BRITISII TROOPS ACCUSED OF BIAS

Catholic anger over arms search tactics
BY A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
RELATIONS between the Catholics of Belfast and the British Army, hitherto. marked by confidence and goodwill, have now degenerated into deep distrast. The breakdown came after troops had flushed out a cache of arms in the Catholic Falls Road area.
Catholics were angered at what they saw as a partisan move against Catholics only, when it is known that arms are cached on the Protestant side as well.
The Northern Ireland police, on the other hand, believe that the new outbreak of violence, beginning with the jailing of Bernadette Devlin, has been stirred up on the Catholic side by the Irish. Republican Army.
After his clandestine visit to the North on Monday, Dr. Patrick Hillery, Minister for External Affairs in the Irish Republic. reported that the British Army was no longer
regarded as a friend and protector.
This state of affairs had built up over the weekend when Catholics in the affected sector complained that some of the troops had looted and pillaged their homes. On Sunday. Mr. Gerry Fitt, M.P. (Republican Labour, Belfast West), declared that he had "a book full of claims against the army made by people of the Lower Falls area."
Lord Balniel. Minister of State for Defence, has pKomised a full investigation of specific allegations. Many of them seem to have come from third partics acting on hearsay, according to Brigadier Bayley. Army Deputy Chief of Staff. who said on Monday that only one official complaint had been received.
The Belfast Central Citizens' Defence Committee claims to have received 112 complaints. and deplores "the unnecessary suffering inflicted on thousands or innocent people and the inhumane conduct of individual soldiers."
Mt-. Lynch 's appeal
Dr. Hillery's undercover visit to Falls Road is regarded by Ulster Unionists as an unwarranted intrusion quite out of keeping with repeated appeals by Mr. Lynch, the Irish Prime Minister, that nothing should he done from the south to heighten tension in the north.
Mr. Lynch. however, defended the initiative as being specifically.. designed to reduce tension. although in London Sir Alec Douglas Home. the Foreign Secretary, described Dr. Hillery's tInii ssion to give the British Government prior notice of his intended visit as "a serious diplomatic discourtesy."
The visit. moreover, followed a Government statement in Dublin on Sunday to the effect that partition was the root of all the trouble. and that the Irish Republican Government was committed to the reunification of Ireland and the safety of all Irish people.
The sla lenient accused the British Army of unilaterally disarming "one section of the. Belfast people----the Catholic minority in the Falls area.
"This." the statement continued. "inevitably causes fear among people which can only be allayed by the absolute guarantee of their protection and the equally effective disarming of all others who hold arms illegally."
Rioting youths
It was on Friday last that youths in the Falls Road sector moved in by hundreds, waving steel bars and clubs, to attack the troops as they sealed the area off with barricades before the search for concealed arms.
The troops responded with waves of nausea gas. and rioters protected themselves with handkerchiefs soaked in vinegar brought to the doorsteps by housewives. Priests tried ineffectively to restrain the youths as heavy explosions brought in more armoured cars.
As senior Scotland Yard detectives arrived in Belfast to conduct an investigation into gun-running, the army search uncovered over 100 automatic guns and pistols, 15,000 rounds of ammunition, and more than 100 bombs. Meanwhile. troops were being attacked with grenades, and a number of soldiers were injured.
By midnight the sector was under curfew. with orders to the army to arrest on sight anyone trying to break it. Throughout the night the troops had to fight their way from street to street under heavy fire from snipers. and searchlights played on the rooftops to drive the hidden gunmen into cover.
Troops were 'ordered not to fire except to defend their lives when they came up against armed militants. This was a battle between the army and the Catholics, while the Protestants gleefully stood back.
'Search justified' in a statement on Saturday, Major Chichester-Clark, the Northern Ireland Premier, said the army's discoveries had fully justified the search. He added: "We all regret this action, especially the decent people in this area who constitute the great majority, but we are determined to rid them and Northern Ireland as a whole of the terrorists in their midst."
By Sunday morning. the situation had quietened down a shade. Troops allowed women from outside the barricaded area to move in with groceries and milk for the families behind the barricades.
At the end of the weekend, five Catholics had died, 100 civilians and 15 soldiers had been injured. and Mr. Austin Currie, a popular Catholic M.P. at Stormont, was predicting civil war this summer. And on Wednesday came the ominous news that Protestant Orange leaders were going ahead with plans for the July 13 parades. rejecting an official British request to call them off to "avoid possible bloodshed."
Editorial contment—P.4.