“This is not protest. This is vandalism and attempted murder. These actions do-not represent Unionism or Loyalism. They are an embarrassment to Northern Ireland and only serve to take the focus off the real law breakers in Sinn Fein. My thoughts are with the bus driver”
Those are the words of the First Minister of the North-Eastern Six Counties of Ireland. Belfast was on fire last night, Belfast burned…again. The fallout from a political call around the Storey funeral, caused by political Unionism and followed by political opportunists, came to the door of Nationalist West Belfast and the Springfield Road. Until last night, Nationalism has kept its nose out of the furore and allowed politicians to do the work, but what happened last night happened, because Loyalism wasn’t getting the recognition it wanted from its ongoing violence. Recognition it has been afforded in the past when it turned to violence. This time however, their violence, while not being ignored, was having no effect.
What we witnessed last night was Unionism in flux, Unionism fractured like it has never been before. We saw videos and pictures of mothers and fathers turning up to take their children away from the violence. What we also saw, and I have confirmed what I saw with sources, was Loyalist mothers cheering their children on as they ran, masked and hooded, toward the riot at the peace line at Lanark Way. It’s all right though, they were wearing masks in adherence with Covid regulations. That was the gist of Arlene Foster’s Tweet last night. Arlene Foster was actually saying “Rioting is bad, but Sinn Fein, Nationalism and Republicanism attending a funeral of their friend and comrade is worse”. A good friend of mine summed it up perfectly last night to me – “Going to a funeral makes you ‘real lawbreakers’. What does attacking someone doing their job and attacking their bus make you?”
Political opportunists had their say last night also. Colum Eastwood, leader of the SDLP, was nowhere to be seen in the past few days, only interested in attacking Sinn Fein before that.“This is horrendous. I hope the driver is OK. This has to stop now”.
Something happened however, that I didn’t see coming. He was attacked squarely, even by some in his own party. One said, and I quote – “This is a direct result of the divisive rhetoric you used against the Bobby Storey funeral and nationalists”. Another said “You rode in behind the DUP and gave them support. This is your fault too”. Alliance and the UUP were strangely silent with more than one grass roots Loyalist community leaders literally begging with Boris Johnson to “invoke Article 16” to stop the violence.
Now stick with me here, dear readers…weren’t these riots about two-tier policing? Weren’t these riots about the Bobby Storey funeral and the ruling from the PPS that no Sinn Fein representatives were to be prosecuted? Arlene Foster would have us believe that was the case, but as I mentioned in one of my past pieces, this was all a deflection to take the heat off the DUP and their role in the NI Protocol. Unionism and Loyalism are rioting over the DUP and the NI Protocol! The very NI Protocol the DUP actually agreed to and voted for over the heads of their own Loyalist voters. Now where have we seen the DUP do that before? Oh yes, Brexit. While the North of Ireland voted to ‘Remain’ in the EU, the DUP continued their campaign for ‘Leave’ going over the head of the majority vote in the North.
Back to last night. Many media sources last night reported that “Nationalist youths riot on Lanark Way in West Belfast”. The truth was initially, these people were the only thing standing between Loyalist rioters and the Springfield Road. One might have realistically called them the ‘last line of defence’ for the Springfield Road Community. I can say this with certainty because the PSNI were nowhere to be seen on the Springfield Road initially, and they most certainly were not behind the ‘Peace gates’ on Lanark Way because Loyalist rioters were there burning cars and they did break through at one stage with reports some were armed with machetes. Nationalist representatives played a blinder, and that was clear to see. They were there, on the ground showing leadership and keeping the majority back from all-out rioting because Loyalists did breach the Peace gates.
The situation was so heated last night that even the PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne, in an extremely rare occurrence, took to social media with a heavily weighted hint, obviously directed at Arlene Foster which stated “The ongoing street disorder must stop. I am open to dialogue with anyone who is willing to work with me to resolve the issues facing our community. My message to those engaged in violence tonight is to go home before someone is seriously injured, violence is not the answer”.
Arlene Foster and the DUP have backed themselves into a corner. The DUP, while not directly involved in the violence on the streets over the past week, are the architects of it through their rhetoric and alarmism. They banked on the violence sweeping the North to put pressure on Simon Byrne to resign over their faux outrage on the Storey funeral to redirect the gaze of Unionism, a call which the SDLP, Alliance and the UUP gladly rode in behind because they saw it as a way to attack Sinn Fein and Republicanism, to strike a damaging blow against a party and movement which has striven for peace while Unionism and Loyalism remain violent and armed. It was a ruse designed by the DUP to divert attention away from the fact they botched Brexit through their own greed and incompetence, which resulted in the NI Protocol being implemented.
What happened last night was Unionism cracking wide open…because of the DUP!
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