Editing Red Hand Defenders (section)

{{Short description|Loyalist paramilitary organisation in Northern Ireland}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2024}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2013}}
{{Infobox militant organization
| name             = Red Hand Defenders
| leader           = Unknown
| dates            = September 1998 onwards (current status unknown)
| area             = [[Northern Ireland]]
| ideology         = [[Ulster loyalism]]
| status           = 
}}

The '''Red Hand Defenders''' ('''RHD''') is an [[Ulster loyalism#Paramilitary and vigilante groups|Ulster loyalist paramilitary]] group in [[Northern Ireland]]. It was formed in 1998 by loyalists who opposed the [[Belfast Agreement]] and the loyalist [[ceasefire]]s.<ref name=cainorg>[http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/organ/rorgan.htm Red Hand Defenders] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101206180554/http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/organ/rorgan.htm |date=6 December 2010 }}, [[Conflict Archive on the Internet]] (CAIN)</ref> Its members were drawn mostly from the [[Ulster Defence Association]] (UDA) and [[Loyalist Volunteer Force]] (LVF).<ref name=cainorg/> The name had first been used by [[Red Hand Commandos]] dissident [[Frankie Curry]] in 1996 and he was the leading figure in what was a somewhat unstructured organization until he was killed in 1999.<ref>Henry McDonald & Jim Cusack, ''UDA – Inside the Heart of Loyalist Terror'', Dublin: Penguin Ireland, 2004, pp. 307-308</ref> It is named after the [[Red Hand of Ulster]].<ref name="start.umd.edu">{{cite web|url=http://www.start.umd.edu/start/data_collections/tops/terrorist_organization_profile.asp?id=93|title=Terrorist Organization Profiles – START – National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism|access-date=30 January 2015|archive-date=21 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131221130220/http://start.umd.edu/start/data_collections/tops/terrorist_organization_profile.asp?id=93|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The RHD emerged when it claimed responsibility for a blast bomb attack on 7 September 1998 during a loyalist protest in [[Portadown]]. Loyalists had been protesting against the decision to ban the [[Orange Order]] from marching through the town's mainly Catholic and [[Irish nationalist]] quarter (see [[Drumcree conflict]]). The attack killed a Catholic [[Royal Ulster Constabulary]] (RUC) officer.<ref name=cainorg/> Since then, the RHD has claimed responsibility for killing a further ten people. It has also claimed responsibility for many [[pipe bomb]] attacks, mostly on the homes of Catholics.<ref name=cainorg/> One of the RHD's most notable attacks was the assassination of human rights lawyer [[Rosemary Nelson]] on 15 March 1999.<ref name=cainorg/> She had represented alleged [[Irish republicanism|Irish republican]] paramilitaries, the family of [[Death of Robert Hamill|Robert Hamill]], and the [[Drumcree conflict#Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition|Garvaghy Road Residents Association]]. Of the eleven people the RHD claimed to have killed, nine were civilians, one was a former UDA member and one was an RUC officer.

The RHD are a Proscribed Organisation in the [[United Kingdom]] under the [[Terrorism Act 2000]].<ref>{{cite act |title=Terrorism Act 2000 |title-link=Terrorism Act 2000 |date=2000-07-20 |orig-section=c. 11, sched. 2 |chapter=Proscribed Organisations |reporter=UK Public General Acts |chapter-url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/11/schedule/2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130121085241/http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/11/schedule/2 |archive-date=2013-01-21 |url-status=live}}</ref>