Shankill leaders appeal for calm

Patrols are continuing on the Shankill Road.

Calls by community and religious leaders to end the loyalist feud on Belfast's Shankill Road have been welcomed by politicians from both main loyalist parties.

Last week, three men, Jackie Coulter, Bobby Mahood and Sam Rocket, were murdered as a result of the feud between the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Defence Association/Ulster Freedom Fighters and the rival Ulster Volunteer Force.

Soldiers were brought in to try prevent more bloodshed on the Shankill Road, where the feud is centred, for the first time in two years, and loyalist politicians and Protestant church leaders have been appealing to the paramilitaries to talk.

The appeal for the feud to end came during a two-hour prayer meeting attended by dozens of Shankill locals on Monday morning.

The meeting was called by members of the Protestant clergy in the area.

Methodist superintindent the Reverend George Loane welcomed what he termed the "lessening of incidents" during the last few days.

He described the week since the escalation of violence as one of the worst periods in the Shankill's history.

Reverend George Loane: "Find another way to end conflict."

"In the interests of our community, and in particular our children and young people who have been traumatised by the past week, we urge the paramilitaries to find another way to resolve their conflict," he said.

Shankill Pastor Jack McKee of the Newlife Fellowship Church said there was an air of "uneasy calm" in the area.

He said that could be due to the presence of the security forces in the area.

"Or, we believe, possibly that those involved have taken a step back."

He said he hoped the calls for mediation in the feud from himself and other church leaders would not fall on "deaf ears".

Progressive Unionist Party leader Hugh Smyth said the Shankill community needed "breathing space".

The PUP is linked politically to the UVF.

"We acknowledge there efforts and sentiments expressed by the community workers and church leaders in the greater Shankill area," said the city councillor.

The Ulster Democratic Party, which is associated with the UFF / UDA, issued a statement in which they welcomed the call also.

'Everyone affected'

Reverend Tom Hart of Crumlin Road Presbyterian Church in north Belfast, said that the feud had affected everyone in the community.

Pastor McKee: "People must call on paramilitaries to talk"

Mr Hart ministered at the funeral of Sam Rocket, shot dead on Wednesday night in front of his girlfriend and young child in their Oldpark home.

He said: "When you are in immediate contact with families and their distress and the devastation that they feel, you feel the effect of this.

"But very many other families, especially those who have had to move house are equally in a state of great shock.

"Even if people are not directly affected they are fearful in their own homes about what might happen. When they go out they fear they might be caught up in something over which they have no control.

"The whole community feels a sense of disbelief at what is happening, but feel terribly helpless to know what to do and how to respond."

Community 'imploded'

May Blood, made a Baroness in recognition of her many years of community work on the Shankill Road, said the community was not surprised that the feud had flared up, but that its violent escalation had shocked everyone.

Baroness May Blood: "People are shocked and frightened"

She said: "I have worked on the Shankill for many years and it has always been a very close-nit community with family connections all over the place.

"I think the fact that the community imploded in on itself scared everybody, because it was something we never expected."

She said that although the paramilitary organisations had at some times over the years been unwilling allies in the Combined Loyalist Military Command, people thought that times had changed.

"When all the loyalist paramilitary groups came together for the [1994] ceasefire, I think some of them had to be pulled to the table screaming and I think at that stage it was being seen to be done for the greater good, but that is what makes the situation at the moment so unbelieveable," she said.

Sammy Mooney, of the Shankill Traders' Association, who has been a businessman on the road for 24 years, said the tension caused by the feud had pervaded the whole community.

"It is hard for me to feel that many customers who come into the shops are very saddened to see things the way they are. Trade this week has been dampened in every respect.

"People don't feel the same about themselves and are very frightened.

"I think it is time people got together and moved forward here, instead of walking behind a hearse or a coffin.

"And we as shopkeepers on the road would offer our condolences to those who have lost loved ones," he said.

Fears feud could spread

Chairman of the Greater East Belfast Partnership community group Sammy Douglas said that people in loyalist areas of east Belfast feared that the feud could spread across the city.

He said many people were afraid to bring their children to an east Belfast festival at the weekend "in case something might break out".

"There is a real fear that this could break out so much that it takes on a life of its own," he said.