Belfast's Flag Riots Are Setting It On Fire Again

Vice Magazine ^ | 15/1/2013 | Matthew Francey

[Abiotic]

Being born and raised in Belfast, I’m used to hearing about terrorists, bombs and shootings on the local news, but I can honestly say that despite all that, I considered my hometown a pretty safe place to grow up. I moved to London a year ago, and while Northern Ireland is by no means front-page news here, I couldn’t help but notice that for the past month rioting in Belfast has been featured in almost every news bulletin. The rioting began when Belfast City Council voted to end the continuous flying of the Union Flag from City Hall and hasn’t stopped since.

The Republican Party, Sinn Fein, introduced a motion to remove the flag completely, but when brought to a vote, the final decision lay in the hands of the Alliance Party, who hold the balance of power between loyalist and republican interests on the council. The Alliance party brokered a compromise in which the flag would be flown on 17 designated days a year, bringing Belfast in line with the majority of other councils across the UK. The loyalist supporters of the flag see this as an act of treachery by the Alliance Party, and many of their councillors have been subjected to intimidation and their office buildings picketed and vandalised.

I spoke to Alliance MP Naomi Long, whose office in East Belfast has been picketed daily by loyalists, some of whom have also taken to sending her death threats and bullets in the post. She explained that “as well as being a civic building, the City Hall is also a place of work". Staff, she added, "may have a legitimate grievance that the building is in some way partisan... and, as such, the Alliance Party sought out equality impact assessment and legal counsel......

[demshateGod]

All that trouble over not flying a flag. Obama could take all our guns, give them to the Muslim Brotherhood in DC and Dearborn, then fly the Al Qaeda flag and we’d do nothing.

[manc]

having lived in Northern Ireland for over a half and a year and having travelled all over the area I can say they the people do not take the crap .

You’re right, homosexuals, cross dressers, communists, a wanna be King can take our rights away and nothing .

Hundreds of thousands of French marched to protect marriage yesterday or over the weekend, yet we see our first amendment getting taken away and having to put up with perverted marriage and nothing from our dear leaders, hell yesterday after the wanna be kings speech to a so called press and who showed his arrogance gave us orders, and then our party sent out a letter, WHAT THE HELL IS A FRIGGING LETTER GOING TO DO.

GET OUT THERE GOP GET SOME FRIGGING BALLS and like Levin said obama was up for election not the constitution.

[Amberdawn]

Every time someone here wants to gin up support for a march on D.C., there are old do-nothings saying it’s a waste of time. I say we get 500,000 people OFF THEIR ASSES and go, or simply stop complaining. There’s a lot to be said for meeting up EN MASSE, not least of which is the contacts you’ll make.

[manc]

damn right, it should be 3 million of us outside that house camping out and letting obama know he is not a King.

The French have showed more balls wiht their stand for marriage than us , the northern Irish are rioting because a Brit flag was taken down and we have our party writing a letter and doing nothing and many on our side saying no point, F this crap