Priest attacks ‘militant republicans’ after Londonderry trouble

Creggan parish priest Fr Joe Gormley, speaking after a spate of incidents in the city following a funeral for a teenager whose body was found inside a burning stolen car in the Galliagh area last week, asked: “Do we want vigilante policing or do we want normal, accountable policing?”

There were violent scenes in the Creggan area on Friday following the funeral of 18-year-old Caoimhin Cassidy, whose body was found on June 1 in a stolen car that caught fire after it struck a lamp post in the Galliagh area.

After the funeral, there were several incidents of dangerous driving captured on video and posted to social media.

Angry locals could be seen throwing objects at a car being driven at high speed around a roundabout.

Later that day, there were reports of an altercation at the Bligh’s Lane area in Creggan, where “between 40-50 youths” had congregated.

A male teenager was later found by a police patrol “lying on the grass in the area of Hollyhall Road with the junction of Creggan Road” with “puncture type wounds” to his shins.

And around 30 minutes after midnight, it was reported to police that “a number of masked men had smashed windows at the front and rear of a property” in the Culdaff Gardens area.

There have been questions raised about the lack of police presence in the area.

Several sports teams cancelled events in the area on Friday, while delivery drivers for several local businesses refused to go into the Creggan area.

George Magowan, a director at the Creggan based ‘healthy living trust’, said there are questions for the PSNI.

Speaking on BBC Radio Foyle earlier today, Mr Magowan said: “I didn’t see no police response at all. Personally I didn’t. I’ve got a lot of unanswered questions. There’s questions that need answered and only they can answer them, so we’ll see what happens.”

But Fr Joe Gormley said the trouble in Creggan raises wider questions.

He also aimed criticism at “militant republicans” for trying to take advantage of the situation.

“Let’s face it and let’s be quite blunt about it,” he said on BBC Radio Foyle. “The PSNI didn’t want to come into the area because they didn’t want to exacerbate a difficult situation.

“The PSNI — they’re damned if they do, they’re damned if they don’t. If they were to come into the area, some of those militant republicans would have easily orchestrated a riot. They’re manipulating people’s minds here to set themselves up as saviours of the people, which they’re not. They have their own narrow agenda.”

Asked about the lack of police presence in the area, Fr Gormley said: “That’s a question I can’t answer for the police and I don’t want to be a spokesperson for the PSNI. I’m not going to do that. Are we going to have normal policing or are we not? That’s the big question. Do we want vigilante policing or do we want normal, accountable policing. There was no accountability to that the other day. Just as there’s been no accountability for the murder of Lyra McKee.”

The PSNI has been invited to respond.