BELFAST, Northern Ireland – Young people set fire to a hijacked bus and hurled petrol bombs at police in Belfast on at least the fourth night of serious violence in a week in Northern Ireland, where Britain’s exit from the European Union ‘ disrupted an awkward political balance. .
People also lobbed bricks, fireworks and petrol bombs in both directions on Wednesday night over a concrete ‘peace wall’ separating Protestant, British loyalist and Catholic, Irish nationalist neighborhoods.
The Northern Ireland Police Assistant Chief Constable Jonathan Roberts said hundreds of people had gathered on both sides of a gate in the wall, where ‘crowds had committed serious criminal offenses, and the police were attacking and attacking each other.
He said a total of 55 police officers were injured over several nights of disorderly conduct.
The recent violence, mainly in loyalist, Protestant areas, has flared up amid growing tensions over trade rules to Northern Ireland after Brexit and the worsening of relations between the parties in the Belfast government with power-sharing. Britain’s economic split from the EU last year upset the political balance in Northern Ireland, where some people identify themselves as British and want to remain part of the UK, while others see themselves as Irish and seek unity with the neighboring Republic of Ireland. , who is an EU member.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has condemned the unrest, and the Northern Ireland government in Belfast held an emergency meeting on Thursday on the violence.
Johnson called for calm, saying “the way to resolve differences is through dialogue, not through violence or crime.” Northern Ireland Prime Minister Arlene Foster of the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party and Deputy Prime Minister Michelle O’Neill of the Irish Nationalist Party Sinn Fein condemned both the disorder and the attacks on the police.
The latest unrest followed unrest during the long weekend of Easter in pro-British trade union areas in and around Belfast and Londonderry, also known as Derry, in which cars were set on fire and projectiles and petrol bombs were hurled at police officers.
Authorities accuse banned paramilitary groups of inciting young people to wreak havoc.
“We have seen young people engage in serious disorder and commit serious criminal offenses, and they have been supported and encouraged, and the actions have been organized by adults at certain times,” said Roberts, the senior police officer.
A new trade agreement between the UK and the EU has imposed customs and border controls on some goods moving between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. The arrangement was designed to avoid controls between Northern Ireland and Ireland because an open Irish border supported the peace process. on the Good Friday Agreement of 1998.
This agreement ended decades of violence involving Irish Republicans, British loyalists and British armed forces, in which more than 3,000 people died. But union members say the new checks come down to a new border in the Irish Sea between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. They fear it could undermine the place in the UK and strengthen ties with the Republic of Ireland, which would strengthen calls for a united Ireland. .
Download the NBC News app for recent news and politics
Both Britain and the EU have expressed concern about how the agreement works, and the Democratic Unionist Party, which heads the Government of Northern Ireland, has called for it to be scrapped.
Katy Hayward, a professor at Queen’s University in Belfast and senior fellow of the United Kingdom in a mindset in changing Europe, said union members felt that ‘the union is very much threatened, that Northern Ireland’s place is threatened in the union and that they feel betrayed by London. ‘
Trade unions are also angry at a police decision not to prosecute Sinn Fein politicians who attended the funeral of a former Irish Republican army commander in June. Bobby Storey’s funeral drew a large crowd, despite the rules of the coronavirus banning mass gatherings.
The main trade union parties have demanded the resignation of the Northern Ireland Police Chief over the controversy, claiming that he has lost the trust of their community.
“You have a very vibrant political atmosphere in which those who try to demand calm and self-control are undermined,” Hayward said.