Irish terror groups target Conservative party conference in Birmingham

[Turborama]

Source: The Observer (UK)

• Republican dissidents see attack as 'top prize' on hit list
• Tory MP Patrick Mercer says threat to mainland is 'worrying'

Mark Townsend and Toby Helm
The Observer, Sunday August 22 2010

Irish republican dissident groups are targeting the Conservative party conference this autumn, raising fears of a repeat of the 1984 Brighton attack that nearly killed the then prime minister, Margaret Thatcher.

Sources in Northern Ireland said that the October conference in central Birmingham had emerged as the prize target on a hit list drawn up by resurgent republican paramilitaries. Patrick Mercer, ex-chairman of the Commons subcommittee on counter-terrorism, said former senior police and army intelligence officers had informed him that dissident splinter groups had discussed targeting David Cameron's first conference as prime minister.

He said: "They want to kill by the end of August in order to get themselves poised for whatever operations they can mount in September leading up to the Tory party conference in early October. There are doubts over whether they have the capability, but the aspiration is certainly there and West Midlands police would be crazy not to take the threat seriously." The West Midlands force confirmed it was aware of increased activity by dissident republicans and said its counter-terrorism unit was constantly assessing the threat ahead of the Conservative party conference.

Last night Owen Paterson, the Northern Ireland secretary, said the government was monitoring the situation, and insisted there was now "unprecedented co-ordination" between the security services and police responsible for tracking those responsible. "We have made a substantial number of arrests and we are bearing down on them," he said. "But we do not underestimate the threat they represent."

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/aug/22/irish-terror-threat-conservative-conference

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A nationalist protester throws a missile at police in the Ardoyne area
of north Belfast in July. Photograph: Cathal McNaughton/Reuters

[amandabeech]

1. Not this again.

Is there no place in this world where people are not going batshit crazy?

[T Wolf]

2. Invaded/occupied countries and religion... the perfect formula for batshit crazy. nt

[craigmatic]

3. Are they doing this because they hate tories or because they hate Uk government?

[dipsydoodle]

4. Long history

going back hundreds of years. Read up on it some time.

Todays news was probably made to coincide with an otherwise blank news day. The BBC haven't even mentioned it - just the Grauniad and the Irish Post.

[Turborama]

10. MP warns of Northern Irish dissident threat

LONDON | Sun Aug 22, 2010 7:22pm BST

(Reuters) - A British MP said on Sunday he believed nationalist militants in Northern Ireland hoped to stage attacks on the British mainland, possibly against high-profile conferences of political parties.

Patrick Mercer, a former army officer who served in Northern Ireland and now a Conservative MP known for his expertise on security issues, raised the alarm about the threat from splinter groups seeking to end British control of Northern Ireland.

"I have no doubt there is an aspiration, a hope, a desire to bomb the mainland (Britain) and probably the Tory (Conservative) or indeed any of the party political conferences," Mercer told Sky News.

The threat from nationalist splinter groups seeking to end British control of Northern Ireland is at its highest level since a 1998 peace agreement largely ended three decades of conflict. The groups say the paramilitary Irish Republican Army (IRA) betrayed the republican cause by ending its campaign.

The Observer quoted sources in Northern Ireland as saying dissidents were targeting the October 3-6 conference in Birmingham, central England, of the Conservatives, the dominant partner in Britain's three-month-old coalition government.

Full article: http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE67L1PN20100822

Is he a good enough source? As it happens, it appears that The Observer were ahead of everyone else on this one.

[CountAllVotes]

6. this has been going on since 1147

when England invaded Ireland. It isn't about to stop anytime soon best I can tell.

:kick:

[craigmatic]

9. I know the history. It seems like they don't do this when Labour has power.

[Turborama]

5. Interactive graphic which shows upsurge in violent attacks over the past 18 months

Northern Ireland's upsurge in violent attacks

Roll over the grey lines at the top of the interactive graphic here (note: there are 2 close together at the start of the timeline and a lot at the end)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/interactive/2010/aug/22/northern-ireland-violence

Related article from The Observer:

Fear returns to haunt the people of Northern Ireland who have grown used to peace

The ranks of Northern Ireland's dissident terror groups are being swelled by a toxic mix of nostalgia, republicanism and recession

Mark Townsend in Lurgan
The Observer, Sunday 22 August 2010


A Nationalist youth throws a missile at police in the Ardoyne area of
north Belfast during rioting in July sparked by Orange Order parades.
Photograph: Cathal McNaughton/Reuters

They gathered in the name of peace, insisting that there should be no return to the bad old days.

Shortly after midday, several hundred residents of Lurgan, Co Armagh, many of them with young children, crowded around a battered tangle of metal fencing in Kilmaine Street. A week earlier a dissident republican bomb had exploded here, injuring three girls.

Monsignor Aidan Hamill, the priest at St Peter's Church, pleaded with the dissidents for a "change of heart". The crowd applauded, then fell silent. Now they must wait and see if their prayers are heard. So must mainland Britain.

The Observer reveals today that British intelligence believes dissident groups in Northern Ireland harbour hopes of striking in a British city and have identified the Tory party conference in Birmingham this October as a target. According to Patrick Mercer MP, a counter-terrorist expert: "They understand that terrorism means terrorising and they have let it be known that they are interested in mainland targets." The disturbing upsurge in violence in Northern Ireland may not stop at the Irish Sea.

In Lurgan the shock from last week's attack is palpable. The device in Kilmaine Street last Saturday appeared to signify a step change in dissident tactics. There was no warning; the bomb was primed on a busy street, intended to kill police responding to a hoax bomb alert. It was the latest attack during a tumultuous marching season in Northern Ireland, when disorder culminated in rioting in Ardoyne, north Belfast.

Full article which gives a good insight into what's going on: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/aug/22/lurgan-bomb-dissident-ira

[dipsydoodle]

7. BBC have woken up now

Patrick Mercer, a former Army officer, claimed his information came from his sources in Northern Ireland.
>
The Northern Ireland Office said they did not comment on "media speculation" and anyone with relevant information "should take it to the police".
>
Mr Mercer said dissident republicans wanted to "draw attention to themselves" by mounting a similar attack.

"I don't think they have that capability but they're talking about it," he said.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-11049802

The only person seeking to "draw attention to themselves" appears to be Mr Mercer.

[FunkyLeprechaun]

8. I am Irish, lasped Catholic

And voted Conservative. These IRA groups are laughable (as well as the Orange Order, a KKK clone).

We Irish have to MOVE ON, for god's sake. We are sick of the infighting and now embrace what history we have left.

I have had relatives who were killed by the IRA and Orange Order and I'm JUST sick of it.

Speaking as a granddaughter of a former Orange Order leader (he left the order soon after meeting my mum, a Catholic). People still perpetuate the bloody myths about Prods and Taigs (yeah, I went there) so a lot of people are still uncomfortable with meeting Prod/Taigs.

That's why we have integrated schools in Northern Ireland. We need to work with children to take away that prejudice.