RESIDENTS STAGE NIGHTLY PROTESTS TO DRIVE OUT DEALERS

A CONTROVERSIAL wave of people power is taking to the streets to combat drug
pushers in parts of Northern Ireland.

In Belfast, and rural towns like Antrim, Ballymena and Coleraine, local
residents are uniting to drive out alleged dealers - leading to warnings
against "quick fixes" to solve the problem.

As the politicians and police wrestle with one of the biggest health and
crime issues facing the new Ulster, people are taking action.

Residents in one Antrim estate, covering their faces to protect their
identities, take to the streets tonight for the eighth night in a row.

Armed with placards and walkie-talkies, they are desperate to drive out
dealers who have turned their community into a battleground.

And in west Belfast, more than a hundred people gathered at the Dairy Farm
centre in Twinbrook last night to urge the formulation of a strategy to
stamp it out.

South Antrim SDLP Assembly member Donovan McClelland, calling for the
setting up of a new Drugs Task Force, said local communities were slowly
being destroyed as drugs poisoned their areas.

"The elected representatives of the new Assembly will soon have
responsibility over many of the social and community aspects of life here,"
he said.

"They must determine how resources can be best deployed in a campaign
against drugs."But he warned against 'quick fix' responses like vigilantism
or public protests.

"Quick fix actions - like bringing people out onto the streets - are not the
way forward.

"It is a sort of vigilante style activity which only arouses emotions and
adds to the overall problem.

"Approaches such as these are a short term, partial response, which serve
only to enact the populist element of certain political agendas."And an
Antrim police chief also warned members of the public to beware of taking
the law into their own hands.

Supt Richard Meeke, the sub-divisional commander, issued a statement amid
growing fears of a violent confrontation between local residents and alleged
drug pushers.

Rathenraw Action Group members claim that dealers: sell drugs to primary
school children; peddle their trade to people driving in from Belfast; burn
out houses; harass local residents; threaten protestors; use 12 and
15-year-olds as 'runners'.

A spokesman for the RAG, formed at a community meeting a week ago, denied
members carried baseball bats or were Sinn Fein inspired.

"Our purpose is simple: to use every reasonable, peaceful, lawful means to
rid ourselves of drug dealers," he said.

"We will picket, protest and frustrate both dealers and their customers. If
we can hit them in the pocket we might have a chance of stopping this
scourge."The spokesman claimed residents had been intimidated out of their
houses, which had then been burnt.

Sinn Fein representative for South Antrim, veteran Ardoyne republican Martin
Meehan, said he had been invited by residents to attend last week's meeting.

"This is a cross-community issue," he said. "Political representatives of
loyalist estates in Antrim are also trying to tackle it.

"After our protest last week, one drug dealer agreed to give up his
activities. Another threatened protestors and the next day the wife of one
of the group was physically attacked."Mr Meehan claimed police knew who the
drug dealers were and had failed to take adequate action to catch them.

But Supt Meeke said the force required the co-operation of the public to
combat crime in the estate.

"We are allocating appropriate resources to the area and will continue to
direct our energies towards the problems," he said.

"There have been significant recent seizures of illegal drugs and I again
appeal to anyone with any information about this vile trade to pass the
details to us."One local resident contacted the Belfast Telegraph to say
that while he supported peaceful protest, he was concerned at the group's
actions.

"Group members are, in my view, being very provocative and I'm afraid of the
whole thing turning into a very ugly situation," he said.

"They've got walkie-talkies and baseball bats and have strong republican
backing. I'm all in favour of the sentiment, but I'm not sure this is
productive."

Checked-by: Don Beck