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The Ulster Bands Association would like to express their utter disgust and
anger at the vicious and sectarian attack upon women, children and
bandsmen in Rasharkin last Friday evening.
As the
bandsmen and their families and friends boarded an Ulsterbus with the
intention of travelling to a band parade in Limavady, they were confronted
by several republican thugs. As a result, one window was
smashed by a missile which struck a young boy on the chest. Fortunately he
was not seriously injured but was, like the other women and children, left
in a very distressed state. Such was the viciousness of the attack that a
residents car, which was parked nearby, also received serious damage.
It must be pointed out that the band involved was not parading in the
village but was merely preparing to travel to a parade in Limavady.
Is it so inconceivable that the very site of bandsmen can inspire such
hatred? Unfortunately in recent years such cowardly
attacks upon band members and the Protestant Community have become very
common, however we within the Ulster Bands Association understand clearly
that this was another orchestrated attempt to heighten tensions within the
Rasharkin area in the run up to the Twelfth of July and other major
parades. Also this incident was not just an attack on
bandsmen, it was also a case of criminal damage on the company of
Ulsterbus, who provide a public service to the WHOLE community.
In closing the Ulster Bands Association calls upon the RUC, who in the
past have provided protection to so-called residents groups, to afford the
same equality of status to the Loyalist marching bands who are going about
their lawful business without any offense to others.
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