Irish Gunmen Raise Arms & Kill Off Threatened Ulster Wind Farm

Ulster Wind Developer cuts hasty retreat …

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The six counties that comprise what’s referred to as Northern Ireland have had what might be described as a ‘colourful’ history.

A little like the Middle East – where the past is never past – protagonists and antagonists have sought to lay blame and fault on each other – in an endless cycle of “no, you started it”; “NO, YOU started it” – tit-for-tat – accusations and admonitions, for centuries.

Many Nationalists (who are mostly Catholics) view the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 as ‘the end of days’; whereas Loyalists (mostly Protestants) still regard it as a cause for celebration; banging drums and marching down the streets of Belfast and Derry; much to the annoyance of Nationalists – noisy summertime parades that have often ended in violent riots.

Paramilitary forces, of both persuasions, grew up quickly (in both numerical strength and ferocity of purpose) during the period referred to as “the Troubles”. Reprisals following attacks, counter-reprisals following reprisals – in a bitter, descending spiral of sectarian violence, driven by the IRA Nationalists and the UDA/UDF Loyalists. The fighting was dirty; the stakes were high – in terms of political and social control – sought to be won or defended, on both sides – and the casualties of shootings and bombings ran into the thousands. Grim stuff, indeed.

Both groups of paramilitary forces – despite noble political posturing – tended to operate as quasi-criminal gangs; along the lines of the Italian mafia. While their tactics were grade A terrorism; unlike today’s Islamic Jihadis, the IRA and UDA/UVF kept their identities and tactical operations under wraps. No video uploads for social media displaying their training, preparations, numbers, weapons or tactics for the Northern Irish. Although, playing to public fear, through coverage of their bloody results by the mass media, was very much a strategic objective.

The ‘Provisional IRA’, for example, operated through a system of “cells”, where the “volunteers” within it would be familiar with that cell’s members and leadership, but have no idea of the leadership and members of other cells operating elsewhere.

While terrifying it most certainly was, the Provisional IRA was frighteningly efficient and ruthlessly effective: at any given time during the Troubles, there were never more than 1,000 active Volunteers; and yet they managed to keep an active force of between 9,000 and over 20,000 British Regular Army troops (and combined security forces of up to 30,000 including RUC members as well) on a battle footing, for more than 20 years.

The frequent imagery of Provisionals masked in balaclavas and firing rifles at funerals, in honour of their fallen comrades, was either unifying or terrifying, depending on which side of the sectarian divide one stood. But it was compelling imagery, nonetheless.

Either unifying, or frightening – but either way, compelling imagery.

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Now, it seems, Irish ‘Volunteers’ have entered a new phase. This time around, Northern Ireland’s ‘Troubles’ come at the hands of an industry as selfish and vindictive as any distant or internal political tyrant. In that vein, the stakes in terms of freedom from oppression, and autonomy of action, are not so different from what went before.

So, it’s no surprise then, that Northern Ireland’s balaclava-clad gunmen have taken up arms in a struggle to save Irish hearths and hearts.

Here’s the Ulster Herald’s take on a new band of Irish freedom fighters.

Masked gunmen order workers off wind farm site
Ulster Herald
Ryan McAleer
10 November 2015

An Omagh engineering firm has been forced to abandon work on a wind farm project outside Carrickmore after masked gunmen visited the site on Thursday evening.

The two men are understood to have driven into the work site off the Whitebridge Road at Gortfinbar shortly after 5pm.

One man wearing a balaclava and brandishing a gun emerged from the vehicle and burst into the site office, ordering the employees from Alexander Civil Engineering to vacate the site within 24 hours and not return.

It’s understood that as the masked pair drove from the site, they stopped to issue a further threat against the local man who owns the land on which the wind farm is to be constructed.

He was told to get the workers off the location, which lies three miles from Carrickmore.

On Friday cranes were on the site removing plant machinery and the temporary structures belonging to Alexander.

It’s understood that engineers had been on site since the start of September.

Senior management at the Omagh company have declined to comment on the nature of threat against its staff.

However, the PSNI has confirmed that detectives are now investigating the incident.

The Tyrone Herald understands that Doreen Walker is the woman behind the new wind farm at Gortfinbar.

It’s believed she was in the locality when Thursday’s threat was issued.

Ms Walker has already established a series of wind farms around Co Tyrone, including one at Screggagh, near Fintona.

In January, a £2million 80 metre turbine collapsed at the site in a high profile incident.

CONDEMNED

The threat has been condemned by local Sinn Féin councillor Sean Donnelly, who owns farmland next to the site.

“I condemn this in the strongest possible terms. I think it is a total disgrace,” said the councillor.

“I have no objection to the work that is going on and I would like to see Alexander’s workforce back on site to finish the wind farm.

“Alexander have been in business for more than 40 years. They employ a lot of people from right across the community, some of whom I regularly had been chatting to on the lane,” continued the councillor.

“It’s sad to think that after putting up wind farms for a number of years, they come to Gortfinbar only to be told to leave the site. It’s totally unacceptable.”

It’s understood that no group has claimed responsibility for the threat.

“What is concerning is that that they haven’t provided a reason for making the threat,” said Cllr Donnelly. “It’s not clear whether they were paramilitaries or bully boys.”

A number of wind farms already populate the skyline near the Gortfinbar site, including the Crockagarron wind farm, which contains six turbines, “I find the whole thing baffling,” added the councillor. “People are asking why after wind farms going up for 15-20 years around the area, why is this happening now?”
Ulster Herald

Sinn Féin councillor Sean Donnelly is “baffled” by the turn of events on his very own patch. How odd?

STT is happy to bet a pint or two on Sean having his trotters firmly planted in the wind industry trough. How else to explain his (feigned) ignorance of the wind industry’s callous treatment of his very own constituents and the results thereof:

Fighting a Monstrous & Cruel Industry: Ireland Declares War on the Great Wind Power Fraud

That the wind industry and its parasites happily destroy the common law property rights of wind farm neighbours – old chestnuts like the right to live in, sleep in and otherwise enjoy one’s family home – is a given.

But it’s the institutional corruption (perfectly represented by the likes of Sean Donnelly) that not only condones the destruction of those rights, but crushes any effort to preserve or maintain them – that has them taking up arms in Ulster – and elsewhere; and/or resorting to all manner of means to protect their homes and families.

That the boys in Ulster play just a little harder and rougher than most, can be explained by a living history of being pushed around by inexorably strong forces (from outside and within) for centuries. However, the sentiments driving Gortfinbar’s gunmen are precisely the same as those driving neighbours to chop down MET Masts; shoot up wind turbines and set fire to wind industry propaganda in Scotland, Ireland, America and Australia:

Angry Neighbours Shoot-Up Wind Turbines; as Hosts Hit With $Millions in Developers’ Debts

Angry Wind Farm Victims Pull the Trigger: Turbines Shot-Up in Montana and Victoria

Communities Fight Back & Set the Wind Industry on Fire

These people aren’t fighting about their “concerns”; they are in there fighting, in bitter earnest, for their “rights”; and the nature of their very existence – their health, wealth and happiness.

Far from the actions of these Irish ‘Volunteers’ being a peculiar outlier, STT predicts a whole lot more of the same, all over the Globe. You can only push people so far, before they grab what they can, and hit back. It mightn’t be balaclava-clad lads with Armalites, but the wind industry can expect every bit the same – in terms of anger and passion – wherever it plies its despicable trade in unnecessary human misery.

In Ulster, yet another “concern” presents for the wind industry.