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THE TROUBLES LEFT All that remains of the Top Hat Ballroom, Lisburn, after an IRA bomb attack
people were said to have voted yes and 1,016 voted no.
Friday 16th June 1972 Detainees released Fifteen more detainees have been released on the orders of Secretary of State, Mr William Whitelaw. The news of their release was given by a spokesman at Stormont Castle. The spokesman gave the number of detainees freed to date by Mr Whitelaw as being 553. Three hundred and eighty seven men are still being held at the camp. Friday 16th June 1972 IRA won’t be invited to peace conference The IRA will not be represented when Mr Whitelaw convenes the round table conference aimed at finding a new political settlement in the North. There is no official indication as to what groups will be invited to the conference although the feeling is that it is bound to extend beyond just elected representatives. But it has been made clear by Unionists that if the Provisional or Official IRA are asked to attend then the talks would not get off the ground.
Friday 16th June 1972 Belfast riots Rioting has broken out in Andersonstown at the corner of Rossnareen Avenue and Shaws Road. Around 200 youths set a car on fire and threw stones and petrol bombs at troops. Rubber bullets were fired by troops. Friday 16th June 1972 Helicopter finds bomb In Carrickmore a helicopter patrol of the 16/5th Lancer found 60lbs of explosives and three pipe bombs. Fifty pounds of explosives were also found in the boot of a car at Aughnacreggan. Friday 16th June 1972 Bogside poll A spokesman for a group of seven primary school teachers in the Bogside described the Provisional IRA’s peace referendum as a con trick and said that the election was a flop. The voting statistics were out of an electorate of 15,000, just over 9,000 took part. There were 366 spoiled ballot papers. 7,750
Friday 16th June 1972 PR will be opposed A member of the Vanguard executive, James Rodgers has said that his movement will oppose the introduction of proportional representation. Speaking in Ballymena, he said that only a clear cut statement from the Westminster Government that Stormont would return after a year would satisfy the needs of the loyalist people of Northern Ireland. Friday 16th June 1972 Belfast riots The parents of the late Joseph Campbell, (16) of Havana Street, Belfast, have denied a report that their son was an intelligence officer in Fianna Eireann. He was one of the victims of shooting incidents in the Ardoyne area on Sunday night. Friday 16th June 1972 IRA deny obstructing funerals The Provisional IRA in Derry have rejected that they have been placing restrictions on funeral processions and graveside ceremonies at the City Cemetery in the no-go area. They were responding to a letter printed in a local paper which said that the IRA was dictating the time of burials, restricting the number of cars to two, plus the hearse which would be stopped and searched and that future visits to the graves would be limited to ten minutes providing