The Troubles in Ballymena

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The Troubles in Ballymena recounts incidents during, and the effects of, The Troubles in Ballymena, County Antrim, Northern Ireland.

Incidents in Ballymena during the Troubles resulting in two or more fatalities:

1974

• 24 May 1974 - Sean Byrne (54) and his brother, Brendan Byrne (45), both Catholic civilians, were shot dead by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) at their bar, The Wayside Halt, Tannaghmore, near Ballymena, for staying open during the Ulster Workers' Council Strike. The local UDA agreed on a joint operation with the Ulster Volunteer Force to close Catholic pubs around Ballymena. Thirty men set off in minibuses on a drunken rampage, wrecking three pubs in Ballymena before coming to The Wayside Halt, where the Byrne brothers tried to resist and were both shot dead at point blank range. The minibus convoy was eventually followed by the police and all thirty men detained. Two were subsequently jailed for life.

[edit] References

• NI Conflict Archive on the Internet
• McKittrick, D, Kelters, S, Feeney, B and Thornton, C. Lost Lives. Mainstream Publishing, Edinburgh, 1999, p454 and 455.