Rioters set fire to a hijacked bus and at least the fourth night of serious violence in a week in Northern Ireland hurled petrol pipes at police in Belfast, where Brexit solved an awkward political balance.
Youths hurled projectiles and petrol bombs at police in the Protestant Shankill Road area on Wednesday night, while rioters looted bricks, fireworks and petrol bombs in both directions over the concrete ‘peace wall’ separating Shankill Road from a neighboring Irish nationalist area.
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.
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Hijacked cars burn on the peace wall on Lanark Way while riots broke out in West Belfast, Northern Ireland, on Wednesday 7 April 2021. Police had roads in the nearby Protestant territory, as crowds of each gap falls each other. (Associated Press)
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has condemned the riots and the Northern Ireland government in Belfast held an emergency meeting on Thursday over the riots.
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 Irish nationalist Sinn Fein condemned both the disorder and the attacks on the police.
The recent violence, largely in pro-British loyalist 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.
Nationalists and loyalists clash on Wednesday 7 April 2021 at the Peace Wall on Lanark Way in Western Belfast, Northern Ireland. Police had roads in the vicinity by the Protestant territory, as crowds of each gap falls each other. (Associated Press)
The latest unrest followed unrest over the long weekend of Easter in trade unionism 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.
Britain’s economic split from the European Union at the end of 2020 upset the political balance in Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom where some people identify themselves as British and others as Irish.
Hijacked cars burn on the peace wall on Lanark Way while riots broke out in West Belfast, Northern Ireland, on Wednesday 7 April 2021. Police had roads closed to the nearby Protestant area, as crowds of each gap, nationalists and loyalists attacked. each other. (Associated Press)
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 checks between Northern Ireland and Ireland, a member of the EU, because an open Irish border helped support the peace process built on the Good Friday agreement in 1998.
The 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
Police are moving to separate nationalists and loyalists after colliding with each other on Wednesday 7 April 2021 at the Peace Wall on Lanark Way in Western Belfast, Northern Ireland. The police had to roads to nearby Protestant area included as crowds of everyone. division attacked each other. (Associated Press)
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.
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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.