Reuters, November 25, 2006
Stone charged with Adams murder bid
By Anne Cadwallader
BELFAST (Reuters) - Northern Irish paramilitary Michael Stone was charged on
Saturday with the attempted murder of Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams after he
stormed into Stormont with a bag of homemade explosives.
Stone, a supporter of British rule, lobbed a smoking and fizzing package
into the entrance of Belfast's Stormont parliament buildings on Friday as
pro-Irish and pro-British political parties were debating self-rule for the
province.
Stormont was evacuated and Stone arrested. The army later defused between
six and eight devices, which police Chief Constable Hugh Orde described as
"amateurish in design".
Stone, who gained notoriety after an attack on an IRA funeral nearly 20
years ago, was charged on Saturday with a total of five counts of attempted
murder, including that of Martin McGuinness, Sinn Fein chief negotiator.
Stone was also charged with possessing items likely to be used for terrorist
purposes including nail bombs, explosives, an axe and a garrotte, and of
possessing a firearm or imitation firearm. He was remanded in custody until
December 22.
As he left court, Stone shouted: "Ulster is not for sale! No surrender!"
Sinn Fein, political ally of the IRA, ultimately wants to unite the province
with Ireland but is in talks on sharing power with pro-British opponents in
a devolved local government.
Friday's incident disrupted fraught discussions on that assembly, which
would unite in government parties with starkly opposing political and
religious views after decades of sectarian conflict in which some 3,600
people died.
The debate had to be suspended just 40 minutes in and without a clear
indication from pro-British hardliners, the Democratic Unionist party, as to
who they would nominate to lead a power-sharing assembly.
But London and Dublin still plan to push on with a timetable agreed last
month that envisages assembly elections in March.
Stone was jailed for life following his 1988 cemetery attack, in which three
people died and scores were injured, but was released six years ago under
Northern Ireland's Good Friday peace agreement. He vowed then his days as a
gunman were over.
Police told the court that Stone had indicated he acted alone in Friday's
attack.
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
