Northern Ireland: very hard clashes between Covid-19 and political tensions
Major riots erupted in Newtownabbey and Belfast, Northern Ireland, for the second night (Saturday night) amid mounting post-Brexit tensions, the Irish Times reported. A more immediate catalyst of the riots over Easter weekend was the decision last week by prosecutors not to accuse anyone of alleged violations of COVID regulations during an IRA funeral that sparked Unionist outrage.
Many have blamed pro-Brits for fueling tensions over their vehement opposition to the new post-Brexit trade barriers.
"With their words and deeds they have sent a very dangerous message to young people in loyalist areas," said Gerry Kelly, an MP from the pro-Irish Sinn Fein party, which shares power in the government devolved with the DUP. .
Others have blamed the unequal treatment of COVID restrictions.
Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) MP Christopher Stalford told Reuters the protesters were "acting out of frustration" after prosecutors did not accuse any Sinn Fein members of alleged public health violations last week.
Northern Ireland Prime Minister Arlene Foster urged calm:
“I know many of our young people are enormously frustrated by the events of this past week, but injuring police officers will not make things better. And I send my strong support to all the police officers who are on duty this Easter weekend. I appeal to our young people not to be dragged into riots that will lead them to have criminal convictions and ruin their own lives “.
What is the point in this? Destroying your own communities is not the way to protest or vent. Why is it always our @PoliceServiceNI colleagues who face the brunt of this pointless violence? @naomi_long @NIPolicingBoard pic.twitter.com/QGmNsjek3u
– Police Federation for Northern Ireland (@PoliceFedforNI) April 3, 2021
The social unrest began on Friday and continued until Saturday evening. Political leaders stressed the peace, but the unrest quickly spiraled out of control in Newtownabbey and Belfast.
Protesters threw petrol bombs at police, hijacked three vehicles and caused damage. Police said dozens of protesters gathered around the Cloughfern roundabout in the O'Neill's Road area of Newtownabbey around 7:30 pm BST to 10:30 pm BST.
Northern Area Commander Chief Superintendent Davy Beck described Saturday's attack on police as "orchestrated."
“No one, no matter what line of work they are in, deserves to be subjected to any kind of violence,” Beck said.
The riots on Saturday followed Friday night riots in which 27 police officers were injured in Belfast and Londonderry.
Video footage of burnt-out cars and a targeted police van emerged.
Newtownabbey riots going crazy as tensions flared within loyalism across Northern Ireland. pic.twitter.com/6RwdUZ9Fzv
– CIA-Simulation Warlord
(@ zerosum24) April 4, 2021
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The article Northern Ireland: very hard clashes between Covid-19 and political tensions comes from ScenariEconomici.it .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/irlanda-del-nord-scontri-durissimi-fra-covid-19-e-tensioni-politiche/ on Mon, 05 Apr 2021 06:00:38 +0000.