Police hunt for Loyalist 'celtic' gang

Police were continuing their hunt today for loyalist thugs posing as Glasgow Celtic supporters believed to have been involved in a series of attacks in north Belfast.

As bitterly contested parades were taking place in the city yesterday, a 17-year-old youth was stabbed three times in the head after being confronted by a Protestant gang in an area plagued by sectarian strife.

He had just got off a bus at Brougham Street when he was approached and asked his religion by four youths, one of them dressed in Celtic’s green and white colours.

The victim, believed to be a Protestant, told his attackers he was a Catholic in a bid to escape injury.

But as he was fleeing he stumbled and was set upon, and was stabbed and beaten.

Earlier a woman was stopped in her car at the nearby Duncairn Gardens/North Queen Street junction by three youths, the ringleader again wearing a Celtic jersey.

She was questioned before he smashed the Ford Fiesta’s windows and began beating her while his accomplices began wrecking her car.

She got out and ran to safety before her attackers stole the vehicle which was later found abandoned.

In both incidents the culprits made off towards the staunchly loyalist Tiger’s Bay area.

Police sources said members of the Ulster Young Militants, the youth wing of the Ulster Defence Association, regularly disguise themselves in the colours of the club which was founded by Catholics and has a strong Catholic following in Belfast.

‘‘There is a code where some of the head youths would wear Celtic tops,’’ he said.

Gerry Kelly, the Sinn Fein Assemblyman for north Belfast, called on nationalists to be extra vigilant.

‘‘The fact is, this isn’t the first time that loyalists out of Tiger’s Bay have worn Celtic tops to carry out attacks in that area,’’ he added.

The attacks came as rival loyalist and republican mobs fought battles on the Limestone Road, a neighbouring part of the city.

Riot police were forced to move in to restore order after both sides hurled stones during disturbances.

Police and the Army came under petrol bomb and pipe bomb attack and a hijacked lorry was set on fire but there were no reports of any injuries and police later reported that the trouble had calmed down.

Both sides accused each other of starting the disturbances.

Sinn Fein councillor Eoin O’Brion said the Limestone Road area had been under constant siege for the past seven or eight weeks.

‘‘There’s been a number of incursions by UDA figures from Tiger’s Bay.

‘‘There seems to be an attempt from that side of the road to keep the pot boiling,’’ he said.

But loyalist community worker Eddie McClean claimed that well-known republicans had been orchestrating the violence.

And he accused police of heavy-handedness in dealing with loyalists.

‘‘The police went into Tiger’s Bay and beat an 11-year-old boy and his mother while the republicans were hijacking and burning lorries,’’ he added.

Earlier a bitterly contested loyalist march passed peacefully.

Amid heavy security nationalist protesters blew whistles and held up placards as the Apprentice Boys walked through the predominantly Catholic Ardoyne district.

Protesters shouted ‘‘End Sectarian Marches’’ and ‘‘Scum’’ as the small group of loyalists marched through the area accompanied by a flute band bearing the name of the Ulster Volunteer Force.

But though the area was tense there was no trouble between rival factions of about 100 on each side.

The decision to let the Loyal Order march down the Ardoyne Road provoked anger among nationalists, who said the parade to the city centre which marks the start of the loyalist marching season should have been re-routed given the history of violence clashes in the area.

Mr Kelly, who was among the nationalist protesters, said the parade should have gone via another less contentious route.

‘‘This is a Catholic area and there is no need for it to come down here,’’ he said.

Pointing to the road’s proximity to the Holy Cross Girls Primary School, where Loyalists last year staged a three-month picket, Mr Kelly added: ‘‘This road runs parallel to the school which was blockaded by loyalists and this isn’t even the main parade.’’

Across the city in south Belfast another Apprentice Boys parade which was re-routed in order to stop it passing by a bookmakers where loyalist paramilitaries shot dead five Catholics 10 years ago passed off without incident.