(4 Jul 2000) English/Nat
Tensions are rising in Northern Ireland ahead of a planned Protestant march through Drumcree.
Masked loyalist gunmen from the paramilitary Ulster Freedom Fighters fired a volley of shots in a Loyalist estate in Portadown.
The group read out a statement proclaiming that murdered Loyalist Volunteer Force commander Billy Wright did not die in vain before discharging a number of rounds into the air late on Monday.
And it looks that tensions will remain high throughout the week, as both communities try and gain the upper hand: this derelict house in a loyalist estate was set ablaze, lighting up the night sky.
An ominous prelude to the possible violence ahead.
In Drumcree on Friday loyalist protesters and police clashed for a second day after the province's Parades Commission banned the bitterly divisive Protestant march through a Catholic neighbourhood for the third year running.
The Portadown march, which commemorates the Battle of the Somme in World War I, has caused violence whether or not police have permitted the Orangemen to parade.
Police forced Catholic protesters off the Garvaghy road in 1996 and 1997, provoking riots in many Catholic areas, but have banned the parade route since 1998, triggering Protestant disturbances.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Fellow loyalists once again the British government and the IRA are trying to take away our God-given right to complete the march from Drumcree church. Step by step they are trying to walk over us and get us to lie down. We cannot let this happen."
SUPER CAPTION: UFF Paramilitary
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Brigadier Billy Wright (NOTE: Wright founded the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) in 1996. He was killed in December 1997 - NOTE ENDS) did what he had to do to ensure that our faith and culture was kept intact. The spirit of Billy lives on and every member of the LVF and all other true loyalists, like our comrades of the UFF 2nd Battalion C Company. It is up to us to make that he did not die in vain. It is up to us to defend our country. No surrender!"
SUPER CAPTION: UFF Paramilitary
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