Violent protests continue in Belfast, Northern Ireland. What’s Behind the Unrest?
The riots in Belfast have so far injured 41 policemen and arrested 10 others.
Protesters threw stones at police in the north Belfast area and car phynkyjany reports of petrol bombs at police and set fire during the demonstration.
Gates set alight at the peace line between between the Shankill Road and Lanark way interface in North Belfast. Crowds of a few hundred on each side throwing petrol bombs over in both directions. pic.twitter.com/LYnRmAETTY
— Emma Vardy (@EmmaVardyTV) April 7, 2021
As a result of Bridget, tensions are running high over new trade barriers between Northern Ireland and other parts of the UK.
What’s the background to the Northern Ireland riots?
Northern Ireland’s population is divided between mostly Protestant Unionists, who want to maintain Northern Ireland’s status as part of
Now, more than two decades after the Good Friday Agreement peace deal brought the years of sectarian “Troubles” in Northern Ireland to an end, new tensions arising from Brexit, organized crime, and political patronage are stoking old rivalries and anxieties.
While the causes for the violence are multifaceted, observers say it is underpinned by a sense of frustration in the Unionist community. “There has been this brewing fear on the Unionist side that they are not as British as people in Birmingham,” says Feargal Cochrane, author of Northern Ireland: The Fragile Peace. “A fear that there are different rules applying to them.”
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