STRINGENT SECURITY
STRINGENT SECURITY
CLINTON VISIT PRECEEDED BY MASSIVE SECRET SERVICE OPERATION
BY: JOHN McCUSKER
AN unprecedented security operation has been mounted locally within the past week, prior to today's visit to Omagh of US President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary.
Accompanying Mr Clinton on the three-hour stopover will be Prime Minister, Tony Blair and his wife Cherie, together with a number of senior While House advisors.
During his visit to the town this afternoon, the President will meet relatives of the 28 killed in last month's bombing in Market Street, as well as dozens of those injured in the blast.
Later in the day he will greet members of the emergency services, representatives of the business and schoolchildren during a walkabout in the town centre.
Access to the town itself will be severely restricted throughout the day and special traffic arrangements will be put in place.
Police and US Secret Service personnel will throw a cordon around the town and pedestrian access will be restricted to a number of designated vantage areas.
The RUC say there is likely to be severe traffic disruptions in Omagh town centre throughout most of today's visit, with diversions in operation and alternative routes signposted.
A police spokesperson said delays will be kept to a minimum, but drivers should allow extra time for their journeys.
A special traffic helpline will be operated by Omagh police from 9am until 5pm and anyone requiring information should ring 01662-246177.
Town centre keyholders have also been advised that the area will be cordoned off from 6am this morning and all vehicles prohibited for entering.
Earlier in the week, manhole covers and other underground access points in the town centre were sealed in an exercise involving members of a special task force.
Litter bins have also been removed from their holdings as part of an extensive security operation involving hundreds of police and troops.
Mr Clinton and his entourage are expected to fly into Lisanelly army camp just before 4 pm from where they will travel to the Leisure Complex on the Old Mountfield Road.
Relatives of those who died in the bombing together with those injured in the blast will meet the Mr Clinton and his wife at what promises to be a very moving ceremony.
From there, the Presidential motorcade will make its way to the site of the bomb at Market Street where the President and First Lady will unveil a plaque in memory of those who died.
Mr Clinton will then make his way into the town centre where he will meet representatives from a large cross-section of the community, including members of the emergency services and representatives of the business community.
Also among the 1,500 people gathered in High Street, will be community and voluntary workers from the area and a number of children from local schools.
Before leaving Omagh, the President will lay a wreath outside Watterson's drapers, where three of those who died in the bombing worked.
Mr Clinton and his wife will leave the town later in the day to attend a 'Gathering for peace' in Armagh City where they will meet the North's First Minister and his deputy.
Through Thursday services at Omagh Health Centre will be severely disrupted.
Chairman of Omagh GPs Association, Dr Irfran Hassan warned that Centre would be closed on Thursday with all routine appointments and treatment cancelled.
"An emergency service will operate for medical emergencies and can be contacted by telephoning 01662-243521.
"Normal surgeries will resume on Friday morning" added Dr Hassan.
Bus services into and out of Omagh will also be affected throughout the day and members of the public have been advised to check timetables prior to setting out on their journey.
Manager of the town's bus depot, Paddy McGowan said services will operate as normal up until 9am on Thursday morning.
Schoolchildren will not be accepted on buses travelling into town that morning.
Local services will also cease operating from nine o'clock on Thursday morning.
All Express services after 9am to Derry, Belfast and Dublin will operate from the Tamlaght Road bus garage and travel via the town's throughpass.
"Our enquiry desks at 01662-242711 will be manned throughout the day for anyone requiring information.
"We apologise to customers for any inconvenience this may cause" added Mr McGowan.
Welcoming today's White House delegation, the chairman of Omagh Traders' Association, Roy Allen said that the President's visit was an honour, albeit in sad circumstances.
"We would send out a public welcome and our thanks to the President for coming to out town" he said.
Although the town will close for another day after great efforts to restore normality, Mr Allen thought that the President's visit would help local people make a stronger case in the fight to save the Tyrone County Hospital and to rebuild the town.
He said the visit would send out a positive message and the Traders' Association would extend its thanks and gratitude.
Concluding, he remarked that the visit could bring positive benefits which would help in the betterment of the town and our society as a whole.
Democratic Left spokesperson, Paddy Joe McClean said the Presidential visit should be viewed as a unique opportunity of having the people's sorrow shared and acknowledged world-wide.
But he also warned that many political representatives, including himself, had some reservations about several aspects of the forthcoming trip.
"The people of Omagh, the families of the dead and the injured will, in their own dignified way, welcome the President of the United States to Omagh.
"President Clinton's visit to Ireland, or to Omagh, will not, of itself, solve our problems - only we can do that.
"But, taken in conjunction with other positive developments, it will leave those who planted the bomb in no doubt of the feelings of revulsion of decent people to their deliberate terror tactic of bombing innocent people.
"By their quiet dignity in the face of the worst atrocity perpetrated against them, the people of Omagh and surrounding districts have won the sympathy and admiration of a watching world" added Mr McClean.
However, the visit has come in for scathing criticism from members of the area's Socialist Party.
The group's spokesman for West Tyrone, Anton McCabe said the people of Omagh should be grateful for whatever sympathy they were offered, but his party had "serious reservations" about this week's trip.
"We do, however, criticise the record of Clinton and of previous US administrations.
"Last week, Clinton ordered the bombing of the Sudan and Afghanistan. The tears of the relatives in those countries are just as bitter as the tears of the relatives in Omagh. They also deserve our sympathy.
"An injustice was just as much an injustice when inflicted on the people of the Third World, as it was in Omagh" he added.
CLINTON VISIT PRECEEDED BY MASSIVE SECRET SERVICE OPERATION
BY: JOHN McCUSKER
AN unprecedented security operation has been mounted locally within the past week, prior to today's visit to Omagh of US President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary.
Accompanying Mr Clinton on the three-hour stopover will be Prime Minister, Tony Blair and his wife Cherie, together with a number of senior While House advisors.
During his visit to the town this afternoon, the President will meet relatives of the 28 killed in last month's bombing in Market Street, as well as dozens of those injured in the blast.
Later in the day he will greet members of the emergency services, representatives of the business and schoolchildren during a walkabout in the town centre.
Access to the town itself will be severely restricted throughout the day and special traffic arrangements will be put in place.
Police and US Secret Service personnel will throw a cordon around the town and pedestrian access will be restricted to a number of designated vantage areas.
The RUC say there is likely to be severe traffic disruptions in Omagh town centre throughout most of today's visit, with diversions in operation and alternative routes signposted.
A police spokesperson said delays will be kept to a minimum, but drivers should allow extra time for their journeys.
A special traffic helpline will be operated by Omagh police from 9am until 5pm and anyone requiring information should ring 01662-246177.
Town centre keyholders have also been advised that the area will be cordoned off from 6am this morning and all vehicles prohibited for entering.
Earlier in the week, manhole covers and other underground access points in the town centre were sealed in an exercise involving members of a special task force.
Litter bins have also been removed from their holdings as part of an extensive security operation involving hundreds of police and troops.
Mr Clinton and his entourage are expected to fly into Lisanelly army camp just before 4 pm from where they will travel to the Leisure Complex on the Old Mountfield Road.
Relatives of those who died in the bombing together with those injured in the blast will meet the Mr Clinton and his wife at what promises to be a very moving ceremony.
From there, the Presidential motorcade will make its way to the site of the bomb at Market Street where the President and First Lady will unveil a plaque in memory of those who died.
Mr Clinton will then make his way into the town centre where he will meet representatives from a large cross-section of the community, including members of the emergency services and representatives of the business community.
Also among the 1,500 people gathered in High Street, will be community and voluntary workers from the area and a number of children from local schools.
Before leaving Omagh, the President will lay a wreath outside Watterson's drapers, where three of those who died in the bombing worked.
Mr Clinton and his wife will leave the town later in the day to attend a 'Gathering for peace' in Armagh City where they will meet the North's First Minister and his deputy.
Through Thursday services at Omagh Health Centre will be severely disrupted.
Chairman of Omagh GPs Association, Dr Irfran Hassan warned that Centre would be closed on Thursday with all routine appointments and treatment cancelled.
"An emergency service will operate for medical emergencies and can be contacted by telephoning 01662-243521.
"Normal surgeries will resume on Friday morning" added Dr Hassan.
Bus services into and out of Omagh will also be affected throughout the day and members of the public have been advised to check timetables prior to setting out on their journey.
Manager of the town's bus depot, Paddy McGowan said services will operate as normal up until 9am on Thursday morning.
Schoolchildren will not be accepted on buses travelling into town that morning.
Local services will also cease operating from nine o'clock on Thursday morning.
All Express services after 9am to Derry, Belfast and Dublin will operate from the Tamlaght Road bus garage and travel via the town's throughpass.
"Our enquiry desks at 01662-242711 will be manned throughout the day for anyone requiring information.
"We apologise to customers for any inconvenience this may cause" added Mr McGowan.
Welcoming today's White House delegation, the chairman of Omagh Traders' Association, Roy Allen said that the President's visit was an honour, albeit in sad circumstances.
"We would send out a public welcome and our thanks to the President for coming to out town" he said.
Although the town will close for another day after great efforts to restore normality, Mr Allen thought that the President's visit would help local people make a stronger case in the fight to save the Tyrone County Hospital and to rebuild the town.
He said the visit would send out a positive message and the Traders' Association would extend its thanks and gratitude.
Concluding, he remarked that the visit could bring positive benefits which would help in the betterment of the town and our society as a whole.
Democratic Left spokesperson, Paddy Joe McClean said the Presidential visit should be viewed as a unique opportunity of having the people's sorrow shared and acknowledged world-wide.
But he also warned that many political representatives, including himself, had some reservations about several aspects of the forthcoming trip.
"The people of Omagh, the families of the dead and the injured will, in their own dignified way, welcome the President of the United States to Omagh.
"President Clinton's visit to Ireland, or to Omagh, will not, of itself, solve our problems - only we can do that.
"But, taken in conjunction with other positive developments, it will leave those who planted the bomb in no doubt of the feelings of revulsion of decent people to their deliberate terror tactic of bombing innocent people.
"By their quiet dignity in the face of the worst atrocity perpetrated against them, the people of Omagh and surrounding districts have won the sympathy and admiration of a watching world" added Mr McClean.
However, the visit has come in for scathing criticism from members of the area's Socialist Party.
The group's spokesman for West Tyrone, Anton McCabe said the people of Omagh should be grateful for whatever sympathy they were offered, but his party had "serious reservations" about this week's trip.
"We do, however, criticise the record of Clinton and of previous US administrations.
"Last week, Clinton ordered the bombing of the Sudan and Afghanistan. The tears of the relatives in those countries are just as bitter as the tears of the relatives in Omagh. They also deserve our sympathy.
"An injustice was just as much an injustice when inflicted on the people of the Third World, as it was in Omagh" he added.
Further Information
Publisher: ULSTER HERALD
Ref: UH/0257
Published Date: 03-Sep-98
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