A RURAL dean in Raphoe diocese, in County Donegal, has called
for the imprisonment and flogging of members of an armed gang who
attacked a post office in St Johnston, and terrorised an assistant
with baseball bats.
Canon David Crooks, the Rector of
Taughboyne parish, in which the post office is located, made the
comments in the Donegal News. The perpetrators were
"vermin", he said.
"They need to be dealt with
appropriately. They should be imprisoned indefinitely, at least
until it can be proved that they pose no further threat to any
law-abiding community. They should be given the birch, and made to
do hard labour. "
Canon Crooks said many
well-intentioned people would consider his views harsh. "However,
these lunatics will stop at nothing themselves".
In Belfast, the Police Service of
Northern Ireland have brought a man before the courts on charges
relating to an incident in which officers were fired on by
protesters as they separated rioters during an Orange Order
parade.
The incident was one of only four, in
Belfast and Londonderry, among hundreds of parades that passed off
peacefully.