Red Hand Defenders
LeaderUnknown
Dates of operationSeptember 1998 onwards (current status unknown)
Active regionsNorthern Ireland
IdeologyUlster loyalism

The Red Hand Defenders (RHD) is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in 1998 by loyalists who opposed the Belfast Agreement and the loyalist ceasefires.[1] Its members were drawn mostly from the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF).[1] The name had first been used by Red Hand Commandos dissident Frankie Curry in 1996 and he was the leading figure in what was a somewhat unstructured organization until he was killed in 1999.[2] It is named after the Red Hand of Ulster.[3]

The RHD emerged when it claimed responsibility for a blast bomb attack on 7 September 1998 during a loyalist protest in Portadown. Loyalists had been protesting against the decision to ban the Orange Order from marching through the town's mainly Catholic and Irish nationalist quarter (see Drumcree conflict). The attack killed a Catholic Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officer.[1] Since then, the RHD has claimed responsibility for killing a further ten people. It has also claimed responsibility for many pipe bomb attacks, mostly on the homes of Catholics.[1] One of the RHD's most notable attacks was the assassination of human rights lawyer Rosemary Nelson on 15 March 1999.[1] She had represented alleged Irish republican paramilitaries, the family of Robert Hamill, and the Garvaghy Road Residents Association. Of the eleven people the RHD claimed to have killed, nine were civilians, one was a former UDA member and one was an RUC officer.

The RHD are a Proscribed Organisation in the United Kingdom under the Terrorism Act 2000.[4]

Links with the wider loyalist movement

It has been alleged that the name "Red Hand Defenders" is merely a covername for members of the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) and Ulster Defence Association (UDA) so the organizations can claim on the surface to have honoured their ceasefire agreements.[3][5][6][7] Similar accusations have been made regarding the name "Orange Volunteers", another loyalist paramilitary group that emerged in 1998.[8] Claims of responsibility by the RHD for certain attacks have overlapped with those of the Orange Volunteers.[7] The Council on Foreign Relations indicates the membership of the RHD, LVF and Orange Volunteers likely overlap.[8] These organizations are generally composed of young Ulster Protestant males from Northern Ireland.[8]

McDonald (2001) characterizes the LVF and UDA ceasefire agreements as "official fiction".[9] The LVF denies these claims, stating that its armed campaign has ended.[10] LVF members were aware that any breach of the ceasefire could result in the return to jail for those paramilitary prisoners freed as part of the Good Friday Agreement of April 1998.[9] This essentially served as an incentive for the groups to create a cover name.[11] As a result, the actual existence of the RHD has consistently been called into question.[5] Jim Cusack and Henry McDonald have argued that the RHD and the Orange Volunteers are both overseen by a Christian fundamentalist preacher they identify only as the Pastor. The Pastor, a former associate of William McGrath, John McKeague and George Seawright and a long-established British intelligence agent, is said by the authors to provide his own form of fundamentalist, anti-Catholic Protestantism to the two groups' fluid membership of young men, most of whom are also UDA or LVF members.[12]

Ideology and modus operandi

The Red Hand Defenders use violence toward the goal of maintaining British control in Northern Ireland.[5] Like other loyalist groups, the RHD is an adversary of Irish nationalists who seek to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and create a united Ireland.[5] In essence, (mostly) Irish Catholic nationalists aspire to be part of the Republic of Ireland, while (mostly) Protestant unionists wish to remain united with Great Britain.[13] The resulting long-term conflict in Northern Ireland was often referred to as "the Troubles".[5] However, unlike the two biggest loyalist paramilitary groups—the Ulster Defence Association and Ulster Volunteer Force—the group fully opposes the peace process and peace agreements, including the Good Friday Agreement.[10]

Their tactics include shootings, bombings and arson, with victims usually being Catholic civilians.[5] Although the victimization of Catholics is based on their perceived politics rather than religion,[3] the religious emphasis nonetheless exacerbates the underlying political problems.[14] The group’s civilian targets have included Catholic schools and Catholic postal workers. The weapons used by RHD members include pipe bombs, handguns and grenades.[11] The group does not appear to receive aid from outside the UK.[7]

Notable attacks

The RHD emerged when it claimed responsibility for a blast bomb attack on 7 September 1998 during a loyalist protest in Portadown. The loyalists had been protesting against the decision to ban the Orange Order from marching through the town's mainly Irish Catholic and Irish nationalist quarter (see Drumcree conflict). The attack killed a Catholic Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officer.[11] Since then, the RHD has claimed responsibility for killing a further ten people. Of the eleven people the RHD claimed to have killed, nine were civilians, one was a former UDA member and one was an RUC officer. The group admitted shooting to death a Catholic man, Brian Service, while he was walking home in North Belfast on 31 October 1998, and to an attack on a pub in West Belfast earlier that day.[10] One of the RHD's most notable attacks was the assassination of human rights lawyer Rosemary Nelson on 15 March 1999.[11] She had represented alleged Irish republican paramilitaries, the family of Robert Hamill, and the Garvaghy Road Residents Association. Nelson had been working with Prime Minister Tony Blair toward resolving the conflict in Northern Ireland.[5] She had also testified in Washington, D.C. about the plight of attorneys who were subjected to harassment and threats for representing Irish nationalists.[13] Nelson further informed that she and her family had received death threats.[13] The killing of Nelson was a significant setback to the peace process due to a fear of the need for retaliation.[13] Moreover, this killing was the first high-profile assassination since the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.[5] In August 2001, the RHD claimed responsibility for an attempted pipe-bomb attack on a Sinn Féin Member of Parliament and an attempted car bomb attack at a fair shortly thereafter where streets were filled with civilians, though both plots were thwarted by police.[9] The RHD also claimed responsibility for the murder of a journalist named Martin O’Hagan in September 2001, who was shot dead while walking home from a pub with his wife.[9] O’Hagan had previously been threatened by Ulster Volunteer Force brigadier Billy Wright, who became the leader of the LVF and was subsequently killed in the Maze Prison.[9] The attack may have stemmed from the journalist’s report on alleged collusion between loyalist paramilitaries and security forces in Northern Ireland.[5]

According to the U.S. Department of State, the RHD claimed responsibility for killing a total of five individuals in 2001. In 2002, the RHD claimed responsibility for the murders of a Catholic teenager and a Catholic postman (with the UDA and the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) also subsequently claiming responsibility for the attacks), and also bombed the home of a prison officer.[7] On 16 January 2002, the RHD allegedly made a statement agreeing to "stand down" at the request of the UDA/UFF after threatening Catholic postal workers and teachers.[15] The sincerity of the statement was immediately called into question.[15] The RHD resumed its campaign a few months later with a nail-bomb attack on a well-known republican.[5] The RHD successfully separated itself from the UDA in February 2003 with the murder of UDA member John Gregg, who had attempted to kill Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams almost 20 years before.[5] The attack on Gregg may have stemmed from disapproval with the RHD that had been expressed by the UFF.[5] The RHD is believed to have engaged in periodic bombings and shootings in 2003, and further claimed responsibility for an attack in September 2004.[5]

Timeline

1998

1999

2001

2002

2003

2005

2006

2013

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Red Hand Defenders, Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN)
  2. ^ Henry McDonald & Jim Cusack, UDA – Inside the Heart of Loyalist Terror, Dublin: Penguin Ireland, 2004, pp. 307-308
  3. ^ a b c "Terrorist Organization Profiles - START - National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism". Archived from the original on 21 December 2013. Retrieved 30 January 2015.
  4. ^ "Terrorism Act 2000". Schedule 2, Act No. 11 of 2000.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Center for Defense Information". 5 July 2023.
  6. ^ "Red Hand Defenders". Retrieved 30 January 2015.
  7. ^ a b c d https://2009-2017.state.gov/documents/organization/31947.pdf[bare URL PDF]
  8. ^ a b c "Northern Ireland Loyalist Paramilitaries (U.K., extremists)". Council on Foreign Relations. Archived from the original on 20 June 2013. Retrieved 30 January 2015.
  9. ^ a b c d e [1] 2001-09-29
  10. ^ a b c [2] 1999-03-16
  11. ^ a b c d "CAIN: Abstracts of Organisations - 'R'". Retrieved 30 January 2015.
  12. ^ Jim Cusack & Henry McDonald, UVF: Endgame, Poolbeg, 2008, pp. 376-382
  13. ^ a b c d [3] 1999-03-16
  14. ^ [4] 1999-03-16
  15. ^ a b [5] 2002-01-16
  16. ^ a b c Chronology of the Conflict: 1998, Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN)
  17. ^ "RUC investigating blast in Antrim". RTÉ News. 17 December 1998.
  18. ^ a b c d e f g h i Chronology of the Conflict: 1999, Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN)
  19. ^ Loyalist Attacks from 1 January 1999 – 30 April 1999 Archived 22 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Pat Finucane Centre
  20. ^ "Incident Summary for GTDID: 199906050002". Retrieved 30 January 2015.
  21. ^ A Chronology of the Conflict: 1999 - Conflict Archive on the Internet
  22. ^ "Incident Summary for GTDID: 199906070002". Retrieved 30 January 2015.
  23. ^ Sectarian attacks: October 1999 Archived 22 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Pat Finucane Centre
  24. ^ "'Demon pastors' are humbled". The Guardian. London. 31 October 1999.
  25. ^ a b Sectarian attacks: January 2001 Archived 24 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Pat Finucane Centre
  26. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Chronology of the Conflict: 2001, Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN)
  27. ^ Sectarian attacks: June 2001 Archived 24 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Pat Finucane Centre
  28. ^ Sectarian attacks: July 2001 part 1 Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Pat Finucane Centre
  29. ^ a b Sectarian attacks: July 2001 part 2 Archived 22 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Pat Finucane Centre
  30. ^ Sectarian attacks: August 2001 Archived 22 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Pat Finucane Centre
  31. ^ "Ceasefire endangered by journalist's murder"[dead link]. The Telegraph (UK). 1 October 2001.
  32. ^ Peter Heathwood Collection of television programs: 2001. Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN).
  33. ^ Sectarian attacks: December 2001 Archived 22 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Pat Finucane Centre
  34. ^ a b c d Chronology of the Conflict: 2002, Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN)
  35. ^ a b Peter Heathwood Collection of television programs: 2002. Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN).
  36. ^ "CAIN: Issues: Violence - Draft List of Deaths Related to the Conflict in 2002". Retrieved 30 January 2015.
  37. ^ Sectarian attacks: April 2002 Archived 24 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Pat Finucane Centre
  38. ^ Sectarian attacks: July 2002 Archived 24 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Pat Finucane Centre
  39. ^ a b Sectarian attacks: August 2002 Archived 24 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Pat Finucane Centre
  40. ^ Sectarian attacks: October 2002 Archived 22 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Pat Finucane Centre
  41. ^ Peter Heathwood Collection of television programs: 2003. Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN).
  42. ^ Sectarian attacks: May 2003 Archived 22 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Pat Finucane Centre
  43. ^ "Loyalists admit bomb attack". BBC News. 20 May 2003.
  44. ^ Sectarian attacks: November 2003 Archived 22 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Pat Finucane Centre
  45. ^ Draft list of deaths related to the conflict in 2005, Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN)
  46. ^ "Loyalist group admits taxi attack". BBC News. 6 March 2006.
  47. ^ "Four men jailed over 'Red Hand Defenders' blackmail plot". BBC News. 21 May 2013.
  48. ^ "'Paramilitary threat to Belfast schools'". u.tv. Retrieved 30 January 2015.

External links

Ulster Defence Association
Loyalist Volunteer Force
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