"Members only"

I walk straight through the door. The sight shocks even me. At the head of the table sits Anne Monaghan, Queen of the Undead. Who is that shaven headed boy sitting there? It's Katrina's brother. He speaks,
"It's members only Alan"
Behind me Tony McGuinness is rising, his face flushed. One "man" and one boy who both stood and watched someone try to kill me then gave false witness statements are telling me I have no right to be there, in a supposedly representative body. Through the other door I see cops. Katrina's pulling her Drama Queen act. Denise is talking to them. I walk through.
"Lets go"
I lead the way, a cop on either side of me. Denise turns her back on me and fiddles with a door. I stop. She keeps fiddling. I walk on.
I return to the church cafe. Residents arrive. They're not members either. They haven't paid dues for years. They're confused. When the time comes they're directed to the front of the church. The cops and the boy are manning the door, them acting as muscle, him pretending. The others are allowed in. The boy snaps at me,
"You know the rules Alan"
I phone the station. Robin McKibbin, Desk Sergeant, thinks he's fucked me rightly.
"It's a residents' meeting, not a public meeting. It's not covered by your bail conditions."
"In court it specifically mentioned residents' meetings."
"It doesn't say that here"
His officers are growing tense. The embarassment's beginning to bite. They leave the church and shout at a few drunken students in a desperate attempt to save face. They get into their car. I approach them, pointing to the phone,
"Desk Sergeant"
They ignore me and get the Fuck out of Dodge.
Before going they tell a passing resident,
"It's a private meeting"
Inside membership forms are handed out and the line is spun,
"Alan's been sent a letter"
I have. You can see it here.
I was in court today. My bail conditions have been amended.
"He be allowed to attend residents' meetings and public meetings"
I'm openly inviting the cops to the next meeting. If anyone interferes with me in any way or tries to block my entrance or have me removed I'll press charges for assault.

Our Community has been Destroyed

Another letter to the Irish News

The last letter got published. Wahayyyyyy. It took a while and it was dumbed down a bit. I wonder if this one will be published.

Our community has been destroyed

Where have all my neighbours gone? “Holylands Student” 12/11/07 claims there are 400-500 residents. Where are they? Four years ago the Extern Organisation could only find 200. Between then and now that number has surely halved.

There are many pensioners here who have lived here all their lives and refuse to go. I admire their tenacity. However, almost all of the residents I know want out. They simply can't take it any more. Neither they nor their children can sleep at night due to noise in the street and through the walls. By any reasonable definition the extreme noise and sleep deprivation we experience here must constitute torture. Yet we cannot get rehoused. Those of us who don't own our homes, but are renting from the Housing Executive or Associations are prisoners here.

We can get no redress. The wardens privately admit that they cannot get the Universities to take meaningful action against their students. The police drive around and do nothing. They will not arrest or charge students. They will not even charge someone who invades a woman's home and climbs into her child's bed! For all the tough talk from the Universities things get worse every year. Their efforts do nothing to alleviate our torment, but they act as excellent “Perception Management” tools when dealing with the media.

Their sponsorship of a “Community Regeneration Association” (A UU initiative calling on the support of Extern) has worked wonders for their image, creating the impression that things are improving. It should come as no surprise that a former “Community Relations Officer” from the University of Ulster is now their chairperson. Anne Monaghan is repeating the same mantra she used when she openly represented the Universities,

“Get more residents into the area”.

This cannot and should not happen. There are 100 residents and 6000-7000 “students”, a ratio of at least 60-1.This community has been finished for many years. It was raped by landlords using Public Money and now the Universities have got a privately owned and privately run campus which is non-stop partyland.

My neighbours are queueing up to get out. Rehouse us and imprison no more people in this lunatic asylum.

We will see.

The joys of Free Speech

Thanks to "anonymous" for drawing my attention to this

holylandwarzone

http://holylandwarzone.blogspot.com/2007/10/blow-in.html

Thanks to the wonders of blogger I can cut and paste the text so here it is:

FOR THE BENEFIT OF THOSE WHO DONT KNOW WHO ALAN MURRAY IS ...... THE GUY IS JUST A BLOW IN TO THE HOLYLAND ... NOT A LONG TERM RESIDENT. IF YOU CHECK HIS CREDENTIALS HE ORIGINATES FROM WEST BELFAST ...SOME READERS OF HIS DIATRIBE MIGHT WELL WONDER WHY HE LEFT WEST BELFAST.

OBVIOUSLY BY HIS STYLE OF WRITING HE LACKS A COMMAND OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE ... HENCE HIS USE OF PROFANITIES ON A REGULAR BASIS. MR MURRAY IS NOT EVEN AWARE OF THE FACT THAT THE NAME OF THE AREA IS "THE HOLYLAND" NOT "THE HOLYLANDS" A NAME USED ONLY BY PROPERTY DEVELOPERS AND ESTATE AGENTS.

THIS SITE WILL BE USED TO DISCUSS THE BACKGROUND TO THE PRESENT CONFLICT IN THE HOLYLAND AND WILL DISCLOSE SOME OF THE FAILED ATTEMPTS TO RESOLVE IT.

UNLIKE MR MURRAY, THE AUTHOR HAS WORK COMMITMENTS BUT WATCH THIS SITE AND LEARN, MORE WILL BE ADDED SHORTLY.

I must have really got to some people. It's quite a compliment when they plagiarise your site in order to trash you. Here's the reply I posted to his article:

I've been here for seventeen years, so I think I'm a bit more than a "blow in". As for the name of the place, I use both depending on which flows better. Unlike you, others seem to enjoy my "command of the English language". I love your pomposity, it complements your anger perfectly.
They say imitation is the best form of flattery, so thank you for plagiarising my site.
Judging by your anger, you appear to be one of "The committee" that pretends to represent us. I wonder if you are one of those who have had me arrested for criticising you on my own blog. Maybe you are one of those who watched someone try to kill me then made false witness statements to the police.
It would be very funny (and hypocritical) if I had you arrested for criticising me here. I'm afraid I couldn't do it. It's just not sporting.

I don't think the police would arrest them anyway. Do you?

The Computer is Mightier than the Sword

You will recall that a year ago my computer was siezed along with my swords etc.
Four months ago the swords were returned to me. What about the computer?
"Your not getting your computer back" declares Detective Sergeant Sylvia Hamilton.
My contributions on this site seem to be a real threat, more so than lethal weapons.
They've surely tried to silence me. I've been cautioned, threatened, arrested and charged for my musings here.
In June someone tried to kill me for my criticisms of the Chairperson of a fake "Residents Group". I made my way down to Donegall Pass to report the incident. I remember sitting in a room in the station covered from head to toe with blood. Six officers surrounded me. They formally cautioned me with harrassment on this site against Katrina O'Neill, our self-appointed representative. They then told me not to press charges against my assailant.
"He has six witnesses who all say you started it and you ..........................................." I won't publish the allegation here. Suffice it to say they came up with a suitably extreme one as befits a perpetual drama queen like Katrina.
"Really?"
"They don't want to press charges."
"Why not? Would you not want to? Maybe it's because I'm the one sitting here dripping blood onto your floor"
"If you press charges you'll lose, and then she can sue you. We know it's not fair, but that's the way it is."
"Are you telling me not to press charges?"
"You'll lose"
"I'll take legal advice"

I went to internet cafes to post here. I doubt I'll be reimbursed. I then bought an old computer on ebay. They came and cautioned me again and again and again; for criticising David Farrell; then for Tony McGuinness; then for Katrina O'Neill. Then they arrested me. David Farrell would not tolerate criticism. Katrina sent them to arrest me. They seem to be providing a personal service to our Bogus Representatives. Things didn't go quite the way they planned.
"We're gonna question him and then charge him"
"You can't do that", says my solicitor. "You can't question him on the basis that you're gonna charge him anyway."
The presumption of innocence appears not to exist for these fools.
"Either question him or charge him"
She invites herself into the sergeants' office to watch her objections typed into the record.
Three sergeants have a confab.
"We're gonna charge him"
An adventure begins.

Postscript

My computer was returned after ten months. My swords were held for four. Draw your own conclusions.

Justice one, Stasi nil

"We'll take a pause" says the Judge, "to see if the prosecution can get their case together."
I leave the dock and pass through the vestibule where my barrister, the cops and the prosecution service are talking. This is undoubtedly the worst prepared case the authorities have ever put forward.
A journalist has followed me out,
"What the fuck's going on? They're prosecuting you for the content of a website?"
I hand him a flier for this blog as my solicitor and barrister come out and join me. He leaves us to it.
"This is descending into farce " I say.
Their agreement is both eloquent and profane.

I return to the dock. Stevie Kingsman's in the witness box. He has some printouts from the site in front of him.
"Your worship", my barrister begins, "we would like to change my client's bail conditions. They're an infringement on his freedom of speech"
She looks at Kingsman,
"Well?"
"We're prosecuting him for the content of his blog"
She turns to my barrister,
"What do you say?"
"He should be allowed to write whatever he wants.If the complainant wants to take out an injunction, that's a civil matter"
"Constable Kingsman?"
"The complainant feels intimidated and harrassed about the content of this blog."
"Can you point to any specific statements?"
"I'm afraid the complainant would have to be here to discuss that herself"
"We're talking about criticism of a resident's group", my barrister cuts in, "What we have here is a very sinister, a very Orwellian situation where people are prosecuted for free speech."
"OK", she says, "he's not allowed to write anything insulting or intimidating about her."
"Insulting your Worship? If I want to write an article about a football manager and I say disparaging things about him should I be prosecuted?"
"OK", nothing intimidating"
"But that's illegal. He's not allowed to do that anyway."
"Nonetheless, we often stipulate illegal acts as bail conditions"
"OK, now this business about not having direct or indirect contact with her. Is he not allowed to attend Residents' meetings?"
"He can attend, but have no contact with her"
"What if she's on a panel your worship? And he wishes to attend Police Liason Committee meetings."
"OK, he can have no contact with her other than through the medium of public meetings."
"This business about Agincourt Street Your Worship; he should be allowed to walk anywhere he wants"
She looks at Stevie Kingsman, he's very uncomfortable.
"Well, ah, there was an incident in Agincourt Street Your Worship"
He means the attempt on my life. He's trying to incriminate me. She cuts him off.
"In terms of this case Constable?"
He fumbles, struggling for words.
"Your Worship", my barrister intercedes.
"OK. He's barred from her property"

City Church have been informed of the new bail conditions. They have big questions to ask themselves. Should they side with a fake residents' group against the community? What moral right do they have to impose their prejudices on other people's pain? Does someone have to die before they reset their moral compass? I, for one, live in fear for my life. It's decision time. They can't pretend to have acted impartially. If they beleive they have, this should help them think.
"To remain neutral in the face of injustice is to side with the oppressor."
The words of Archbishop and Nobel Laureate Desmond Tutu

Where have all the hardworking students gone?

I emailed this to the editor of the Irish News today. Do you think he'll print it?

Where have all the hardworking students gone?

They had no classes this week, but they were still up in the Holylands. What for? To study? If so they must be able to drink and study at the same time. Ah, the resilience of youth!! A simpler explanation is that they were not studying, but drinking non-stop. Ah, the resilience of youth!!

The Irish news recently published a letter by a “Holyland Resident” speaking up for the

“Poor students in their cramped hovels, struggling to work and study and make ends meet. No cosy Housing Executive or Housing Association homes for them!!”

The reply to that is a simple statistic; 50% of Queens undergraduates don't go to class. The streets are crammed out with new cars bought by wealthy parents for pampered offspring. What a waste of taxpayers' money! You, the public, are paying for these people to come up here and abuse education. Working class people are turned away from Queens. Their places are taken by these fools.

Over Halloween the streets were filled with drunks. The Police stood around, their eyes wide, their impotence made clear by feeble attempts to corral the “students” back into their comfy houses, refurbished by you, the taxpayer, to the tune of £24,000 to £36,000 per property.

One of us (Joanne) experienced the kindness and good character of our future "Doctors, politicians, accountants and taxpayers" in the form of projectiles through her front window and abusive grafitti daubed on her yard door. On one occasion a "student" pushed past her after entering her home and climbed into her child's bed. The police, predictably, are not pursuing charges.

We've had a week of mayhem culminating in an endless night of drunken chaos.

Where have all the hardworking students gone? They're not to be found in the Holylands.

Holyland Residents

"Sure it's only one day"

In the wake of the Halloween Debacle the cops said to one resident,
"Sure it's only one day"
Well, no it's not. It's the entire duration of the Academic year. Yes , some days, or for that matter weeks are more unbearable than others, but we arecdeprived of peace the whole time that these people are here.
As if to make the point, the other night, only one day after Halloween, the middle of Carmel St was barricaded with furniture, bins and rubbish. About 50 "students" were in attendance with no fear, no cops, no wardens, just mob rule.
If you ask the cops could they live with this, they have no answer. We no longer expect them to protect us.After all, they treat us as if we're the problem.
"If only those whining residents would shut the fuck up, or at least stop fighting back. All our overwelming force and they still do damage. We can't get evidence. We can't construct a case except to prosecute that guy with the website, the one that calls us the keystone cops.