Northern Ireland: announcement of Prince Philip's death calms violence

The violence that erupted this week in Northern Ireland largely subsided on Friday evening, following news of the death of Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth II.

Read also: Anger is brewing in Northern Ireland

For several days, the British province had been shaken by unprecedented violence for several years, especially in loyalist areas with a Protestant majority where the consequences of leaving the European Union created a feeling of betrayal and bitterness.

Demonstrations and marches that had been planned in Unionist districts of the capital Belfast were canceled after the announcement of the death of the prince on Friday morning, at the age of 99.

"Out of respect for the Queen"

"

The demonstrations were postponed out of respect for the Queen and the royal family"

, one could read on posters posted in the Unionist districts of the city.

The text added, however, that

“the opposition”

to the terms of Brexit

“and to all injustices”

will resume

“after a period of mourning”.

Brexit has weakened the delicate balance between communities in the province, by requiring the introduction of customs controls between the United Kingdom and the EU.

In order to avoid the return of a physical border between the British province and the Republic of Ireland, a member of the EU, these controls are held in Northern Irish ports.

But these new provisions disrupt trade and are denounced by unionists as a border between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, and a betrayal on the part of London.

In the evening, the streets of Belfast were much less crowded than on previous days, when clashes pitted riot police against a crowd trying to approach Unionist quarters.

However, skirmishes took place in a Unionist enclave, but they were less violent than the day before.

A man living in a unionist neighborhood, however, showed AFP a message that was circulating and called for

"an intensification of the demonstrations after the weekend".

On the night of Thursday to Friday, in a west Belfast neighborhood, riot police, caught between the two camps, had been targeted by Molotov cocktails and cobblestones as they tried to prevent hundreds of Republican protesters heading towards the Unionists.

They were pushed back by a water cannon.

This violence, which has so far injured more than 70 police officers, resurfaces the specter of the "Troubles" and their 3500 deaths, which for three bloody decades opposed Republicans, mainly Catholics in favor of reunification with Ireland, and unionists. Protestants, fervent defenders of belonging to the United Kingdom.

"Engage in dialogue"

Faced with this escalation, the British government, which dispatched the Minister of Northern Ireland Brandon Lewis to the site, reiterated its call for calm, which has so far remained a dead letter.

"Violence has no role to play in solving the problems,"

Transport Minister Grant Shapps insisted on Sky News on Friday, deeming the situation

"very worrying"

.

“We have to make sure people talk to each other to solve their problems,”

he added.

The sister of Lyra McKee, a journalist shot dead in 2019 clashes in Londonderry, urged Northern Irish politicians to

"engage in dialogue with those who say they are so dissatisfied that they opt for violence"

, saying some the have

"ignored"

while others have

"lit the fire."

"We need good and real leadership before someone is killed,"

pleaded Nichola McKee Corner to Irish channel RTE.

On Thursday, the British and Irish prime ministers had already called for

"dialogue",

joining their voices to those of the leaders of Northern Ireland, unionists as well as Republicans, to condemn this

"unacceptable

"

violence

.

A police official, Jonathan Robert, estimated Friday that this violence was

"not orchestrated by a

particular

group"

, while paramilitary groups had previously been singled out.

He called on parents and community leaders to dissuade young people from going into confrontation.

The decision by Northern Irish authorities not to prosecute Sinn Fein officials who attended the funeral of a former paramilitary leader, despite anti-Covid restrictions, has also ignited the powder.