On March 29, police officers were targeted in a petrol bomb attack in a predominantly trade union in Tullymore in Derry / Londonderry, after an attempt to break up a crowd of about 40 people. For five nights, similar scenes unfolded in the city.
By Friday, April 2, the disorder spread to Belfast, where a small protest descended on an attack on police in a loyalist bag from the Sandy Row area, where 15 police officers were left with burns, head and leg injuries.
Chief Superintendent Simon Walls, Belfast District Commander, said officers “were subjected to a sustained attack by rioters who threw a number of objects at police, including heavy masonry, metal rods, fireworks and manhole covers.”
Why is this happening?
Storey’s funeral drew crowds of about 2,000 people.
Loyalist communities have accused authorities of partisan hypocrisy surrounding the decision, saying they made the decision to cancel their traditional 12th July parades last year due to Covid-19. and missed events and funerals of loved ones because they met these restrictions.
But many analysts also point to the recent and successful police crackdown on drug gangs and criminal activities supported and managed by loyal paramilitary forces.
Who’s rebellious?
According to the Northern Ireland Police Service (PSNI), most of the rioters are young people, with some participants up to 12 years old.
The first days of the violence, which escalated over the Easter weekend, took place in mainly loyalist areas in the cities of Belfast and Derry / Londonderry and the towns of Newtownabbey, Ballymena and Carrickfergus.
But that dynamic changed on Wednesday in west Belfast, where rioters from loyalist and nationalist communities clashed along the so-called peace line – a fenced-in wall that separates mainly union and nationalist neighborhoods.
At one point, police struggled to close a gate designed to separate the areas during the violence, where petrol bombs, bottles, masonry and fireworks were thrown.
Sometimes more than 600 people were present, police said.
Earlier Wednesday, a bus was also hijacked and set on fire on Lanark Way near the junction with Shankill Road, where a press photographer was also attacked.
In some videos of the disorder shared on social media, adults can be seen cheering up children to undertake the violent acts, raising deep concern that the violence could be orchestrated by paramilitary groups.
The PSNI said on Thursday they were still trying to confirm whether paramilitary groups were involved in the riots. Police did not say there was paramilitary involvement, but PSNI’s temporary assistant chief Constable Jonathan Roberts said it was ‘clear there was some organization’ for the violence.
Clashes continued on Springfield Road in Belfast on Thursday night, with protesters pelting police vehicles on the nationalist side of the peace line. Officers in riots, with dogs and a water cannon, moved in to disperse those involved.
The South Belfast UPRG on Thursday became the first loyalist group to seek an end to the disorder. The Loyal Communities Council (LCC), a group that includes representatives of trade union paramilitaries and is also affiliated with the UPRG, said in a Friday statement that ‘none of their allies were directly or indirectly involved in the recent violence. not seen days. It added that “the right to peaceful protest is a fundamental human right”, but that all action by members of the loyalist community “must be completely peaceful”.
The PSNI ruled out the involvement of loyal paramilitaries in the orchestration of the violence on Friday, apparently returning their previous assessment.
At a press conference, Roberts said their “overall assessment” was that the violence that took place “was not orchestrated by a group, in the name of the group.”
“There are definitely people who have been involved in violence, who have nothing to do with any illegal organization,” he said.
“We feel that there may be people who may have connections with banned organizations that were present at the scene of violence, but we do not believe that it was approved and organized by prescribed organizations for peaceful demonstrations,” he added.
What does Brexit have to do with this?
The riots unfold amid growing anger over a specific part of the Brexit agreement.
The GFA put an end to the problems – a term used to describe the period of violent conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted from the late 1960s until its signing in 1998.
But after the UK left the EU (and its internal market), a new plan – the Northern Ireland (NI) Protocol – was implemented.
The NI Protocol aims to eliminate the need for border control between Northern Ireland (part of the United Kingdom) and the Republic of Ireland (a member of the EU).
Northern Ireland’s Justice Minister Naomi Long said on Wednesday that the British Government’s “dishonesty and lack of clarity on these issues had contributed to a sense of anger in parts of our community”, saying the impact that Brexit would have on North North underestimated. Ireland.
Last month, the Loyalist Communities Council said it was withdrawing its support for the Good Friday Agreement, also known as the Belfast Agreement.
What do political leaders say?
After several consecutive days of disorder, British Prime Minister Johnson said on Wednesday that he was “deeply concerned about the scenes of violence” in Northern Ireland.
Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin, who spoke to Johnson later in the day, said that ‘the way forward is through dialogue and the establishment of the Good Friday Agreement’, leading to decades of deadly sectarian violence across Ireland. brought to an end.
The White House joined Northern Irish, British and Irish leaders on Thursday to express their concern about the violence. Foreign Ministry spokesman Ned Price has warned that the Good Friday Agreement must not become a victim of Brexit.
Long, the Northern Ireland justice minister, called on people to “stop before lives are lost.”
Prime Minister Arlene Foster said at an emergency meeting of Northern Ireland’s government on Thursday that the violence had tarnished the country’s reputation in its centenary year.
“We all need to know that when politics in Northern Ireland fails or comes to the fore, those who fill the vacuum offer destruction and despair. We cannot allow a new generation of our young people to fall victim to the road “or be looted by someone who prefers the shadows, above the light,” Foster told the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Is there any sign of a decrease in violence?
Both communities call for calm. However, it is not clear whether the call will be heard.
Saturday is the 23rd anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.
Journalist Peter Taggart, CNN’s Emmet Lyons, Amy Cassidy, Niamh Kennedy contributed to this report.