ANTHONY MCINTYRE OF the Irish Republican Writers Group (IRWG) was physically attacked and injured on the morning of Wednesday, February 7, 2001 by one of the leading participants in recent Sinn Fein-led pickets on his home.
McIntyre, who spent eighteen years in prison for fighting the British, was leaving his house to walk to the corner shop for milk and a newspaper when a car pulled up and its occupant attacked and physically assaulted him. Before being restrained by witnesses, the assailant threatened Anthony McIntyre by saying “I’ll put one in your head.”
The IRWG condemned the attack, stating that it resulted from an “orchestrated climate of intimidation that has been created.”
Anthony McIntyre’s partner, Carrie Twomey, wrote in the Irish News of January 26, 2001 regarding previous harassment:
“Being put out of my home for 33 days, and spending four days in hospital due to the stress on my pregnancy, was hard to bear.
“Even though we are back in our house now, I still live with fear and tension. I am afraid to walk in certain areas of my neighbourhood. I do not like to leave the house anymore. I am afraid when my partner leaves the house ...
“In many ways, the intimidation we have experienced at the hands of neighbours has made our lives unbearable. I only hope by the time my child is born things will have changed for the better.”
ATC 91, March–April 2001