Word: belfasters
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...unprecedented protests from the McGinleys and McCartneys have tipped Sinn Fein into what Irish historian Eamon Phoenix calls its "greatest crisis since the Irish Civil War in 1922." Party leaders were already under pressure to distance themselves from the I.R.A. after a $50 million robbery at a Belfast bank in December, which the British and Irish governments blamed on the terrorist organization. Dublin, which usually plays "good cop" to London's "bad cop" in negotiations with Sinn Fein, reacted with fury. The bank raid also raised questions about republican intentions toward the peace process, which, though stalled, is still supported...
...real test for Sinn Fein comes at this week's by-election in the Irish Republic and in Northern Ireland in early May, when local council elections - and possibly the U.K. general election - will be held. Paula McCartney, 40, one of Robert's five sisters, is considering running for Belfast City Council. She says she favors the moderate nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party, Sinn Fein's rival for Northern Ireland's Catholic vote. Her appearance on the ballot could upset Sinn Fein's shaky hold on a seat it won in her neighborhood, Short Strand, in the last election...
...McCartneys have shown similar courage, organizing a rally attended by 1,000 people and lobbying politicians from Belfast to Washington. Sean Brady, the Catholic primate of Ireland, said their bravery "rendered transparent and weak the efforts of others to bully, frighten and control whole communities for their own selfish or political ends." Now the McCartneys hope others will speak out, too. Some witnesses have come forward, Paula McCartney says, but they have denied seeing the actual attack. "Seventy-two people could not have all been in the toilets," she says...
MEANWHILE IN BRITAIN... Cold, Cold Art There have been many attempts to promote peace in Northern Ireland, but artist Rita Duffy'seffort is unique. Duffy plans to tow an iceberg from Norway to Belfast, the city where the ill-fated Titanic was built and from which it set off on its fatal maiden voyage in 1912. Duffy said she hoped the iceberg would be "a symbol of hope" for the province's divided community. Alas, like so many peace agreements before it, the work is bound to melt down...
...taking things so literally. But the raids in Cork and Dublin yielded dirty money - millions of British pounds stashed in compost bins - and wads of euros stuffed into a box of detergent. Authorities suspect that the recovered cash may be connected to the theft of $50 million from a Belfast bank in December - a robbery that officials blamed on the I.R.A., and that helped to kill the latest round of peace talks. $95,000 of that stolen cash has turned up - inside a police sports club in Belfast. Red-faced police there said the cash had been planted...