the authorities continued with a crackdown of sorts on the Loyalists and when UDA elements laid siege to a tiny Catholic enclave in Co. Antrim on 16 September, the RUC opened fire. A prominent UVF man was shot dead. The most significant army–UDA clash occurred a month later, on 16 October, when army vehicles killed two rioting Loyalists. Tommy Herron openly declared war on the British Army. The result was two nights of heavy firing between the army and the UDA in which two civilians were killed. Aghast, local community leaders persuaded Herron to call off his offensive. Even the most obtuse
...more
