belfast riots, why?

[piggynose]

[tinkerbell23]

i think it will get worse...its the time of year where orange walks are out...even more riots over the weekend i predict!! terrible xx

[OrcadianOil]

Just the usual reason over there - intolerance of religious, sectarian beliefs etc, plus it is what the neanderthals there refer to "the marching season" culminating in the 12th July "celebrations" (if you're Protestant), or most hated time of year (if you're Catholic), commemorating a battle more than 300 years ago, is the excuse for one side to be triumphalistic over the other. Although the "triumphalistic" element call it "celebrating our culture". On the other side of the coin are the Catholics who hate being part of Ulster Britishness and who want to instead have a united Ireland. They also go around at times banging drums and playing instruments, too.

All pathetic, really, just like the (in)famous Drumcree, near Portadown, carry on, where there are barricades in place to stop the Orangemen marching down a so called Catholic area to make a racket banging their drums and playing their flutes. That particular march has been banned since 1998 because of the riots it used to provoke.

It's basically total mistrust - loads of them live in their communities behind very high walls separating them from the hated neighbours, depending on which side you live.

So, nothing which won't still be going on in another 300 years. And this is the 21st century? Could have fooled me!

[tinkerbell23]

i live in a town in scotland which has one of the..if not the highest rate of irish decendants here.....and im afraid its like that here...no where near as bad....but its "marching" time here and in a predominately catholic town......its mayhem!!!!!

[ummmm]

My Mum is Protestant and my Dad (was) Catholic....they seem to get on okay...

[joeluke]

For large numbers of Irish religion is life, the be all and end all.......It's pathetic, they're pathetic, basically marching to get in the face of the opposite religion to celebrate things which happened lifetimes ago

Religion, who cares?

[sandyRoe]

This area is separated by a motorway. This looks like a case of recreational rioting. Hot summer evenings, a few beers, and a riot to round off the evening.

[piggynose]

i know its battle of the boyne day on 15th july. it just seemed a little premature to be rioting now.

[Ric.ror]

I always thought it was 12 Aug - 'the glorious 12'

[sandyRoe]

It's the 12th July they commemorate the Boyne.
There was an Orange Parade which went through a mostly Protestant area. A group of about 40 yobs who were following it peeled off when it was near a Catholic area and began burning cars and breaking windows in houses.
That's how it started.

[OrcadianOil]

ric.ror,
You're thinking of the start of the grouse shooting season.

tinkerbell,
Probably Coatbridge?

[tinkerbell23]

u got it orcadian!!! xx

[cliftonstreet]

I came across the news about the Belfast riots on the Yahoo web site and yet it did not feature on the early evening BBC news. Had this have happened in any other city in Britain it would have been the headline story.
Is the TV news being censored in favour of Belfast or is it the case that "the idiots are at it again"