UK-EU relations important
Nor should the importance of the UK-European Union relationship be underestimated for the province, says Hayward. Because the impression that it is now a “critical moment for Northern Ireland and a critical point for unionism” has also been exacerbated “by the bitterness in the UK-EU relationship and the lack of trust”.
The sociologist describes the causes of the latest riots, in which, according to media reports, almost 90 police officers were injured, as complex. She speaks of a “terrible combination of things”: It could always have been that the police’s actions against a criminal gang, for example, could have “led to very local riots,” says the expert. In this case, however, “the special wider political environment” is added in which institutions of law and order – “whether it is the Northern Irish government or the British government or the police” – are in some ways “viewed as untrustworthy or defective and that undermines the efforts of those trying to advocate peaceful demonstrations “. Because then people could be mobilized by the feeling that the Union with Great Britain was in danger.
Prime Minister Arlene Foster from the unionist party DUP had asked the Northern Irish police president to resign at the end of March after it had been decided not to take action against members of the nationalist party Sinn Fein, who attended a funeral of a former IRA member last year and thus possibly corona rules had disregarded. Unionist leaders – like Foster – have said the police chief “doesn’t have the support of their communities, which is pretty negative,” says Hayward. Because even if they had tried to differentiate between the police and the police chief, this was “a very strong statement of a lack of trust” in the police leadership.
Criminal organizations take advantage of the situation
In addition, criminal organizations, some of which have ties to pro-British loyalists, are taking advantage of the uncertain political situation to stir up unrest. “And then there is the larger context, the feeling that the unionists are under a lot of pressure and that it is necessary now to draw a line and to express as clearly as possible the unionist concerns about the Northern Ireland Protocol”, according to which the province – unlike the rest of the country – continues to apply provisions of the EU internal market and customs union, leading to a goods border in the Irish Sea.
What made the atmosphere “particularly nerve-wracking” was the feeling, “that there are changes on every front, and people don’t really know where that is going,” says Hayward. “Nationalists in general don’t want Brexit, but they believe it makes a unified Ireland more likely and that is some consolation for them in some ways. While loyalists and unionists, even if they wanted Brexit, think the current situation is UK Union weakens rather than strengthens. “
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