Arsonists target Orange hall in County Fermanagh

Monday, 24 July, 2000 Arsonists target Orange hall Police believe a fire at a hall owned by the Protestant Orange Order was started deliberately.

The hall at Wattle Bridge near Newtownbutler in County Fermanagh is the latest in a series of buildings owned by the Orange Order to be attacked.It comes a week after RUC statistics revealed there were 16 such attacks on Orangehalls across Northern Ireland between April 17th 2000 to July 18th 2000.

A spokeman for the Wattlebridge lodge said the main part of the hall had been gutted in the overnight fire."Members are very sad about the whole sitution," he said."We thought this sort of thing was over."Solgans have been painted on the walls of the hall before but there was never anything as serious as this". The blaze is the second at an Orange hall in Fermanagh in recent weeks.For some time now there has been attacks at Drummully Parish Church in Co. Monaghan. The hall at Wattlebridge is situated just over a mile away from Drummully Church.

In Co . Leitrim, Oughteragh Parish Church, in a Ballinamore, the Church of Ireland was attacked on Monday night 24th July, three windows at the front of the building were put through with stones. Also in the adjacent cemetery a headstone belonging to the Browne family from Corgar was knocked down. I am sure that it is no coincidence the Bro. George Browne is a County Grand Master of Co Leitrim.

Once again republican thugs are targeting members in far flung outposts to bully them into toeing the line. Why are the priests and other public figures within the nationalist community not speaking up and ordering a stop to all attacks on the Protestant community?

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Orange Halls burnt in attacks by republicans