Clashes and Arrests: Northern Ireland Riot Week

In Belfast and other cities in Northern Ireland, unrest has been continuing for a week, which is associated, among other things, with dissatisfaction with the Brexit conditions. Participants burned cars and pelted the police with stones and sticks. What is happening in this part of the UK - in the RBC photo report.

In the first days of April, separate groups of young people took part in the riots. On Wednesday, April 7, several hundred people gathered in Belfast.

The outbreak of street protests is associated with the actions of the Northern Ireland prosecutor's office. In late March, she decided not to prosecute members of the nationalist Sinn Fein party, who last June attended the funeral of former IRA (militant Irish Republican Army) fighter Bobby Storey. Then, despite strict restrictions due to the  coronavirus, about 2 thousand people attended the funeral. The decision of the prosecutor's office has exacerbated the confrontation between loyalists - adherents of unity with the UK - and Republicans striving for independence.

Representatives of loyalist and nationalist circles blame each other for the unrest. Politicians on both sides nevertheless condemned the riots.

On April 7, street protesters burned down a bus.

Also, dissatisfaction with Brexit conditions is called a possible cause of unrest. According to them, a customs border should appear between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.

In early March, the British government has already decided to unilaterally extend the simplified inspection regime at this border for six months.

Northern Ireland Deputy Chief Constable Jonathan Roberts said protests this week have reached a scale not seen in years.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called for overcoming differences through dialogue. The White House also expressed concern about what was happening.

Since the late 1960s, a bloody confrontation between supporters of unity with Great Britain and adherents of unification with the Republic of Ireland continued in Northern Ireland. In 1998, the parties signed the Belfast Accords and formed a government in the region on an equal footing.