BY MICHELE CANNING-SMITH
VIOLENCE hit the streets of Strabane again at the weekend with a stabbing, a beating, an attack on police and a riot in the town centre. The severity of the incidents have prompted local leaders to call for calm whilst police say they are actively monitoring the situation.
Just one week after another man was hospitalised when he sustained a beating, a 26 year-old member of the travelling community was stabbed during a melée on Saturday night. His injuries are not thought to be life-threatening but he had to be hospitalised nonetheless. Police sources have said that, at the time, around 20 members of the travelling community were involved in a row on the bridge in the town.
In an unrelated incident, and as police responded to the stabbing, an officer was struck by a bottle in another area of town. And in the same week, police have appealed for witnesses to an assault in Sion Mills when a young man sustained a broken nose, cheekbone and facial injuries.
Also last weekend, one man was hospitalised after a row at Bridge Street, forcing a member of the public to make an emergency 999 call. Later that night, a crowd of up to 20 people were involved in a battle in the town centre.
This escalating violence on the streets has prompted one councillor to warn that if the situation prevails the town will be tagged with a notoriety for violence.
Ivan Barr is a councillor and resident of the Bridge Street area, home to many older people. Twice in as many weeks, the quiet street has been the centre of running battles.
Councillor Barr said he understood that a member of the travelling community in Strabane had been buried earlier that day and others within the community had congregated for the funeral earlier that day.
But, he said, regardless of which section of the community is involved, a knife was used in this attack and there should be widespread concern.
"Are we return to the situation we had before where rarely a weekend passed without someone being assaulted. At that time it became that senior citizens would not go near the town centre, particularly at night, for fear of being assaulted." He said whilst it is acknowledged that Strabane is a safe place to live that does not make it a place in which it is easy to live with incidents with regular frequency.
"Everyone has good reason to worry. If nothing is done then we could see a situation where there could be an increase in attacks and they could become commonplace. We, the community, need to ensure that this does not occur or we could find very easily that we have slipped into a situation where we are compared with areas notorious for such indents."
Responding to last week's incident when up two separate disturbances broke out on either side of Strabane bridge, one in which 20 people fought in the town centre, the new Area Commander for Strabane said his officers were targeting anti-social behaviour on an ongoing basis.
"Additional resources are employed for that purpose. If we see someone stepping out of line then we will intervene and take whatever pro-active action that needs to be taken," said Chief Inspector Phil Marks.
"We actively monitor what's happening in the town and we police this area both pro-actively and re-actively, trying to second guess what we think might happen.
"We actively plan for times when there will be increased numbers of people on the streets, such as weekends and holiday periods," he concluded.
