Is UVF’s ‘Beast in the East’ Behind New Wave of Riots?
By Deborah McAleese
Thursday, 23 June 2011
Loyalist rioters attack police in east Belfast last night
He is the man with the power to bring hundreds of masked supporters onto the
street overnight. It was his command that this week led to open warfare in
east Belfast between loyalists and republicans armed with guns, petrol bombs
and blast bombs.
As the PSNI, politicians and community leaders desperately attempt to defuse
soaring tensions, there are fears that the UVF leader, known as the ‘Beast
in the East’ is out of control.
The PSNI has said it believes that UVF members in the east of the city were
behind the serious disorder that erupted on the streets on Monday night.
UVF guns are also believed to have been used in a bid to murder police
officers who were attempting to control the situation.
Trouble flared when, at the order of this paramilitary leader, whose
identity is known by this newspaper, a loyalist mob ran amok in the
republican Short Strand area, attacking homes and a Catholic church –
apparently in retaliation for attacks on loyalist homes over the weekend.
Within minutes up to 500 loyalists and republicans were rioting along the
notorious interface area on the lower Newtownards Road.
Directing the loyalist rioters was the very man who had orchestrated the
Short Strand attack. Over the past few months the ‘Beast in the East’ has
been making his presence felt with the painting of new paramilitary murals
on the Newtownards Road, the flying of UVF flags, and markings on a nearby
bar stating ‘property of the UVF’.
There had been growing concern that it would only be a matter of time before
he ordered a violent attack.
What is not known is if he is acting under the direction of the UVF
leadership, or if he is ignoring orders and acting at will.
A report by the Independent Monitoring Commission released earlier this year
said there was no reason to doubt the wish of the UVF leadership to pursue
its strategy of becoming a civilian organisation. However, concerns were
raised in the report that “there are some within the organisation who are
evidently not ready to accept the restraints on their behaviour which this
means”.
Loyalist sources in the area claim that the east Belfast leader is a “loose
cannon”.
“He is out of favour at the minute with the UVF in the rest of the city.
“They can’t control him. He has been brought up to the Shankill Road and
told to wind his neck in, but he’s not prepared to toe the line,” one source
said.
If it is the case that he is beyond the control of the UVF leadership, he is
not without his supporters.
Just like the Pied Piper, he has been gathering his followers and at the
minute looks unstoppable.
He was responsible for bussing large crowds of loyalists from other estates
into east Belfast on Monday night, and there is no doubt he has the
influence to rally his troops again.
Discontent within the UVF over dissident republican activity, Historical
Enquiries Team investigations and speculation about a supergrass trial
involving a one-time senior UVF figure, means there are many within the
organisation who would be prepared to support and copy the actions of the
east Belfast boss.
In east Belfast this discontent is further fuelled by the lack of political
representation in Stormont for the loyalist community following the
electoral demise of the PUP.
Police have been closely monitoring the UVF in east Belfast as members step
up their criminal activities. But the puppet-master at the heart of this
trouble, which took such a sinister turn on Monday, is still roaming the
streets.
New militancy in loyalism does not bode well for a peaceful summer,
particularly with dissidents armed and ready to respond to confrontation.
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