N. Ireland Protestants rebuff power-sharing

[IRiSHMaFIA]

Protestant Leader Satan Paisley

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) -- Protestant leader Ian Paisley refused Saturday to begin sharing power immediately with Catholics, officials said, launching a showdown with Britain that could end in the collapse of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

More than 100 politicians from Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party voted overwhelmingly to reject Britain's long-held demand for a Catholic-Protestant administration to be formed and receive powers by Monday, according to Democratic Unionist and British government officials.

They spoke anonymously because negotiations between the two sides were continuing. But a Democratic Unionist spokesman, Tim Johnston, said the party would publish its motion once telephone talks involving Paisley and British Prime Minister Tony Blair concluded Saturday night.

According to the officials, the Democratic Unionist motion calls on Britain to pass an emergency bill delaying the power-sharing deadline until May. In exchange, Paisley would agree to hold his first face-to-face talks Monday with Gerry Adams, leader of the major Catholic-backed party, Sinn Fein.

If the Democratic Unionists refuse nominations to government posts Monday, Britain insists the Northern Ireland Assembly will be shut down immediately in favor of intensified Irish government involvement in the British territory.

The 108-member assembly, which was re-elected only two weeks ago, was designed to form a 12-member, four-party administration that would take control of Northern Ireland government departments from Britain. Such cross-community cooperation was supposed to be the centerpiece of the province's 1998 peace accord but has failed since 2002 amid Protestant hostility to Sinn Fein.

Paisley declined to discuss specifics of the party's motion -- but emphasized he would not be coerced by Britain's deadline.

"The Ulster people will be persuaded but they are not going to be driven," said Paisley, an 80-year-old anti-Catholic evangelist.

In Dublin, Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams canceled a planned news conference and traveled north to meet Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain and other British officials.

Hain faced his own midnight (0000GMT) deadline -- to issue an order that would permit power to be transferred Monday from himself to local hands.

The Democratic Unionists say they will work with Sinn Fein only if the party's leaders demonstrate convincing support for law and order.

Sinn Fein, which supported the Irish Republican Army's 1970-1997 campaign to overthrow Northern Ireland by force, in January voted to open normal relations with Northern Ireland's mostly Protestant police -- a mammoth policy U-turn from the once-revolutionary party.

But the political messages and events in Sinn Fein power bases since have been mixed.

Adams has repeatedly called on supporters to help police solve specific crimes and certain categories of crime, such as drug dealing and rape, but has also defended a deputy's view that police should not be told about the activities of IRA dissidents plotting to wreck the 1997 cease-fire.

And police units have continued to face violence in hard-line Catholic parts of Northern Ireland, including overnight.

Police said men and youths threw more than a dozen gasoline bombs early Saturday at a police station in Crossmaglen, a border town renowned as an IRA bastion, causing scorch damage to perimeter walls but no injuries. On Friday night, another Catholic crowd pelted detectives with stones and bottles as they tried to investigate the fatal beating of a pub-goer in the religiously divided town of Lurgan.

Beside their loathing of Sinn Fein, the Democratic Unionists also are refusing to launch power-sharing until they secure a bigger financial bonanza from Britain.

On Thursday Blair's treasury chief, Gordon Brown, met all four major Northern Ireland parties in London and offered them an extra 1 billion pounds (S$2 billion) to spend over the next four years, a 2.9 percent increase over his previous offer -- but only if they meet the power-sharing deadline.

Paisley dismissed that offer as inadequate.

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I knew this was going to happen. Paisley is pure evil and doesn't give a rats arse about ever having peace and stability in Northern Ireland. He's 80 yrs rotting and hopefully the devil hasn't much more time left on earth so we won't have to put up with the dirty cold hearted bastard.

He doesn't care about the people of Northern Ireland. All the greedy selfish bigot cares about are the unionist pigs keeping the hand up on Catholics.

Everything that comes out of his mouth is a bold face lie, and no matter how much money is offered and no matter how much Sinn Fein gives in he'll still refuse to move forward because he's a war mongering scumbag that loves seeing peoples lives being destroyed, and that's just what they're doing with these stall tactics. They're creating more and more anger within the Catholic community, and it's going to get worse if they don't cop on and do the right thing.

[Boab]

I totally agree Irish. I can't imagine what it must be like to live through that.

The Catholic community will hit out and that piece of shit will sit once again on his high horse yapping on with all his little lapdogs nodding in agreement.

The man is pure evil.

[fritz]

Gee Irish I guess you don't like this asshole I said all along I don't trust this prick.He is an evil man.There is a special place in hell for him.(were they stick pitch forks up your arse all day)and I hope he gets there soon.

[eefanincan]

[hogfather]

Feel sorry for me. I have to endure all this crap on a daily basis.

Oh and hello Mr. Fritz. Small world eh?

[IRiSHMaFIA]

[fritz]

Nice to hear from you agine Hog.Hey with the Grace of God maybe I'll make the trip this summer.I migth even stop over to say hello to face.

[Aja]

[IRiSHMaFIA]

[faceless]