5 Min Read
BELFAST (Reuters) - Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government put aside factional differences on Thursday to appeal for calm after more than a week of nightly violence partly fuelled by frustration among pro-British unionists over post-Brexit trade barriers.
Hundreds of youths in the British province’s capital Belfast set a hijacked bus on fire and attacked police with stones on Wednesday in scenes reviving memories of decades of sectarian and political strife that claimed some 3,600 lives prior to a 1998 peace deal.
The latest violence has injured 55 police officers and seen boys as young as 13 and 14 arrested on rioting charges.
BBC News
Published
image copyrightPACEMAKER
image captionGates at Lanark Way were shut by police but became the centre of violence on Wednesday
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said he is deeply concerned about scenes of violence in Northern Ireland.
Police were attacked, petrol bombs thrown and a bus set on fire in another night of disorder in Belfast. The way to resolve differences is through dialogue, not violence or criminality, he said.
The disturbances took place on both sides of an interface in the loyalist Shankill and nationalist Springfield Road areas of the city on Wednesday.
Forty-one police officers were injured in disturbances in parts of Northern Ireland over the Easter period, involving children as young as 13.
Days of violence in Northern Ireland blamed in part on Brexit washingtonpost.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from washingtonpost.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
5 Min Read
BELFAST (Reuters) - Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government put aside factional differences on Thursday to appeal for calm after more than a week of nightly violence partly fuelled by frustration among pro-British unionists over post-Brexit trade barriers.
Hundreds of youths in the British province’s capital Belfast set a hijacked bus on fire and attacked police with stones on Wednesday in scenes reviving memories of decades of sectarian and political strife that claimed some 3,600 lives prior to a 1998 peace deal.
The latest violence has injured 55 police officers and seen boys as young as 13 and 14 arrested on rioting charges.
Charles McQuillan / Getty Images
Originally published on April 8, 2021 3:29 pm
The government of Northern Ireland is holding an emergency meeting on Thursday following days of unrest reminiscent of The Troubles that plagued the region for decades.
The latest violence in Belfast has erupted amid anger from Protestant unionists concerned they re being isolated from the United Kingdom and pushed into a union with the republic of Ireland due to post-Brexit trade rules.
For about a week now, young people in the city have torched vehicles and hurled bricks, fireworks and Molotov cocktails at police officers. In the past few days, youths have started throwing them over a concrete barrier, known as the peace wall, that separates a Protestant neighborhood from a Catholic area.