Josh Faul ([email protected])
Sun, 12 Jul 1998 11:21:39 -0500
BELFAST, Northern Ireland, July 12 +IBQ- Three Catholic children died in an arson attack early Sunday and Protestant protesters clashed in hand-to-hand scuffles with police blocking their march down a predominantly Catholic road.
NEIGHBORS REPORTED hearing a loud bang just before a house in Ballymoney erupted in flames, killing brothers Richard, Mark and Jason Quinn, who ranged in age from 7 to 10. The boys+IBk- mother and her Protestant boyfriend managed to escape, police said.
TOWN IS MOSTLY PROTESTANT
Ballymoney, about 40 miles northwest of Belfast, is predominantly Protestant. It is not uncommon for mixed-religion couples to be targeted for attacks throughout Northern Ireland.
Seamus Mallon, the Catholic deputy leader of the new Belfast Assembly, said the boys had been +IBw-sacrificed for the so-called principles of the people of the north of Ireland, who have been unable to resolve what is basically a parochial dispute+IB0- over the Protestant march.
+IBw-What price your principles now?+IB0- Mallon asked on BBC-TV. +IBw-Does it take one child, two children, three children?+IB0-
Ronnie Flanagan, head of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, said he considered the boys+IBk- deaths a turning point in the increasingly violent stalemate over the Orange Order+IBk-s blocked attempts to march down the predominantly Catholic Garvaghy Road in Portadown
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Please stop the fighting, please.
Slicer
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