Republican Bigots burn Community Orange Hall
Members of an Orange hall destroyed in an arson attack at Loughgall over the weekend will not be daunted, their leader said yesterday.
The hall was gutted in the blaze in the early yesterday morning.
Fire crews were unable to save the building at Causnagh Road.
Worshipful Master William Anderson dismissed the incident as a cowardly attack and said Orangeism would "continue to thrive," in the area.
"The Orange hall is not only used by the Orange Lodge but by other organisations, too," he said.
"We cannot understand why our hall has been attacked. It is situated in an area with good community relations and those who carried out this attack have no support within their own community." Calling on community representatives to come forward and condemn the attack. Mr Anderson said fear would not set the agenda in the area.
"If those who carried out the attack think that they have in some way stopped the Orange Lodge from functioning then they are far from the truth. These sorts of attacks are nothing new and the Orange Lodge have had and continue to suffer in silence.
"The brethren of LOL 98 would remind effective community leaders and politicians to communicate to their supporters that such attacks serve no purpose'. 
Though the buildings were important, Mr Anderson said the true spirit of the Order was based on the Christian faith and was something that no act of terrorism could defeat.
"Put simply, these people have had their five minutes of headlines and now we will return to the rebuilding of our hall. "Whilst obviously very annoyed about such a cowardly attack, we have already received tremendous support and are looking forward to the challenge".
Ulster Unionist MLA Danny Kennedy also condemned the attack, saying that it had been carried out by "mindless bigots" with nothing to offer anyone in society. "This area has good community relations and there have never been any substantial attacks on the hall before and then all of a sudden we have this cowardly attack which has destroyed it.
"Everyone is obviously shocked by what has happened, but, by talking to the members of the lodge, I can already sense the enthusiasm and real desire to rebuild this hall and serve the local community again,".
He added: "In an ironic way, this action will help the Orange Order in this area in the long-term."
Click on related links below
Orange hall attacked with digger
Click here for photograph of burnt community Orange Hall
Moree Orange Lodge 195 website detailing republican attacks
Click here to see the damage done to the Banner
Orange Hall broken into and Memorial smashed
