NEW YORK BOSTON |#Popular: Irish Celebrity Gossip Irish in US Politics Irish Festivals Irish Roots Irish Entertainment Offbeat Irish

Home Page > News > Violence continues as union flag protests could bring Northern Ireland to a standstill

Violence continues as union flag protests could bring Northern Ireland to a standstill

Democratic Unionist Party plan legal action against Belfast City Council

RACHAEL LAIRD,

IrishCentral.com Intern

Published Saturday, January 12, 2013, 8:21 AM

Updated Saturday, January 12, 2013, 8:21 AM

Larger Text

E-mail

16 Comments

Police in the North have again come under attack from loyalist protesters after a Union flag demonstration turned ugly.

Photo by Google Images

Police in the North have again come under attack from loyalist protesters after a Union flag demonstration turned ugly.

Officers were pelted with petrol bombs, fireworks and other missiles in the Rathcoole area of Newtownabbey in north Belfast on Friday evening. A bus was also set on fire during the disorder and police officers had to deploy water cannons in a bid to restore calm.

Earlier on Friday the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) submitted a formal complaint to Belfast City Council following their decision to restrict the flying of the Union flag, which could lead to legal action being taken.

The change to only hoisting the flag on designated days like royal birthdays was endorsed by nationalists and the cross-community Alliance Party at the start of December.

A Belfast City Council spokeswoman said: “The decision to introduce the policy of flying the Union flag at City Hall was taken democratically by elected members at the monthly meeting of Belfast City Council on December 3.

“The council has taken legal advice throughout this process and the decision is in keeping with the outcome of the equality impact assessment that was undertaken in line with the advice of the Equality Commission.

“The designated days agreed are in keeping with those notified by the UK Government’s Department of Culture, Media and Sport.”

After weeks of demonstrations which have sparked full scale-riots, sixty-six police officers have been injured during the trouble.

And it doesn't look like it’s going to stop any time soon as a series of protests, dubbed Operation Standstill resulted in many roads being blocked off between 6pm and 8pm as loyalist protesters again took to the streets to voice their opposition to Belfast City Council’s decision to limit the number of days the Union flag flies at City Hall, according to the Newsletter.

Rugby fans travelling to Ravenhill in east Belfast for Ulster’s crunch Heineken Cup game against Glasgow faced major disruption due to the numerous flag demonstrations across Northern Ireland in co-ordinated action dubbed ‘Operation Standstill’ by organisers.

But the city centre was not as empty as might have been expected after an online campaign urged people to defy the protests and stage an “Operation sit-in” in cafes, pubs and restaurants to give businesses hit by the six-week campaign of street action a much-needed boost to trade.

In Carrickfergus police fired one baton round as serious disorder broke out following a protest.

A large crowd of rioters hurled bricks, bottles and fireworks at officers in the West Street area of the Co Antrim town.

Councillor John Hussey, secretary of the DUP group on Belfast city council,said the decision to only fly the flag on designated days is in breach of BCC's equality scheme and the complaint is the first step towards possible legal action.

1 2 Next page >

Nster.com

E-mail

16 Comments

See all comments

IrelandNorth | Jan 13, 2013, 03:14 PM EST

The eminent American psychiatrist Dr William Glasser, founding father of Reality Therapy (RT)/Choice Theory (CT) once described the concept of constructive criticism as "... a slug [ie snail/escargot] in a tuxedo!" A metaphor surely more applicable to democracy (sic) of the gerrymandered kind. Mind you, some of us are around the existential block long enought to know that the representative democracy game (RDG), ie the idea of political agency/delegation/deputisation was a rather glaring trade-off between real participatory democracy and oligarchy. Gerrymandering was merely a tweaking of the RDG. Yet even that couldn't last forever. As Lincoln said: "You can fool all of the people some of the time. And some of the people all of the time. But you can't fool all of the people all of the time!" With greater political awareness in contemporary populations, partitions' da[ze] are surely numbered.

Report abuse

curtisjohnson | Jan 13, 2013, 11:09 AM EST

HappyHippo - "Those talking democracy in NI dont get that the northern statelet was not a functioning democracy in any real sense since partition because of gerrymandering of bounderies within NI by the Unionists with the blessing of the conservatives in Britain” Yes, it was designed from the beginning as a supremacist ochlocracy where the indigenous population was excluded from all wealth and political power.

Report abuse

seamus60 | Jan 13, 2013, 09:31 AM EST

Well one things for sure. We aren`t seeing too much disruption or threat to the jobs in and around the biblebelt.

Report abuse

cillowen | Jan 12, 2013, 09:15 PM EST

Stay away from the Planted UKer sliver - where Irish natives were removed from their lands to make way for the crazies that the Greatest trafficer in human existance set up to destroy a people. This 864 creation tried every trick in the book to destroy a noble race. Sadly the Irish generally being of turning the other cheek kind don't want to confront the Saxon enemy there being so many of the Anglo order still holding dominion over southies.

Report abuse

Happyhippo | Jan 12, 2013, 07:57 PM EST

Those talking democracy in NI dont get that the northern statelet was not a functioning democracy in any real sense since partition because of gerrymandering of bounderies within NI by the Unionists with the blessing of the conservatives in Britain, so as to keep them in power indefinitly,they are still trying to grapple with the idea of sharing power with anybody even though all important decisions are taken in London,the flag business is not really that surprising,when the Union flag flew and they lorded it over the nationalists for nearly 80 years,if democracy is the art of compromise the loyalist underclass just dont want anything to do with it,there lies the problem for mainstream Unionists and for everybody else.

Report abuse

Towngate | Jan 12, 2013, 07:10 PM EST

IrelandNorth: Keep your brilliant comments coming ...

Report abuse

curtisjohnson | Jan 12, 2013, 06:00 PM EST

IrelandNorth – “Confident nationalists of whatever stripe don't have to drape themselves in the flags of their nationality.” I think british patriotards feel the need for vulgar displays of identity because they’re aware that this “britain” monstrosity they worship in not really a nation but an organized crime ring for commercial oligarchs.

Report abuse

seanomelb | Jan 12, 2013, 05:02 PM EST

The protestant working class are victims of their own twisted bigotry and their failure to move on. If they spent less time at lodge meetings and bonfire demo's and more time in the education system there plight would be ameliorated.The DUP and the PUP still fan the flames of ethnic bigotry.I wonder when the Orange dregs will drag nationalists into the quagmire of bigotry an attempt to say they're to blame. You reap what you sow.

Report abuse

RedBranch | Jan 12, 2013, 03:00 PM EST

Ok Intern Laird quick tip, call someone on the ground rather than trail the internet if you aspire to true journalistic integrety. I have just returned from East Belfast where the police probably outnumbered the rioters two or three to one. They have the kit and the means to keep them in a box. The Short Strand is safe and there were a number of Americans at the Titanic building, which is A1 excellent and the meal at Mourne Seafood in the city centre wasn't too shabby either. In other words life continuing as per normal for those who choose to partake in the pursuit thereof.

Report abuse

IrelandNorth | Jan 12, 2013, 01:59 PM EST

Confident nationalists of whatever stripe don't have to drape themselves in the flags of their nationality. Though it's not uninteresting that every time the terrortoriality of a neo provincial statlet is threatened by an outbreak of ungerrymandered democracy, that the subjectified citizenry of that particular bailiewick abreact with the unconscious besiegement of insecure planter/settlers. It used to be said that NI loyalists were not so much loyal to the British crown as to the English half-crown (a unit of predecimal currency). Solution to the problem therefore is fairly simple. Pay them to be good working class loyalists by loosening the graps of middle class unionists on that serious maundy money/block grant that the the ragged trousered philanthropist of the British Exchequer pay them to do the Full Stormonty. It could then trickle down to the Protestant working class areas like the Shankill and Sandy Row, and moderate temperament.

Report abuse

darao | Jan 12, 2013, 12:49 PM EST

Violence will fail to result in anything other than the destruction of the economy. Those who participate or know people who do need to know that they are freight ending away jobs and tourism. Work through thr legal or political proces instead of violence. Peace!

Report abuse

seamus60 | Jan 12, 2013, 12:12 PM EST

They could of course try buying their way out of it. (the gov) Fly the flad on the designated days and include big street partys in the loyalist ghettos.

Report abuse

Rebelforce | Jan 12, 2013, 09:43 AM EST

I wonder how many hundreds, perhaps thousands, of would be tourists to Ireland decided on a different vacation destination after seeing these scenes of rioting and lawlessness in Belfast? There can ofcourse be no turning back now on the decision to restrict the flying of the English flag at Belfast City Hall. To do so would be to reward the terrorist thugs and send the wrong message.

Report abuse

merefalow | Jan 12, 2013, 09:43 AM EST

BE SO EASY TO REPLY WITH IMFLAMATORY RETORIC,but what is needed here is a robust reply to this intransigent behavior,so that there is no doubt that n,Ireland will never revert to the recent so called troubles,civil war more like,it appears that there is a general concensus that the majority of people want peace and seeing that most western countries including the uk and ireland are or becoming multi cultural multi racial it doesnt make much sense to insist on one flag flying,fly the bloody lot and you wont ofend anyone.and incidently shouldnt throwing petrol bombs be treated as attempted murder.the horrendous burns from a direct hit on a person should warrant that,as long as there is fair play for everyone these scenes should belong in the past.

Report abuse

seamus60 | Jan 12, 2013, 08:58 AM EST

Cynicus. Fair play to you. Your justification for such a detestable IRA is however misguided. Their origional objective was to remove Britian and return Ireland back to the Irish. Although they did have to defend the Nationalist population from these heavily armed bully boys. most in uniform.

Report abuse