Highlights: Violence in Belfast...Again

On Thursday July 11^th, we were looking forward to a fun cultural experience to occur over the course of the next day. However, due to choices made by members of a sectarian group, violence and sadness became the theme instead. But first, a little backstory: on the 12^th of July in 1690 Protestant King William of Orange from the Netherlands defeated the last stronghold of Catholic King James II from England in the Battle of the Boyne in Northern Ireland. In order for King William to know how to find the route to King James’ camp in the middle of the night, his Protestant supporters built giant bonfires to guide his army. Today, the giant bonfires are still lit on the 11^th of July near midnight, and on the 12^th of July the Order of Orange march throughout Northern Ireland. We tried to stay up to watch the bonfire near us get lit, but 11:15 came and it still was not aflame so we headed for bed. The next day, we were awaken at 8:00 as one of the marching bands paraded past our house. We walked over to the Ormeau Road, a five minute stroll from our house and watched, along with a miniature army of police, the multitude of neatly-dressed marching bands from South Belfast head towards city hall to join with the bands from the other areas of Belfast. The rest of the day we went about our business, which included welcoming an old friend of Dave’s to our house for the weekend. Shortly before 8:00 p.m., we made our way back to the Ormeau Road and watched the bands march back down the street. However, at this point they had had all day to soak in liquor and heighten their rage against anyone not in the Orange Order. The morning’s miniature army of police had grown to include a group of police in SWAT gear. This is when our fun cultural experience started to morph into a scary sectarian riot. The formerly orderly Order of Orange groups were now a bawdy group of drunkards with un-tucked shirts and members wandering in and out of the crowded sidewalks. When earlier in the day the police had provided just a presence along the parade route, mostly standing on the sidelines and a few patrolling alongside the marchers, at this point there was now a barricade of police officers dressed in riot gear blocking off access to a Catholic neighborhood along the parade route. We found out that the buffed-up police presence, including over 600 additional forces imported that day from Scotland, England, & Wales, was due to rioting that had started earlier on Friday. The North Irish police had banned the Protestant Orange Order marchers from marching through a Catholic area in North Belfast, and so the Protestant Orange Order members responded with chucking bricks, hurling petrol bombs, and firing missiles at police, prompting police to respond with water cannons and rubber bullets to hold back the rioters. To illustrate the local opinion of the Orange Order, one member of our church described them as the North Irish version of the Ku Klux Klan. The rioting went on to last into the night on Friday, and go through Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday leaving 71 police officers injured in the hospital. This past Tuesday night, a petrol bomb was thrown directly at a police officer and knocked him down (which led to cheers from the rioters), and so the prosecutors are now looking to file attempted murder charges against the responsible party. So many people were arrested that courthouses were opened for special sessions on Sunday to allow for arraignments. This latest round of Belfast violence and rioting has led to a real sense of disappointment within the city, disappointment with not only the members of certain groups but also a disappointment with the leaders of these groups who put out a call for rioting. And this coming Saturday, more protests are planned by the Orangemen. I have never felt so much hatred and violence so close to home, so woven into the fibers of my community. Many in Belfast are holding out one last hope for Richard Haas, a former U.S. senior diplomat and special envoy to Northern Ireland who served in Belfast from 2001-2003, who arrived on Wednesday. He is a seasoned negotiator and has respect from all sides of this problem. One thing is clear, that Belfast still has a ways to go towards its perpetual struggle for reconciliation since the 1998 Good Friday Peace Agreement was first signed. Only the future history books know how Belfast will be able to become the stable society for which it has potential. Until then, Dave and I pray that our community leaders can find a way to quell the most recent rioters and that those spreading violence and hate can be drowned out by the leaders of peace.