Northern Ireland: Violent Protests in Belfast

No Comments | September 13th, 2005 | Trackback

The worst Protestant violence in a decade occurred Sept. 10-12 when Protestant marchers were forbidden to parade along the boundary of Catholic west Belfast. Main roads were blocked by demonstrators, two outlawed Protestant paramilitary groups attacked police with machine guns and grenades, rioters tossed fire bombs at police and threw stones at traffic on two major highways and gangs hijacked and burned vehicles. The unrest confirms that the process of reconciliation between Catholics and Protestants is far from finished despite the IRA�s announcement in July that it was ending its armed campaign. The vehemence of the outburst suggests seething anger among Protestants that they are not being listened to by British authorities and that they perceive the peace process to be weighted in favor of Catholics in the province. The current unrest is likely to abate but the tensions will remain until political trust can be created.