Kingdom under the Terrorism Act 2000.[3]

Origins

The OV emerged during the 1998 Drumcree conflict when the Royal Ulster Constabulary and British Army prevented members of the Portadown Orange Order and their supporters from returning to the town centre down the Garvaghy road. However, there is evidence to suggest that they had been actively recruiting and training members since as early as 1985.[4] The group is believed to be made up of dissident loyalists who disapprove of the Northern Ireland peace process and also of the more militant members of the Orange Order,[4] including former members of the Loyalist Volunteer Force and Ulster Defence Association.[5] David Ervine, at the time a leading member of the Progressive Unionist Party, described the group as little more than a gang of Protestant fundamentalists and drug-dealers.[6]

Activities

In 1998 and 1999, the Orange Volunteers were led by Clifford Peeples, a Protestant pastor from Belfast. One of the group's first actions was a synchronized attack on 11 Catholic churches. Peeples defended the attack on the grounds that the churches were "bastions of the Antichrist".[7]

On 27 November 1998, eight masked OV members brandishing guns and grenades staged a "show of strength" for a local journalist. The gunmen began the meeting with a Bible reading and ended it with prayers. They produced a "covenant" that said: "We are defenders of the reformed faith. Our members are practising Protestant worshippers".[8] They went on to state: "We are prepared to defend our people and if it comes to the crunch we will assassinate the enemies of Ulster. Ordinary Catholics have nothing to fear from us. But the true enemies will be targeted, and that's a lot wider than just Sinn Féin and the IRA". They vowed to target IRA prisoners released as part of the Belfast Agreement and claimed responsibility for a string of attacks on Irish nationalist-owned businesses a month beforehand.[9]

Timeline

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002 - 2004

2008

2009

In addition to the attacks listed above, the OV have also sent numerous death threats to members of Sinn Féin. These include Gerry Adams, Alex Maskey, Gerry Kelly, Francie Molloy, Caitríona Ruane,[39][40] Cara McShane[41] and Mary McArdle.[42]

Police crackdown

In a series of police raids aimed at dissident loyalists in Autumn 1999, eight arrests were made, weapons, pipe bombs and ammunition were recovered and a search of Stoneyford Orange Hall in County Antrim uncovered military files containing the personal details of over 300 republicans from South Armagh and Belfast.[43] Peeples and another loyalist were arrested by the RUC after their car was stopped on the outskirts of Dungannon and two hand grenades and a pipe bomb were discovered. In 2001 he was jailed for ten years for possession of the weapons.[44] He was released in 2004 and became the minister of a Pentecostal church on the Shankill Road in Belfast.[45] Four other members of the group were convicted of a range of terrorist offences, including possession of an automatic rifle, in December 2000.[46]

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.start.umd.edu/start/data_collections/tops/terrorist_organization_profile.asp?id=79
  2. ↑ "Loyalist paramilitaries admit to Toomebridge attack". RTÉ News. 9 February 1999. Retrieved 9 March 2011.
  3. ↑ Schedule 2, Terrorism Act 2000, Act No. 11 of 2000
  4. 1 2 Northern Ireland - The Troubles by Charles Messenger (ISBN 0-86124-236-X), p. 141.
  5. ↑ "Orange Volunteers". CAIN Web Service (Conflict Archive on the Internet).
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch99.htm
  7. ↑ Bruce, Steve. Religion and violence: the case of Paisley and Ulster evangelicals.
  8. ↑ "Bible-quoting terror group threatens death". Irish Independent. 28 November 1998.
  9. ↑ "New loyalist group threatens peace". BBC News. 27 November 1998.
  10. ↑ http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Gun-toting+loyalists+'will+attack'+freed+republicans.-a060710666
  11. ↑ http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch98.htm
  12. ↑ "RUC investigating blast in Antrim". RTÉ News. 17 December 1998.
  13. 1 2 The Rosemary Nelson Inquiry Report (23 May 2011), p.319
  14. 1 2 http://www.anphoblacht.com/news/detail/31764
  15. 1 2 "Loyalist dissidents claim blast". BBC News. 23 March 1999.
  16. ↑ Loyalist Attacks from 1 January 1999 - 30 April 1999. Pat Finucane Centre
  17. ↑ "Loyalist paramilitary groups banned". BBC News. 4 March 1999.
  18. 1 2 http://www.anphoblacht.com/news/detail/32143
  19. 1 2 Sectarian attacks: September 2000. Pat Finucane Centre
  20. ↑ Peter Heathwood Collection of television programs: 2000. Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN).
  21. ↑ "Loyalists 'co-operated in murder'". BBC News. 7 June 2007.
  22. ↑ http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch01.htm
  23. ↑ Sectarian attacks: December 2001. Pat Finucane Centre
  24. ↑ Sectarian attacks: August 2002. Pat Finucane Centre
  25. ↑ "Family may leave the North after second sectarian attack". An Phoblacht, 2 October 2003.
  26. ↑ "Catholic driver attacked". An Phoblacht, 26 February 2004.
  27. ↑ http://www.downgaa.net/downgaa/general/news/2008/september/sept26th1.htm
  28. ↑ http://www.anphoblacht.com/news/detail/35560
  29. ↑ "Police investigating arson attack at GAA club". RTÉ News. 26 September 2008.
  30. ↑ "Campbell condemns GAA fire attack". BBC News. 26 September 2008.
  31. ↑ "Loyalists torch GAA club 'in revenge for Orange hall fires'". Belfast Telegraph. 10 November 2008.
  32. ↑ "Tyrone clubs on alert after attacks". Tyrone Times, 11 November 2008.
  33. ↑ "Loyalists 'targeted' Sinn Féin". Irish News. 20 November 2008.
  34. ↑ "Minister told of loyalist threat". BBC News. 2 December 2008.
  35. ↑ "Orange Volunteers claim Burn Road pipe bomb responsibility". Mid Ulster Mail. 11 March 2009.
  36. ↑ "Orange Hall attack third in month". BBC News. 19 August 2009. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
  37. ↑ "Call for Orange Volunteers to end attacks". Newsletter. 18 August 2009.
  38. ↑ "Orange Volunteers claim Moneymore bomb attack". Mid-Ulster Mail, 24 August 2009.
  39. ↑ http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/breaking-news/uk-ireland/death-threat-to-sinn-feins-maskey-14634545.html. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  40. ↑ "Loyalists in death threat to Adams". The Irish Times. 1 January 2010.
  41. ↑ http://www.ballymoneytimes.co.uk/news/Moyle-SF-Chair-receives-39death.6177518.jp
  42. ↑ McAdam, Noel (27 May 2011). "Sinn Féin: death threats won't force a U-turn over killer's job". Belfast Teletraph.
  43. ↑ "Sinn Féin collusion claim". BBC News. 4 November 1999.
  44. ↑ "Self-styled loyalist pastor jailed". BBC News. 8 March 2001.
  45. ↑ "Church row splits congregation". BBC News. 7 June 2005.
  46. ↑ "Students jailed on 'terrorism' charges". BBC News. 21 December 2000.
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