Ray Wells gives cover while Alan Whitlock and Dave Moreland (right) search a derelict.
Continued
A slender man in his mid-thirties greeted us as we entered the building. He seemed to be a UDA official whose job was to keep on good terms with the army. None of the other drinkers or the barman, a boy aged about 14, spoke to us.
Belfast has many clubs and shops which are not in any way regulated by law. The army allows them to operate but keeps a careful eye on them.
This helps maintain the uneasy peace. A peace won at some cost as the graffiti on a wall in the Catholic Rodney St James are testifies. The slogan: "Five green Jackets filled with lead" refers to an incident which happened in 1972.
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Jonathan Brind