So much of it was unsupported claims, it began to sound like a court case in Bogota. Did some people really hang a tricolour from their balcony? Were Sandy Row residents really pelted with golf balls? Did republicanism really have spies living in Whitehall Square, and if so, wasn't firing golf balls a bit of a give-away?
So many questions, so few answers. However, one thing it's safe to say: few of the 500 people who took part in last week's march around the apartment building will ever be in a position to buy one of its £120,000-plus apartments.
I'll come back to that in a minute.
Meanwhile, note the gutless performances of Messrs Stoker and McGimpsey in this matter.
Former mayor Bob spoke darkly of balls and flags and how every story has two sides. Former culture minister Michael said he thought the drum-thumping parade had been mild and restrained and no, he hadn't seen the Catholics-out leaflet so he couldn't comment.
Well now. My guess is there must be a republican spy, not in the Whitehall Square apartment building but in the public relations ranks of unionism/loyalism.
How else to explain yet another PR disaster? For loyalism, this looks dangerously like Holy Cross revisited.
Like at Holy Cross school, local residents have marshalled their forces to display true-blue, unashamed, 24-carat sectarianism – get them Catholics/nationalists/ republicans out of here.
And like Holy Cross again, you have unionist politicians making bleating noises about provocation. With one notable exception – Dr Esmond Birnie. With a rare display of UUP backbone, Birnie came out and denounced what had happened, no ifs, buts or dodging for a both-sides-of-the-story line. This, he said, was sectarianism, and this stank. Well done Esmond.
Of course it's doubtful if his denunciation will make much difference. Some Catholics have left the apartment building already, and more, it's a safe bet, will follow. Whitehall Square will be taig-free, Sandy Row will once more be Sandy Row. Game, set and match to loyalism – right?
Not quite. Because those who beat drums last week and carried banners saying 'Sandy Row is Sandy Row', were shooting at the wrong target.
As they see it, the threat to their culture/way of life comes from nationalists/republicans lurking in the depth of the building.
Sorry, chaps – it's worse than that. Consider for a moment the way politicians, when they want to emphasise how much better things are, point to the regeneration of Belfast. Look at the Waterfront Hall, they say, the new Court buildings, the gleaming office blocks, the elegant apartment buildings along the water's edge. Doesn't that shout the good news of regeneration? Doesn't it show you how much life here has changed in the past ten years?
Isn't peace better than war?
Yes, but not everyone got an invitation to the post-war regeneration party.
The Ireland of equals may be coming but it's not here yet.
The people of the Markets don't buy apartments for their children in the adjacent apartment blocks.
The people of the Falls don't take black taxis to well-paid work in the office blocks looking out on the Lagan. The people of the Shankill don't attend concerts in the Waterfront Hall followed by a bite of supper at the Hilton Hotel.
So the instincts of the people of Sandy Row that Whitehall Square represents a threat to their culture and way of life are sound but not because Whitehall Square is full of subversive Catholics. What Whitehall Square is full of is money.
With the demand for up-market housing near Belfast city centre, traditional working-class areas are being squeezed out of existence. Young professionals or professionals-to-be like the idea of living close to the night-life action and they're prepared to pay for it. Yuppification is on the march.
And this is one enemy the people of Sandy Row will find they can't resist. Their parade around Whitehall Square has put the fear of God into the Catholics resident there. Unfortunately for the drum-thumpers, Catholics aren't the problem.
Sooner or later, and probably sooner, the forces interested in turning this working-class area into a desirable middle-class area will overcome.
If developers decide that apartment blocks should replace terraced streets near Belfast city centre, then that's what's going to happen.
You may be loyal to your close-knit community but when somebody rustles three times the price of your house under your nose, your community spirit tends to wilt.
Sandy Row may be where the fenians never go, but that hardly matters any more.
The developers are coming.
