Irish Peace Shattered by Riots
Persistant Protestant Pushing Provokes Pandemonium
By Todd O’Connor, Staff Writer
Over the summer, the north of Ireland was wracked by intense rioting as Loyalist groups celebrated the British conquest of Ireland by marching through Catholic areas.
Each Summer Loyalist groups, called Orangeman, partake in close to 3,000 marches throughout the northern six counties of Ireland which are still under British dominion. These marches reinforce the domination of the Nationalist population.
On July 12th the Orangeman celebrated the Battle of the Boyne led by King William of Orange in 1690 (hence Orangemen). This battle cemented British dominance in the north of Ireland. Despite a recent history of violence resulting from the parades, the British government insists on allowing these marches to happen. This year was no exception.
On July 6th, the British authorities forced a loyalist march through the Garvaghy road , a Nationalist area in County Armargh. Wide spread rioting throughout the six counties included fierce confratations between Catholic youths and the local police force as well as some minor actions by the I.R.A. Hundreds of cars were hijacked and and left as burning road blocks. The IRA hijacked two passenger trains, setting them afire after kindly escorting civilians out of the area.
Having flown into Belfast on July 7, I was able to observe much of what went on. The ride from the airport to the city center took a lot of zig zagging due to all of the burnt cars and trucks in the streets. After taking a short nap I decided to go to where the rioting would be. It took me all of 5 hours to break my promise to family and friends that I would do my best to be careful.
Within minutes I was caught in a battle between rioters and the police. Before the night was over I managed to get myself shot at by a plastic bullet , have a British soldier aim his machine gun at me , and was nearly run over by a police armored personel carrier. The only damage done to me was done by myself when I ran into a lampost trying to get away from the police. Luckily , I ran into some cool guys who put me up for the night.
The personal highlight of my short stay in Belfast was when I met Gerry Adams, President of Sinn Fein the political wing of the IRA, at a meeting concerning the riots. I found him to be friendly and engaged in the crisis.
After spending a few days chilling with famed civil rights activist Bernadette Devlin in Donegal, I departed for Derry just in time for the Battle of the Boyne parade on July 12th. The rioting in Derry that night dwarfed anything that I saw in Belfast. The police shot the crowd up with rubber bullets, while the rioters, armed with hundreds of bottles, were able to stand their ground for a while. Unfortunately , they ran out of bottles leaving the police to charge the rioters with their shields and batons hitting anyone in sight. Over 50 sit-down protesters whose only crime was singing Nationalist songs were severely beaten.
The scariest moment of the night was when a protester was hit in the back by a police landrover. The landrover, which is like the car you see in New York covered in steel, ran over his legs as he fell to the ground and took off. The man was taken away by ambulance. When I went to the police station to inquire what happened to the man they told me they were too busy and that I was too drunk. This was interesting considering I don’t drink. By the next day everything had quieted down and returned to a tense normality.
To everyone’s surprise and the dissappointment of many locals, the I.R.A. called a new ceasefire on the July 19. The ceasefire was called on British assurances that Sinn Fein would be allowed to enter the all party peace talks which resume on September 15th. Sinn Fein has stated that their goal in these peace talks is a united Ireland but are willing to negotiate for less. Considering the renewed militancy in the Catholic districts, how the Nationalist population will react to less than a united Ireland is yet to be determined.
There was a high degree of allegience to the IRA. Even those who did
not support the IRA admitted they would be afraid if the soldiers gave
up their weapons. The regular people tend to see the IRA as their only
line of defence against the Loyalists and the police.
