Visit to the War Zone

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What happens when a plastic bullet hits you...

SUÚTH ARMADH ave come to Derry view the Irish an Socialist wn to us as we e train at Belfast, Hurson has just Derry the constant otor blades overs of present and fer strikers are * on the platform neeting begins. peaker a supporrovisional Sinn " us to a potted Irish republican 1. informing us ' Patsy, Ray and ve 'gone to heav. heavy hand of n on the Repubtion makes an socialist and theist distinctly a central contrabe struggle. awrence Quinn, i the hunger ppeals to the bour leadership i the granting of ers' demands so rother and the ger strikers can Now brothe Frank brother of i is very desthe turn-out. i just returned rica where rela: hunger strikers building support paign. turned to be hthe funeral of Donnell the riday. He says not in America the South that I to be awakenurgency of died unexpectedly of pneumonia after only days on hunger strike.

It is July 13 and the 12th having been 'the Sabbath"

the Orange Parades are taking place today -a fighting for the five demands, but "right here in the six counties"

Of course people care about: the issue, but not enough is being done. Not enough people are mobilising on the streets.

Next comes a local Sinn Fein leader who tells us that the end of the struggle for Irish liberation is at hand and the job is being done by "the boys in the hills with their Armalites."

His demagogic speech is frequently interrupted by wild applause but he is quickly put in his place by the final speaker, Bernadette MacAliskey.

She warns against listening to those who only talk about Armalites. If our struggle for liberation is all but over, she says, then it would be possible to say that Kieran Doherty will not have to die.

But, she continues, "I cannot honestly say that. He may have to die. They may all have to die."

The answer, she argues, lies largely in the South. Kieran Doherty was elected to the Irish Dail at the General Election.

She outlines plans to hold a national demonstration the following Saturday to occupy the British Embassy in Dublin and do what Fitzgerald won't do-expel the British Ambassador.

She speaks very well and the audience applaud bank holiday.

Trains pass us on their way to Belfast full of Orangemen in their full regalia.

The train takes us along the northern coastline and we can see the sea on one side and the Sperrin Mountains -Fenian country —on the other. The train pulls into Derry and we cross the River Foyle and head for the Bogside.

We are met at the IRSP bookshop and driven to a house to conduct our interview. enthusiatically. They are clearly thinking more deeply as a result of her speech.

As we are about to board our coach a member of the Newry H Block Committee asks us to come and photograph two youngsters badly beaten by the RUC. "

One, a 17 year old girl, was beaten after being arrested the previous night on her way home from a disco. When we see her, On the way we are shown the spot where the 13 unarmed civilians died on Bloody Sunday. The streets are full of hooded youthssome holding petrol bombs-and the streets are strewn with broken glass.

We hear of the death of Martin Hurson. So that explains why there's been rioting so early. As we wait to begin our interview a blast bomb goes off nearby.

We are shown a rubber bullet and find it hard to she is in a terrible : Itebadly bruised all ov continually lapsing into unconsciousness.

She is charged riotous behaviour assaulting the police.

The boy, also in his teens, has had his eye closed up and his back is badly marked from being dragged across a concrete courtyard.

We spend several 1E be regarded as more dangerous than the baton round (plastic bullet).

The rubber bullet IS shaped like a bullet but is the size of a small shell. It is made of black rubber but is soft enough to be bent. Plastic bullets are made of a much tougher material and are completely solid. They are also heavier than rubber bullets.

Our interview over, we are taken to see Marie, the sister of INLA O/C and hunger striker, Micky Devine.

She has not been involved in the campaign previously. But she desperately wants to save the life of her brother. She lives high up on the Creggan Estate with her husband who works as a coalman.

Exhausted

She is unwell and looks exhausted. Her life has become a perpetual round of meeting after meeting and demonstration after demonstration.

We talk to. her for a while and all head off for a demonstration for Martin Hurson in the town centre.

She doesn't really feel up to it but tells us that if the relatives of the hunger strikers don't turn out how can you expect anyone else to..

On the way down to town Marie point out the spot where the two youths were run down and killed by an army vehicle shortly before the death of Bobby Sands.

We cut through the Diamond and join the demonstration It is silent. talking to the H Block campaigners who extend to us a trust and friendship that is so warm that one can hardly believe it given the continual oppression they suffer at the hands of the British army.

Since we had missed our bus back to Belfast they offer to drive us back themseives.

Successfully negotiating a UDR roadblock. they take a detour to show There are no placards, just a large black flag.

The silence is short lived. An RUC vehicle is parked provocatively in William Place on the route of the march.

A couple of stones are thrown. Some of the demonstrators cry out to stop it and the demonstration proceeds at full speed. But the youth are angry at the sudden death of another hunger striker and suddenly the window of a dress shop is pushed in.

Seconds later petrol bombs rain down into the shop window setting clothes on fire.

The RUC Landrover revs up and, the demonstration breaks into a run.

We make our way Bogside and come to a ground floor flat which us Lung Kesh tion camp.

The vast prison network takes on an eerie appearance at night under the duzens of orange neon lamps that illuminate the cages.

We all lapse into momentary silence at the thought of the terrible suffering taking place behind the wire.

serves as a 24 hour first aid post for injured rioters.

Rioting is accepted as an inevitable, almost daily, occurrence in the Bogside.

Older people don't condemn the youth for rioting -they are just concerned aboui the possible injuries that the youngsters might sustain.

Inside the First Aid Post four young men are dressed in white coats and wear white helmets with red crosses on them.

They are the snatch squad.

When a youth goes down, hit by a plastic bullet, they rush into the riot and grab him (practically all the rioters are male) before the army or RUC get him and pull him out of the way.

When we go in a young man is being treated. He received a glancing blow on the skin and his injury is comparatively slight.

Suddenly pandemonium breaks out. A youth has been hit in the face by a plastic bullet. His face is covered with blood and the wound looks serious, although we are told that the blood makes it look worse.

It is feared that is jaw may be fractured. After a few minutes of attention it is decided that he must go to hospital. It is a hard decision because it inevitably means that he will be charged by the RUC for riotous behaviour.

But his injuries must be seen to. The phone call is made and within minutes he is being helped to an ambulance just outside.

As the ambulance drives off, oniookers speculate that the youth is the victim of a "double charge" The RUC put two explosive caps into the gun to make the plastic bullet travel faster and cause more damage.

The snatch squad -who buy all the first aid equipment out of their own muney and rarely manage to get home-head off again for the riot area which has now moved up the street.

As we leave the riot area for the train back to Belfast the youths are stoning four or five Brits and some RUC men who are holed up behind a wall.

They emerge occasionally to take careful aim and fire a volley of plastic bullets, before hastily retreating behind cover as the bricks crash down.

As we reach the edge of the Bogside the deep boom of blast bombs expleding echoes across the River Foyle.

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Organiser July 1981 30 Pare

----- pull-quotes -----

VINDALE and TIM HA Northern Ireland in mil tin Hurson, the sixth of k hunger-strikers, died

understand how they could SUPPORES AML