Catholic Reaction Force

Catholic Reaction Force

The name Catholic Reaction Force (CRF) was used to claim responsibility for attacks and threats against Protestants in Northern Ireland during "The Troubles". In 1983 it claimed responsibility for shooting dead three Protestant civilians at a church service near Darkley, County Armagh. That was claimed as retaliation for attacks on Catholic civilians. An Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) member was involved, but the INLA said it had not ordered the attack.

Contents

Darkley killings

Scene of the Darkley shootings

The name was first used to claim responsibility for a shooting on 20 November 1983. That night, two masked men[1] opened-fire outside Mountain Lodge Pentecostal Church near Darkley, County Armagh. A church service was taking place at the time. Three Protestant civilians were shot dead at the entrance: Harold Brown (59), David Wilson (44) and Victor Cunningham (39).[2] The gunmen then sprayed the church with bullets, wounding seven people.[3]

A telephone caller claimed responsibility on behalf of the "Catholic Reaction Force". He said it was

...in retaliation for the murderous sectarian campaign carried out by the Protestant Action Force … by this token retaliation we could easily have taken the lives of at least 20 more innocent Protestants. We serve notice on the PAF to call an immediate halt to their vicious indiscriminate campaign against innocent Catholics, or we will make the Darkley killings look like a picnic.

The caller named nine Catholics who had been attacked or killed recently.[4]

A week after, Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) leader Dominic McGlinchey gave an interview. He admitted that one of the gunmen had been an INLA member and admitted supplying him with the gun.[5] McGlinchey explained that the INLA member asked him for a gun to shoot a known loyalist, who'd been involved in sectarian killings.[5] However, "clearly deranged by the death of his brother" at the hands of loyalists, he "used it instead to attack the Darkley Gospel Hall".[6] McGlinchey said: "this INLA member was a brother of someone who had been killed…and he must have been unbalanced or something to have gone and organised this killing. We are conducting an enquiry into the whole affair".[5]

The CRF declared a ceasefire on 28 October 1994.[7]

Other claims

On the 20th of August 2001 the group was believed to have been responsible for shooting into a house in Cloughmills, Armagh. On the same night a pipe-bomb was thrown at a Protestant home in Ballymena[8] In August 2002, a death threat was sent in the name of the CRF. It warned that CRF would kill three unnamed Protestants who worked at hospitals in Belfast and who had links to the security forces. Soon after, loyalists threatened to kill Catholics working at two Belfast hospitals. Gerry Kelly and Sue Ramsey of Sinn Féin said they believed the CRF threat was sent by loyalists to raise sectarian tension. Kelly added: "The Catholic Reaction Force is a non-existent organisation".[9][10]

See also

References

  1. ^ Chandra, Ramesh. World In Transition. Gyan Publishing House, 2003. p.223
  2. ^ http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/cgi-bin/dyndeaths.pl?querytype=date&day=20&month=11&year=1983
  3. ^ CAIN - Chronology of the Conflict - November 1983
  4. ^ McKittrick, David. Lost Lives. Mainstream Publishing, 2001. p.963
  5. ^ a b c Ireland's Terrorist Dilemma. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1986. pp.104-105
  6. ^ Coogan, Tim. The IRA. Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. pp.535-536
  7. ^ http://www.uhb.fr/langues/cei/chron94.htm
  8. ^ http://www.start.umd.edu/gtd/search/IncidentSummary.aspx?gtdid=200108200012
  9. ^ http://archives.tcm.ie/breakingnews/2002/08/05/story62792.asp
  10. ^ http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/08/06/belfast.hospitals/

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Catholic Reaction Force — La Catholic Reaction Force (CRF, français : Force de réaction catholique) est un groupe armé actif pendant le conflit nord irlandais. Il semble avoir été un prête nom utilisé par les organisations paramilitaires républicaines (en particulier …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Catholic Reaction Force — noun a radical terrorist group dedicated to the removal of British forces from Northern Ireland and the unification of Ireland • Syn: ↑Irish National Liberation Army, ↑INLA, ↑People s Liberation Army, ↑People s Republican Army • Topics:… …   Useful english dictionary

  • Catholic sex abuse cases — The Catholic sex abuse cases are a series of convictions, trials and ongoing investigations into allegations of sex crimes committed by Catholic priests and members of religious orders.[1] These cases began receiving public attention beginning in …   Wikipedia

  • Catholic sexual abuse scandal in the United States — Main article: Catholic sexual abuse scandals Catholic sexual abuse scandal in the United States refers to a series of lawsuits, criminal prosecutions, and scandals related to sexual abuse committed by Catholic priests and members of religious… …   Wikipedia

  • Relations between the Catholic Church and the state — The relations between the Catholic Church and the state have been constantly evolving with various forms of government, some of them controversial in retrospect. In its history it has had to deal with various concepts and systems of governance,… …   Wikipedia

  • 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash — Polish Air Force Tu 154 crash Part of the fuselage near Smolensk Accident summary Date 10 April …   Wikipedia

  • Roman Catholic Church — The Roman Catholic Church, officially known as the Catholic Church, [] ] Norman, p. 12] Pope Benedict XVI summarized this mission as a threefold responsibility to proclaim the word of God, celebrate the sacraments, and exercise the ministry of… …   Wikipedia

  • A Catholic Statement on Pluralism and Abortion — The advertisement, with a list of signatories at the bottom. A Catholic Statement on Pluralism and Abortion, alternatively referred to by its pull quote A Diversity of Opinions Regarding Abortion Exists Among Committed Catholics or simply The New …   Wikipedia

  • Ulster Volunteer Force — Infobox War Faction name=Ulster Volunteer Force ( UVF ) war= The Troubles caption= The UVF emblem. active=1966 Present (ended armed campaign in 2006) leaders= Gusty Spence clans= headquarters=Belfast area=Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland… …   Wikipedia

  • Titular Roman Catholic Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur v. Menteri Dalam Negeri — Court High Court in Malaya (Kuala Lumpur) Full case name Titular Roman Catholic Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur v. Menteri Dalam Negeri and Kerajaan Malaysia Date decided 31 December 2009 Citation(s) …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”