Yesterday's Press Release from People Before Profit:
A team of canvassers for the People Before Profit Alliance endured a vicious and disgraceful attack in the Nelson Drive area of the Waterside. The group that included Assembly candidate Eamonn McCann and Waterside Council candidates Davy McAuley and Diane Greer came under a sustained attack from a gang of men hurling broken up paving stones and shouting sectarian abuse. One of their canvassing team sustained a facial injury when he was punched by one of the group. This canvasser is now receiving hospital treatment.
Speaking after the attack Davy McAuley, the Waterside Council candidate, said,
"We have always canvassed every working class area of this City, from the Bogside to Bond Street. The response on the doors today was fantastic, as it always is when we canvas Caw and Nelson Drive. The attackers in no way represent the people of Nelson Drive, many of whom came out to make sure we were OK ."
The canvassing team were badly shaken by the attack, however Mr McAuley believes that an attack such as this proves the need for the kind of politics espoused by People Before Profit;
" We stand neither for Orange or Green, we do not want to see another generation blighted by sectarian bigotry and ghettoised the way previous generations have been. The vicious cuts introduced by the mainstream parties can only be beaten by Protestant and Catholics joining together and fighting against them. The cuts in social provision do not discriminate against one community or the other, unlike the Parties who implement them in Stormont."
Mr McAuley claims that attacks of this nature will not stop People Before Profit canvassing any area of the city and has appealed to community leaders in Nelson Drive to facilitate a meeting with those who attacked them;
"I will happily meet with those who hurled bricks and shouted sectarian abuse at us today, they may be surprised at how much we have in common. I myself am from a Loyalist area, our canvassing team was mixed and diverse. We want the best for Nelson Drive, with better facilities for the young people of the area, we want to see investment in communities and a better future for all."
A team of canvassers for the People Before Profit Alliance endured a vicious and disgraceful attack in the Nelson Drive area of the Waterside. The group that included Assembly candidate Eamonn McCann and Waterside Council candidates Davy McAuley and Diane Greer came under a sustained attack from a gang of men hurling broken up paving stones and shouting sectarian abuse. One of their canvassing team sustained a facial injury when he was punched by one of the group. This canvasser is now receiving hospital treatment.
Speaking after the attack Davy McAuley, the Waterside Council candidate, said,
"We have always canvassed every working class area of this City, from the Bogside to Bond Street. The response on the doors today was fantastic, as it always is when we canvas Caw and Nelson Drive. The attackers in no way represent the people of Nelson Drive, many of whom came out to make sure we were OK ."
The canvassing team were badly shaken by the attack, however Mr McAuley believes that an attack such as this proves the need for the kind of politics espoused by People Before Profit;
" We stand neither for Orange or Green, we do not want to see another generation blighted by sectarian bigotry and ghettoised the way previous generations have been. The vicious cuts introduced by the mainstream parties can only be beaten by Protestant and Catholics joining together and fighting against them. The cuts in social provision do not discriminate against one community or the other, unlike the Parties who implement them in Stormont."
Mr McAuley claims that attacks of this nature will not stop People Before Profit canvassing any area of the city and has appealed to community leaders in Nelson Drive to facilitate a meeting with those who attacked them;
"I will happily meet with those who hurled bricks and shouted sectarian abuse at us today, they may be surprised at how much we have in common. I myself am from a Loyalist area, our canvassing team was mixed and diverse. We want the best for Nelson Drive, with better facilities for the young people of the area, we want to see investment in communities and a better future for all."
