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Union’s discontents catch fire in volatile Northern Ireland
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The first job I had that was not paid by the hour was at sectarian interface in Derry. It was 2008 – a decade after the Good Friday Agreement had ostensibly brought peace to Northern Ireland – and I was charged with encouraging Catholic and Protestant communities on either side of a ten-foot high corrugated barrier to “re-imagine their built environment”.

Such irenic notions soon crumbled in the face of reality. The good people – and they were good people – living along the interface didn’t want public talks and warm words from do-gooders. They wanted education, employment, and a sense of purpose. After six months, the project ended, and I left Derry. The people stayed.

I thought of that interface last week as I watched footage of a car alight in Derry. Similar riots took place across Loyalist areas of Northern Ireland. Even the death of Prince Philip did not completely quell the violence: on Friday night, missiles were fired at police in Belfast, during the eighth consecutive night of rioting.

So, what provoked such a show of rage from within loyalism? The answer being pushed by some – particularly the Democratic Unionist Party – is that all this anger has been unleashed by the decision not to prosecute prominent members of Sinn Féin, including deputy first minister Michelle O’Neill, for attending the funeral of leading republican Bobby Storey last year, seemingly in breach of COVID rules.

But the absence of a few £200 fines does not fully explain the burning buses and petrol bombs. Other factors are at play. Some are local. The unrest largely began in satellite towns of Belfast where the renegade south-east Antrim cadre of the Loyalist Ulster Defence Association has a significant presence.

[1] Url: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/unions-discontents-catch-fire-in-volatile-northern-ireland/