Following yet another night of loyalist rioting in Belfast, UTV is reporting a number of incidents have already occurred today across the troubled city today.
Last nights violence marked the third straight night of loyalist mayhem. The trouble broke out yesterday evening after gangs of loyalists brought rush-hour chaos to routes out of the city.
Assistant Chief Constable Duncan McCausland said: "Last night we saw continued violence in parts of Belfast and outside the city. Police came under attack from petrol and blast bombs.”
Indeed, areas outside of Belfast have also been affected reports the Belfast Telegraph.
The mayor of Lisburn today condemned overnight violence in the city during which a woman was dragged from her car as it was set ablaze. Police say they came under attack from 14 petrol bombs during the rioting, which was mostly based at Longstone Street.
In Bangor County, North Down politicians today pleaded with loyalist rioters to think of the long-term damage they are doing to their own communities after a third night of violence spread to the area. Residents and workers in Bangor were today coming to terms with yet another night which saw tensions spread from Belfast. The trouble, on a much smaller scale than previous incidents, saw the Green Road being closed off because of a burnt out vehicle, one man arrested in the Kilcooley area and 25 petrol bombs and an eight gallon drum of petrol seized. North Down Ulster Unionist mayor Roberta Dunlop branded the trouble "a disgrace and a scandal". "These people call themselves loyalists - loyal to whom?" she said. "These gangsters are only interested in terror and control and lining their own pockets. I thought we had left those days behind. These thugs are doing this to their own community. Hijacking cars which people have worked hard to buy and keep on the road is not acceptable. I cannot accept any excuses being made for this - this is wanton violence." Alliance deputy mayor Tony Hill said, "These so-called loyalists are setting Northern Ireland back 25 or 30 years," he said.
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) mayor of Newtownards today hit out at loyalist rioters who have wreaked havoc in the area saying he was "disgusted" by their actions. Terence Williams called on the thugs to stop their campaign of violence. "This is nothing but thugs intimidating people and it has to stop," he said. "The people behind this do not speak for the Protestant community. They are just trying to be big boys but are only damaging their own future by bringing this sort of trouble to their own area.”
Trouble also erupted in loyalist areas of Ballymena for the third night as mobs attacked police with fireworks and burned cars. SDLP councillor Declan O'Loan said he hoped the situation would not escalate.
Belfast's most senior Orangeman, Dawson Bailie, refused to condemn the violence during a television interview. He said: "I'm not condemning anything at all at this moment in time . . . the people in my eyes to blame is the Secretary of State, the Chief Constable and the Parades Commission."
However, today some loyalist leaders are beginning to change their tune. UTV is reporting now. The Ulster Defense Association (UDA) has issued a statement which reads "We are instructing our own membership to avoid any confrontation on the streets and steer away from any acts of violence." The organization called on politicians to use their influence to help restore order.
Meanwhile, loyalist political leaders continue to say that the riots are the result of anger over what they claim are concession after concession being made to Sinn Fein, the IRA and the Republican movement.
As if!
Since the Irish Republican Army announced in July that it was renouncing violence, not a single act of destruction has been attributed to its members.
And today there is growing speculation that John de Chastelain, head of the international decommissioning team, is close to witnessing a major IRA disarmament. The former Canadian General, who has returned to Ireland, will oversee the weapons destruction expected since the Provisional IRA announced an end to its armed campaign in July.
This, unfortunately, leads directly to the question of if the loyalist rioting leads to 1969 like pogroms against Catholics just who will be there to protect them. The PSNI? The British Army? I wouldn’t count on that.
Perhaps, the goal of the loyalist is to force the IRA to rethink its pledge to totally disarm in the face of the growing threat to the Catholic community and to republicans.
So perhaps all the rioting and the summer of paramilitary sectarian attacks on Catholics is not at all random, nor the result of “simmering Protestant anger.”
Perhaps, it is, in fact, a calculated attempt to wreck the peace process. Sources: Irish Times, Baltimore Sun, Belfast Telegraph, UTV
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