Posted: Fri Nov 24, 2006 8:03 pm Post subject: Paramilitary killer disrupts N.Irish self-rule talks
BELFAST (Reuters) - A paramilitary killer cut short an already chaotic debate on Northern Ireland's political future on Friday by throwing a bag of homemade explosives into the building where parties were meeting.
Michael Stone, convicted murderer and supporter of British rule, lobbed a smoking and fizzing package into the entrance of Belfast's Stormont parliament building before he was wrestled to the ground by security staff.
Security personnel detain and disarm Michael Stone in the lobby of the Stormont parliament buildings in Northern Ireland November 24, 2006. The Stormont parliament buildings were evacuated on Friday after former pro-British paramilitary gunman Stone threw a package at security staff at the entrance to the building where politicians were meeting to discuss self-rule.
Stormont was evacuated and Stone arrested. Police Chief Constable Hugh Orde said the Army defused between six and eight devices at Stormont. "They are fairly amateurish in design -- that does not make them any less dangerous," he said.
Police also said Stone, who gained notoriety after an attack -- caught on television -- on an Irish Republican Army (IRA) funeral nearly 20 years ago, was carrying a knife and gun.
Stone was jailed for life following the 1988 cemetery attack, in which three people died and scores were injured, but released six years ago under the province's Good Friday peace agreement. He vowed then his days as a gunman were over.
Friday's incident disrupted fraught discussions on a local government in which pro-British and pro-Irish parties would finally share power after years of sectarian conflict and after repeated failed attempts to find a lasting political settlement.
Feuding parties had been asked to indicate by Friday who they would nominate to lead the assembly following elections next year. Ian Paisley, leader of the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), said he was not ready to nominate anyone.
"The circumstances have not been reached where there can be a nomination or designation at this stage," Paisley said.
However, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said he spoke to Paisley, who leads the province's largest party, after his statement and understood the hardliner would be prepared to stand as first minister if his opponents supported the police.
FARCE INSIDE STORMONT
It was the latest softening in London and Dublin's stance as they seek to keep a timetable for restoring self rule on track.
In April, Blair and Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern gave parties until November 24 to re-establish a powersharing executive.
They said if agreement was not reached by then the assembly, set up under a 1998 peace deal that largely brought peace to the province after 30 years of conflict, would be closed for good.
This week, Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain simply said parties must indicate by Friday whom they would nominate.
Though Paisley did not go even that far in public on Friday, London and Dublin plan to push on with a timetable agreed last month that envisages assembly elections in March.
"Tony Blair and I may have a level of frustration, we may be annoyed, but we have more concern for all of the people of Northern Ireland," a visibly frustrated Ahern told reporters.
Sinn Fein, political ally of Irish Republican Army militants who fought British rule in Northern Ireland, nominated former IRA man Martin McGuinness as deputy first minister.
"I believe that none of the difficulties facing us are insurmountable," party leader Gerry Adams said before talks were suspended. He later said the day could be a "defining moment" for Northern Ireland, praising the staff who tackled Stone.
"We need to match the bravery of staff members," he said.
Unbelievable Michael Stone is at it again. When he was sentenced to life for the cemetery attacks he never should have been let out.
As far as Paisley goes, he'll do whatever he can to completely destroy any chances of powersharing because of his bitter hate towards catholics and that's so bloody obvious. He implies if Sinn Fein will support the police he'll stand as first minister, but you can bet if it was agreed upon, he'd come up with another asinine reason to hault the process.
That's so bastard sad. After watching him in that documentary with Bishop Desmond Tutu a few months back I really hoped and believed that he and those who agree with him were ready to move forward.
LONDON, England (CNN) -- A lifelong supporter of the loyalist (pro-British Protestant) cause in Northern Ireland, Michael Stone first came to widespread public attention on March 16, 1988 when he launched a suicidal lone attack on an IRA funeral in Milltown Cemetery, West Belfast. On Friday he was once again in the news after sparking a security alert at Northern Ireland's Stormont Parliamentary Building by attempting to spray-paint "Sinn Fein are murderers," on the building's entrance. Accosted by security guards, he then threw a bag into the building claiming it contained a bomb.
Although there were no casualties, the disturbance echoed Stone's infamous 1988 attack. In that incident he arrived in the Milltown Cemetery with the avowed aim of assassinating leading republican figures Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, who had gathered there for the burial of three IRA activists shot dead in Gibraltar a week previously by the SAS. Armed with hand grenades and two pistols -- a Browning 9mm and a .357 Magnum revolver -- Stone missed his intended targets, but killed three other people (only one of whom was an IRA member) and injured 60 more, including pensioners and children.
He was eventually overpowered by mourners and would have been beaten to death had he not been dragged to safety and arrested by members of the RUC (he still walks with a slight limp as a result of the dislocated thigh bone he received in the aftermath of the attack). In his subsequent trial, at which he pleaded not guilty but refused to utter a word, he was sentenced to a minimum of 30 years' imprisonment for a total of six murders -- those of the three Milltown mourners, plus another three Catholics shot dead between 1984-1987 -- as well as five attempted murders. Under the terms of the 1998 Good Friday Peace Agreement, however, he was paroled early from the Maze prison in 2000, after serving only 12 years.
The Milltown Massacre, as it came to be known, was one of the most shocking and widely publicized of all the atrocities committed during Northern Ireland's "troubles." Images of a bearded Stone jogging through the cemetery firing indiscriminately at mourners were beamed around the world, and turned the Protestant militant into, respectively, a demon-figure for Catholic republicans and an icon to die-hard loyalists (images of him still appear on murals in staunchly Protestant areas of Belfast).
'I like Rambo'
Born in 1955 -- there is some confusion about the precise date of his birth -- Stone grew up in the fiercely sectarian Braniel Housing Estate in Protestant east Belfast. Drawn into militant loyalism from an early age, he joined the infamous Tartan Gang at the age of 13 and was an active member of the paramilitary Ulster Defence Association (UDA) by the time he was 16. By his own admission he lead a double life, rubbing sand and dirt into his clothes to persuade those nearest to him that he was working as a builder when in fact he was out on paramilitary "operations." He had already served a prison sentence in Belfast's notorious Crumlin Road jail for possession of firearms when he hatched his plan for the Milltown attack, the provocation for which he subsequently claimed was the 1987 IRA bombing of a Poppy Day memorial service at Enniskillen in which 11 people lost their lives.
Despite the callous brutality of the Milltown attack -- he would later describe how in his mind he "dehumanized" his victims, viewing them as "targets" rather than actual people -- his fanatical loyalism seemed to mellow slightly during his 12 years in prison. As leader of the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) -- another name for the UDA -- he supported the Good Friday Agreement, meeting the UK's then Cabinet minister for Northern Ireland Mo Mowlam in 1998.
"I've had songs and poems written about me," he said in a 2003 interview with Magill Magazine, "And I've met plenty of kids who think I'm some kind of hero. I'm like Rambo to them. But I always say that there's nothing romantic about taking a life. People bleed, and there's no Hollywood director to say 'cut.' You get to hear their dying words, see the final seconds of their life. I was trained to block out the human aspect."
Lauded by loyalist supporters on his release in July 2000, he has maintained a relatively low profile since, living in east Belfast with his partner -- he has nine children and three grandchildren -- and spending his time painting and doing community work with Protestant children and former prisoners (he remains under death threat from dissident republicans).
He published his autobiography, "None Shall Divide Us," in 2004, and while he has, until today's incident at Stormont, steered clear of violent activism, he has refused to fully abjure his former militancy. "If I was to say sorry, I believe it would fall on deaf ears," he has said in an interview with the BBC. "I would be called a hypocrite. Those operations were military operations. I do not regret any fatalities that have occurred."
Thanks I'll give that a watch although it will most likely bother me to do so. Giving people like him attention seems the wrong way to go, but because of his antics he'll get quite a bit now.
*edit*
I'm just after watching it and the man is a complete disgrace. When I watched him on Facing the Truth I had no faith in his authenticity towards the family of Dermot Hackett and neither did they. I guess we were correct in our assumptions.
He has to be jailed for life this time....and I mean LIFE with no chance of parole. He's not worthy to live amongst humans.
Adams murder bid: NI man charged
BELFAST, Northern Ireland -- Convicted loyalist killer Michael Stone has been charged with attempting to murder five people including Sinn Fein leaders Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness at the Northern Ireland Assembly on Friday.
Stone, who was tackled by security officers at the entrance to Stormont Parliamentary Building, was also charged at Belfast Magistrates Court on Saturday with possession of weapons for terrorist purposes, including nail bombs and an ax.
Police charged Stone with attempted murder after interrogating him overnight. He was ordered to be detained without bail until his next scheduled court appearance on December 22.
The Press Association reported that before being led from court Stone shouted out: "No sell-out. No power-sharing with the Sinners, they are war criminals. Ulster is not for sale, no surrender."
Police said Friday that up to eight devices were discovered and defused at Stormont, hours after Stone was detained at the building.
Northern Ireland's Chief Constable Hugh Orde told a news conferences they were "viable" devices and that their potential for causing damage, death and injury was being assessed.
"They are fairly amateurish in design, that does not make them any less dangerous," he added.
Stone was arrested over what the chief constable branded "a sad publicity act by a very sad individual."
The incident took place as talks were being held -- and later abandoned -- on renewing the currently suspended self-rule government for Northern Ireland in which pro-British and pro-Irish opponents would share power.
In the past, Stone has served a prison term for opening fire on mourners at an IRA funeral in 1988, killing three people. (Profile)
Stone is staunchly opposed to such a power-sharing government and supports British rule in Northern Ireland.
Friday was a deadline imposed by London for hard-line Protestant leader Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness, deputy leader of Sinn Fein, the largest Catholic party, to be nominated to serve in the top two power-sharing posts.
The event would have been purely symbolic, because the full administration would not be given powers until March.
"He did not intend to endanger anyone's life and, Stone alleges, the explosive devices were not viable"
Not viable? If someone perceives them as a threat and feels endangered because of that, that's enough of a problem, legally. It's kind of like using a fake gun to rob a bank.
"He did not intend to endanger anyone's life and, Stone alleges, the explosive devices were not viable"
Not viable? If someone perceives them as a threat and feels endangered because of that, that's enough of a problem, legally. It's kind of like using a fake gun to rob a bank.
it is in a way, but this guy is well known already for being a stone-cold (pardon the pun) killer. Those security guards are probably the people who should be running the place with that amount of balls!
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