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‘Battle of Broadway’: Residents speak out

Andersonstown News Thursday 18th of July 2008

By Ciarán Barnes

Broadway residents have been reliving the terrifying moment a crowd of more than 100 loyalists tried to attack their homes.

The mob, who had armed themselves with iron bars and bricks taken from the Westlink construction site, was beaten back by around 20 residents.

A number of people were badly injured during the clashes that lasted 20 minutes and which locals are now calling ‘The Battle of Broadway’.

At one point in the melee a young nationalist, Stuart Rush, lay unconscious on the ground as loyalists kicked him and beat him with an iron bar. One Broadway resident who witnessed the clash compared it to a scene from Beirut.

“The loyalists came up past the hospital tower block, they had sticks and bars which they must have taken from the Westlink building site,” said the local woman.

“They would have wrecked the place only a crowd of our ones ran down and held them off. There were easily 100 loyalists and around 20 of our ones. There was fighting going on all over the place.”

The loyalist mob had spent the night drinking at a bonfire at the bottom of the Donegall Road.

After the bonfire had been set alight they made their way across the motorway and onto the nationalist Broadway – stopping on the way to gather weapons from building works.

No arrests

Another local, who saw the crowd coming, spoke of how people ran from their homes in Iveagh and the Falls to stop the loyalists.

“The loyalists backed off as more people ran down to help. Just after this the cops arrived on the scene,” he said.

“It was frightening, if they had got up as far as Iveagh Crescent houses would have been wrecked.

“Fair play to the lads who ran down and got stuck into them first, they saved this area.”

A PSNI spokeswoman said five people were hurt during the violence but there have been no arrests.

“Police attended the scene and worked with community representatives to bring the situation under control,” she said.

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