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After the DUP's fascist comments about the GAA and how it should be made to wear 'sackcloth and ashes', we now have a GAA club burnt down.
I'm not saying its connected but their attitude does not help community relations and they are portraying sectarianism as acceptable.
Ofcourse thie fire has the usual apolagist ring to it when the news article claim that 'some' beleieve it was because someone sprayed graffiti on an Orange hall wall somewhere.
I doubt it was the work of the GAA and most likely some random kid, being a kid. (if it's even connected)
It like to know who 'some' is, and why every attack on a GAA club is considered retaliation by the BBC and unionists.
Why call them retaliation when theyre just bigotry, who's to say who was 'retaliating' for attacks on Orange halls or GAA clubs, which came first the chicken or the egg?
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Police suspect arsonists were behind a fire which destroyed a GAA clubhouse in County Down, causing damage put at more than £100,000.
Firefighters were called to St John's clubhouse at Drumnaquoile, near Castlewellan, at about 0700 BST.
Last week, a nearby Orange hall was daubed with sectarian graffiti, and some believe this was a revenge attack.
Police said they could not confirm a sectarian motive at this stage. It is not yet known what started the fire.
The club says the hall was also used as a community centre, and the fire means a programme for people with special needs will be cancelled.
Special needs co-ordinator Seamus Braniff said: "It's just an utter disgrace and they will be absolutely devastated when we tell them."
Jackie McMullan from the club said "hundreds of thousands of pounds worth" of damage had been caused.
She said the fire had also destroyed many items of sentimental value, such as trophies.
"On Sunday we are going to play a junior championship final in Newry so this is a big day coming up. Now we have been set back a bit."
'Appeal for calm'
Sinn Fein assembly member Willie Clarke said: "I would appeal for calm within the nationalist community, particularly among young people who are devastated by this.
He said he would ask them "to think of what happened and not allow it to happen to anyone else".
Condemning the attack, DUP assembly member Jim Wells said he believed it was the latest in a series of similar incidents in the area.
"This gets the community nowhere if we start to get into tit-for-tat vandalism of other people's property," he said.
"If we keep on the way we're going, it will put people's lives in danger and it's got to stop."
The Grand Secretary of the Orange Order, Drew Nelson, said those "behind this attack are only trying to stir up sectarian division in a part of the province where relations between the two communities have been steadily improving over the past number of years".
"An arson attack on any community hall is an attack on the whole community and must be condemned by everyone.
"Anyone with any information about this attack should contact the police immediately."
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Originally Posted by Drico
