SF blames UDA for murder of Catholic teenager

Sinn Fein’s Gerry Kelly has blamed the Ulster Defence Association for the murder of a Catholic civilian in north Belfast last night.

Nineteen-year-old Gerard Lawlor was shot dead in a drive-by shooting near the Whitewell Road.

The Red Hand Defenders, a cover name for the UDA, claimed responsibility for the killing, which followed a spate of incidents in the north Belfast area which left a Protestant man and a Catholic man with gunshot wounds.

Mr Kelly said the UDA fired around 10 shots at Catholics in five separate incidents after a 19-year-old Protestant was shot and injured in the Glenbryn area.

The Sinn Fein Assemblyman also said that he is convinced the Provisional IRA was not responsible for the Glenbryn attack.

However, he added that he could not speak for dissident republican groups, suggesting the Real or Continuity IRA may have been involved.

The Irish National Liberation Army has also reportedly been recruiting new members in north Belfast recently, particularly among working class communities who feel that the IRA’s ceasefire has left them unprotected from loyalist attacks.

Northern Secretary John Reid, meanwhile, has appealed to political leaders to speak out clearly against all violence.

Dr Reid said that without non-violent leadership, there is a real possibility that a violent minority could wreck the peace process against the wishes of the majority of the North’s population.

“Too many people have died and too many families have suffered to allow that to happen,” he said.

“I appeal to all community and political leaders to condemn all the violence, not just the violence against their own communities.”