UPPER Bann MLA Dolores Kelly was shaken but determined after she and her car were attacked by stone-throwing yobs on Tuesday night following her condemnation of the trouble at Brownlow earlier in the day.
In a series of media interviews, Mrs Kelly slammed the hijacking of cars and the gunshots aimed at police officer who moved in to curb the incidents.
An SDLP representative on the NI Policing Board, Mrs Kelly said, "The Brownlow incidents are obvi
ously the work of dissident republicans who are hell-bent on luring police officers to the scene and then trying to take lives.
"They have nothing to offer the community only further bloodshed and terror. They are backward-looking while the rest of the community is trying to move forward into a brighter future."
Just after 6pm on Tuesday, Mrs Kelly was called by the PSNI and the Parish Priest to an incident in Victoria Street, Lurgan, where 30 gravestone had been vandalised in the old cemetery.
boulders
"After I had spoken to the priest and was on my way back to the car, we noticed a number of youths, some wearing balaclavas," she said. "As I approached the car, they hurled boulders in my direction. One smashed through the back window of the car and another hit me on the ankle.
"I was badly shaken, but I will continue to seek justice. That morning, I had an interview with the son of Portadown woman Elizabeth O'Neill who was murdered in June 1999 when a pipebomb was hurled through her window at Corcrain. We were seeking more intensive inquiries into her death.
"I am certain the Lurgan incident was the consequence of my media interview over the Brownlow attack, but I will not be diverted from my duty as an MLA and member of the Policing Board."
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