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Portadown - 8 May 1997: Portadown Catholic Robert Hamill died in a Belfast hospital. Ten days previously, he had been severely beaten by a loyalist (pro-british) mob as he made his way along Woodhouse Street towards his Obins Street home, in the Irish sector of Portadown, County Armagh. A RUC (police) landrover was standing not far away yet the crew of the vehicle didn't intervene.

Portadown - 7 October 2007: in the early hours of Sunday morning, two nationalist men in their 20s were set upon by a 30-strong gang of loyalists. The incident took place at Woodhouse Street, leading to Obins Street. An attacker smashing a bottle over a young man's head. After being knocked to the ground he was repeatedly beaten and kicked by 10 loyalists. A PSNI (police) landrover was 80 yards away yet the crew of the vehicle didn't intervene.

"The freedom to live free from sectarian intimidation',
promised by the Good Friday Agreement,
means nothing if Portadown Catholics are threatened
if they venture into Portadown town centre to socialise."
Sinn Féin MLA John O'Dowd.

Belfast Telegraph , 13. October 2007

PSNI denies it did not intervene as loyalist thugs beat up Catholics

By Victor Gordon

These are the dramatic CCTV images of attacks on three Catholic men by loyalists in the centre of Portadown.

The footage - currently being examined by the Police Ombudsman shows:

The CCTV footage has led to claims that the police did not respond quickly enough and that the incident was reminiscent of the fatal attack on Catholic man Robert Hamill in Portadown in May 1997.

However, the police have denied claims that they did not intervene and pointed out that the footage has been sent to the Police Ombudsman.

An eye witness, who did not wish to be named, described the incident as " terrifying" and said it brought back memories of the Hamill case.

Upper Bann Sinn Fein MLA John O'Dowd also said the attack had "shades of Robert Hamill".

He said: "The same area witnessed the brutal murder of Robert Hamill under the same circumstances. Local people are quite rightly outraged that such a scenario can repeat itself 10 years later. Like the Hamill situation, eyewitness reports show that the police were in the area and they were aware there was a loyalist mob in the Woodhouse area - a nationalist part of town - and they failed to move them, even though this street has a long history of such attacks."

And the SDLP's Dolores Kelly said the incident had to be fully investigated by the Police Ombudsman.

"It is clear that certain elements in Portadown want to hark back to the dark days of the past which have no place or support in the local community," she said.

The eye-witness said the police were there from the start of the attack and claimed he went over to the Land Rover to appeal to them to go and break it up.

He said: "A police officer actually told me he couldn't see what was happening because of a slight fog.

"There was a bit of a mist, but I could see what was happening, and my eyes are older than his, and we could certainly hear the sound of shouting and breaking glass. The young man cut by the bottle was taken into a pub where the blood was running out of him, and when the police finally did travel the 80 yards to the rioting, it broke up them. Prompter action by them would have prevented the injuries."

In a statement the PSNI said officers did intervene at the weekend attacks, and a young female officer was injured.

A spokesman said: "We are treating the attacks as sectarian and repeat our appeal for witness."

The PSNI has sent the CCTV footage to the Police Ombudsman "mindful of the sensitivity of the area and in the interests of transparency and community reassurances".


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