Kicking off in Northern Ireland again?

[JohnnyH]

In some ways I agree with you but in some other ways I don't. Republicans(& Loyalists of course) took every penny that they could drag out of the British welfare state. If It was me(hypothetically) I wouldn't take a bean off someone that I despised. They did. Thats all I was pointing out.

 

And when you were about to be thrown out of your house starving because you didn't have a penny, would you still not take a bean off them? It's really not as simple as you suggest. You have to surrive, even if you have to put up with taking handouts from the people who took over your country through murder and mayhem.

[Gods back]

And when you were about to be thrown out of your house starving because you didn't have a penny, would you still not take a bean off them? It's really not as simple as you suggest. You have to surrive, even if you have to put up with taking handouts from the people who took over your country through murder and mayhem.

 

Here was me thinking it was only us Proddys who were meant to live in the past!;)

[halewood pete]

great to see the decent ordinary people taking to the streets in protest of these murders,regardless of their backgrounds/religions.

[Gods back]

great to see the decent ordinary people taking to the streets in protest of these murders,regardless of their backgrounds/religions.

 

It is mate,but things like that do nothing to influence murderous scum.

[JohnnyH]

Here was me thinking it was only us Proddys who were meant to live in the past!;)

 

It's the present mate. While the guns are firing, it's the present.

[Gods back]

It's the present mate. While the guns are firing, it's the present.

 

Read the last sentence of your previous post ;)

[Sugar Ape]

New Irish terror groups are threat to UK, warn police | UK news | guardian.co.uk

 

Dissident republicans have developed the capability to mount an attack on the British mainland, according to the latest security assessment. Senior counter-terrorism sources confirmed the threat from dissidents attacking the mainland "now goes beyond an aspiration" and that they now possess the means to mount an attack across the Irish Sea.

 

Amid rising tension in the province and fears of an "Easter offensive" by dissident groups, police in Northern Ireland also warned that anti-ceasefire republicans were plotting to kill more police officers.

 

The increased threat from republican dissidents is certain to heighten security concerns during the build-up to the royal wedding on Friday, although there is no intelligence suggesting a specific plot related to the event.

 

On Friday another dissident grouping, styling itself "the IRA", issued a public statement claiming responsibility for the murder of PC Ronan Kerr in Omagh this month. The group, comprising former members of the Provisional IRA, vowed to embark on a bombing campaign. It is understood that the new group includes veteran paramilitaries who were involved in transporting and later detonating the bomb that exploded at London's Canary Wharf in 1996.

 

Intelligence officials monitoring dissident activity point to a growing sophistication in bomb-making techniques and a widening range of attack techniques as evidence of expanding capability. A senior intelligence source told the Observer: "We feel there is capability to attempt some form of an attack on Britain. Based on our assessment, it goes beyond an aspiration." Dissident groups have recently deployed command-wire explosive devices, van-mounted weaponry, car bombs and vehicle booby traps, as well as more orthodox military equipment such as hand-grenades. Several individuals are believed to be under surveillance.

 

The mainland has not experienced an Irish republican attack since car bombs exploded at the BBC Television Centre and Ealing Broadway station in London in 2001. The head of MI5, Jonathan Evans, said last September, however, that dissidents posed a "real and increasing security challenge in Northern Ireland" and could be planning attacks elsewhere. According to MI5's Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre, the official threat level is "substantial", meaning an attack is a "strong possibility".

 

On Saturday a man appeared in court facing charges in connection with the murder of Kerr. Gavin Coyle, 33, from Omagh was charged with possession of explosives, firearms and articles likely to be of use to terrorists. He was remanded in custody. The court heard he was linked to a footprint found at a major dissident republican arms dump in Coalisland during investigations into Kerr's murder. Police have also revealed details of a substantial haul of guns and ammunition found in a vehicle stopped by officers in Keady, near the Irish border, on Friday.

 

Attention has concentrated upon the Real IRA and the smaller but technically able Oglaigh na hEireann, which has improved its explosives technology over the past two years. Analysis suggests that the explosives material being used by dissidents may have originated from a onetime Provisional IRA stockpile whose whereabouts were known by former quartermaster general Michael McKevitt – who formed the Real IRA.

 

Police in Northern Ireland said yesterday that fresh violence was expected. "Dissident terrorist groups are continuing to identify officers and target them with the single objective of killing them," a spokesman said.

 

In further evidence of growing confidence among extremist republican groups, a leading figure in one of the dissident groups' political wings announced that the Queen should be considered a "legitimate target" during her visit to Ireland in May. The general secretary of the hardline Republican Sinn Féin party, Josephine Hayden, said she would have no problem with a sniper targeting the Queen. "You might say that she is just a little old grandmother," said Hayden, "but it is what she represents, what she symbolises that counts. She is a legitimate target."

 

The Observer has learned that a radical republican group known as Eirígí: for a Socialist Republic is planning to occupy Dublin's Garden of Remembrance 48 hours before the Queen is scheduled to attend a reconciliation ceremony there.

 

Republicans in Dublin say the splinter group plans to establish a tented camp on the Sunday prior to the visit, creating the possibility that the Garda Siochána will have to forcibly remove protesters before the royal tour begins on 17 May.

 

On 5 May, Northern Ireland is braced for trouble to mark assembly elections and the 30th anniversary of the death of IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands. Future trouble could depend on the reaction from the loyalist community, described by sources as "relatively restrained" until now. A 40-year-old Belfast man was, however, arrested on Saturday in connection with loyalist terrorist activity.

[chrisbonnie]

Sectarian scum,

 

I'm Irish, and a proud Irishman to, but the pure hated in northern Ireland will never truly end

 

My dad is 56, and as he says, his father said to him when he was young that the troubles would never end, and here we are, 50 years on and it's still there in the background

 

It seems peoples hard work to rid their communities of sectarianism will be quickly undone by these so called "republicans"

[Faustus]

"They fill their children full of hate to fight an old man's war and die upon the road to peace"

 

The Road To Peace by Tom Waits.

 

Sad to say, but never a truer word spoken.

[roon]

my granda my mother and me have lived through this and i believe now it is down to the way we bring up our kids thats the only way we can ever stop it but it will never happen because their will always be bad people in the world

[Nantwich girl]

I don't know much about northern Ireland. But I can't imagine anybody in their right mind would want to go back to shootings and bombings on a weekly basis. I also don't understand why we would want to keep ni and equally I can't understand why some in ni would want to be a part of the republic bearing in mind that theirveconomy isvtotally kaput and would only be worsened by taking back the north minus British tax payers money.

[Sugar Ape]

What's the score with these riots in Northern Ireland then? Seems like they are getting more and more frequent.

 

Just a small number of dissenters or the start of something more sinister? Hopefully it will all calm down soon.

 

Violent clashes in Belfast as loyalist marching season ends | UK news | The Guardian

 

As Northern Ireland reached the climax of the Ulster loyalist marching season, police reported that 24 officers had been injured in violence surrounding the parades.

 

There was a new, serious outbreak of violence in north Belfast last night with police firing dozens of baton rounds and using water cannon in clashes with nationalist youths.

 

The trouble erupted within minutes of an Orange Order parade passing by shops in the Ardoyne district shortly after 7pm. Disorder spread across the city. Although the police were able to pin back rioters and keep them away from loyalists in the contentious parade, trouble broke out shortly afterwards on the Crumlin Road.

 

Last night, two different sets of protesters attacked riot police at two entry points into the republican Ardoyne area. Police officers were pelted with bricks, rocks, bottles and petrol bombs as well as fireworks. One group of rioters set fire to a hijacked car at the junction of Crumlin Road and Woodvale Road, not far from where a smaller group of loyalists were standing, in Twaddell Avenue.

 

On Monday, 24 police officers were injured, the majority as a result of riots in Greater Belfast that lasted into the early hours of Tuesday. Nationalist youths threw missiles, petrol bombs and at one stage drove a hijacked bus at police lines.

 

The Greater Ardoyne Residents' Collective had been denied the right to gather on Crumlin Road – the return route of the Orange parade – on Tuesday night. The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) feared the residents would mount a sitdown protest on the road to block the Orangemen's path.

 

As loyalists marched through Belfast city centre, the republican residents began to protest along Berwick Road against the Orange parade passing by their district. When the Orangemen and two loyalist bands passed by, a number of nationalist women sang the Soldier's Song (the Irish national anthem) and hurled abuse at the marchers.

 

Speaking from the platform, Dee Fennell – a spokesman for the residents' group – initially called on the crowd to disperse peacefully. When a large number of those gathered at the protest started to laugh, Fennell said they would "show the Orange Order, the Parades Commission and the PSNI what they thought of their parade".

 

Gerry Kelly, the Sinn Féin assembly member for the area and former IRA Old Bailey bomber, said he was concerned at the rising tension in this corner of north Belfast. "We have a situation where we have two parades at one time," he said.

 

While Kelly and Sinn Féin oppose the loyalist march, they have appealed for peaceful protests against the parade.

 

He condemned those nationalist youths behind the violence but also blamed the Orange Order for failing to reach a compromise with Catholic residents along contentious parade routes.

 

There were clashes in other parts of Northern Ireland last night, including Derry and Armagh. Police in Derry arrested a youth aged 14 on suspicion of riotous behaviour and recovered a crate of petrol bombs.

 

On the same spot last year in north Belfast, about 80 PSNI officers were injured during three days of rioting that followed protests against the loyalist parade.

 

A small number of republican dissidents opposed to the peace process gathered in Ardoyne, an area that is home to a unit of the anti-ceasefire republican organisation Óghlaigh na hÉireann.

 

North Belfast Democratic Unionist MP Nigel Dodds condemned the rioters. "These people have been intent on attacking the police and wreaking havoc in their own community," he said. "Such violence is senseless and has clearly nothing to do with protesting against a parade but is just futile rioting."

 

He praised Orangemen for how they marshalled their parade. "I also pay tribute to those in the nationalist community who worked to try to maintain peace in the area," he said.

 

One of Northern Ireland's most senior police officers on Tuesday night appealed for calm.

 

Assistant Chief Constable Alistair Finlay said the public disorder that has taken place in pockets of North Belfast, East Belfast, Londonderry, and other parts of Northern Ireland was unacceptable. Finlay said: "The past 24 hours has been a very challenging time for communities and policing in Northern Ireland."

 

 

The first leg of the parade passed off relatively peacefully morning. Amid driving rain and the drone of a police helicopter overhead, the Orangemen and two loyalist bands were accompanied by two rows of protesters shortly before 8.30am. As marchers reached the Protestant Twaddell Avenue, they were given a heroes' reception by local loyalists.

 

The loyalists marched behind a banner accusing local republicans of imposing "cultural apartheid" due to their continued opposition to the Orange Order march.

 

In the early hours of , plastic bullets were fired and water cannon was deployed to deal with a mob of up to 200 youths in the Broadway area in the west of Belfast.

 

The rioters attacked police lines separating the area from the loyalist Village district close to the M1 motorway.

 

Baton rounds were fired during disturbances in the Oldpark area of north Belfast close to the so-called peaceline separating nationalist and loyalist communities.

 

A bus was hijacked on the Falls Road with the driver dragged from the vehicle and passengers ordered off it. It was then driven at police lines on the Donegall Road, but crashed a short distance away. A van was also set alight on the Donegall Road.

[Elysian Red]

Height of the marching season, should go away. But it hasn't gone away, you know.

[Gym Beglin]

All the footage I've seen has featured children and youths with masks on their face, causing havoc under the protective veil of the 'cause'.

[Carradona]

It's the 12th of July...what do you expect?

 

There is obviously huge levels of scum on both sides, but I'd like to point out a couple of things that I think perpetuate sectarianism. I watched a program about the Orange Order the other night. The third rule of the Orange Order is that no Catholics are allowed to join, and no member is allowed to marry a Catholic. The members of the Orange Order on the show said that these rules are going to be brought up to date, but that this particular rule can not be changed. I suppose it's not really that big an issue, considering that not many Catholics would even want to join.

 

I was watching the news ast night and they had the Grand Master of the Orange Order giving a speech. He kept going on about the IRA and The Troubles. For me, this is a huge issue. Politics and terrorist organisations shouldn't be being discussed in that sort of situation. There's just no need for it, and it is only going to worsen the already high levels of tension around the country.

 

Like I said, there are equal levels of scum on both sides, but this kind of shit only makes things worse.

[Jose Jones]

The Orange dudes have always just been about a wind up though right?

The whole marching thing? Don't the dates celebrate massacres of the Irish by that Dutch cunt?

That's the whole shebang.

 

Edit: I say that as an Englishman who went to a CofE school.

[stringvest]

Can we not just operate a scorched earth policy here? Just torch the whole populace to death and then give the land back to Ireland. We'd be so much better off, and the Irish would be welcome to it.

 

It would also serve as a warning to Wales. If you don't stop that ridiculous communal 'singing', you're next.

[Elmyn Noos]

It's council estate yobs fighting each other over something no-one really gives a fuck about any more. If it wasn't over religion or politics, they'd be fighting about something else. It's what yobs do. Before the economic downturn, I'd have pushed for a united Ireland, in that I'd have sent the british troops south and claimed the republic back into english ownership too. However, now that Eire is bust they've blown their chance of re-joining team GB as far as I'm concerned. I think we should pull out of North Western England and let the plastic paddies fight it out amongst themselves. As a county, or province, or whatever it is, they don't bring anything to the party anyway. We could then send our own yobs - sorry, troops - based over there to fight in some other pointless war a bit further away, where they can get some trigger-time with some easier targets - sorry I mean serve queen and country protecting us from muslim farmers - sorry, terrorists.

[Elmyn Noos]

my granda my mother and me have lived through this and i believe now it is down to the way we bring up our kids thats the only way we can ever stop it but it will never happen because their will always be bad people in the world

 

I don't mind as much if they want to kill each other over some slight variance in religious belief, but you could do the nation a favour and please bring up your kids to use punctuation?

[stringvest]

. As a county, or province, or whatever it is, they don't bring anything to the party anyway.

 

It's like having a tramp standing outside your door with a turd in a bag and a Liverpool scarf while you've got dinner guests. He knocks once a week and you're emotionally blackmailed into giving him a tenner before he will fuck off. That's why genocide is the only option.

[Beantown Red]

Is there some reason that they use water cannons and plastic bullets but not tear gas? Is it because they are close to residential houses?

[Section_31]

It's council estate yobs fighting each other over something no-one really gives a fuck about any more. If it wasn't over religion or politics, they'd be fighting about something else. It's what yobs do. Before the economic downturn, I'd have pushed for a united Ireland, in that I'd have sent the british troops south and claimed the republic back into english ownership too. However, now that Eire is bust they've blown their chance of re-joining team GB as far as I'm concerned. I think we should pull out of North Western England and let the plastic paddies fight it out amongst themselves. As a county, or province, or whatever it is, they don't bring anything to the party anyway. We could then send our own yobs - sorry, troops - based over there to fight in some other pointless war a bit further away, where they can get some trigger-time with some easier targets - sorry I mean serve queen and country protecting us from muslim farmers - sorry, terrorists.

 

That's the top and bottom of it really, it's a McKenzie sweatshirt fest over there. Half these cunts weren't born the last time it kicked off.

[jonnybastard]

There was a time when britain was prepared to give up it's claim to northern ireland. Then the first world war kicked off and the loyal men of ulster volunteered in their tens of thousands. An entire generation of men sacrificed on the battlefields of france meant that whilst the land may have been irish- the people were most certainly british. Hopefully this helps people understand why britain won't entertain the idea of giving away northern ireland. This is of little relevance to the present troubles, which have more to do with little bastards who love a riot, encouraged by the gangsters who profit from the fear.

[RobbieOR]

There was a time when britain was prepared to give up it's claim to northern ireland. Then the first world war kicked off and the loyal men of ulster volunteered in their tens of thousands. An entire generation of men sacrificed on the battlefields of france meant that whilst the land may have been irish- the people were most certainly british. Hopefully this helps people understand why britain won't entertain the idea of giving away northern ireland. This is of little relevance to the present troubles, which have more to do with little bastards who love a riot, encouraged by the gangsters who profit from the fear.

 

Britain has no real say in the matter once there is a majority of Catholics though. It would suit the UK to give the 6 counties back as its costing the UK government. They cant give it away once there is a majority of protestants.

[Rick Sanchez C-137]

Britain has no real say in the matter once there is a majority of Catholics though. It would suit the UK to give the 6 counties back as its costing the UK government. They cant give it away once there is a majority of protestants.

 

Religion doesn't dictate nationality though.