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The Troubles is a term used to describe a period of conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years, from the late 1960s until the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

However, the origins of the Troubles can be traced back hundreds of years. The Plantation of Ulster at the beginning of the 17th century settled Protestants from lowland Scotland and the North of England causing a sectarian split in the population of the province; something that still resonates today and fed into the Troubles.

Catholics predominantly consider themselves Irish and hold nationalist views - they want an independent Ireland free from British control. Protestants identify largely as British and unionist, meaning they wish to remain linked to the United Kingdom.

Open at IWM London until 7 January 2024, Northern Ireland: Living with the Troubles explores the multiple perspectives of those affected by the conflict.

You can also watch our four-part Troubles in Northern Ireland video series, which examines the entire history of the conflict.

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What You Need to Know About The Troubles

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The Troubles was a period of conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted from the late 1960s until the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. Find out more about key moments in this conflict - a conflict with repercussions that are still being felt today.

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In Northern Ireland every year, a monthslong “marching season” sees members of a Protestant organization called the Orange Order don suits and bowler hats and take to the streets armed with banners and drums.

The parades commemorate the military victory of Dutch Protestant King William of Orange over King James II, the last British Catholic monarch, in 1690. The festivities culminate with parades on July 12 – an occasion usually met with trepidation by authorities fearful of sectarian violence.

These triumphant celebrations of Protestant identity are seen as provocative by Northern Ireland’s Catholic community. The marching season highlights a political divide in the territory, which sees Protestants largely identify as unionists – loyal to the United Kingdom – and most Catholics identify as nationalists, seeking to be part of a united Ireland.

There has been much speculation of renewed violence around this year’s commemorations. Commentators note that Brexit has intensified tensions in Northern Ireland, as a result of the creation of a de facto maritime trade border in the Irish Sea. While this avoids the return of a “hard border” on the island of Ireland itself, Unionists see the arrangement as representing a dividing line between them and the rest of the U.K.

As a scholar who works at the intersection of religion and politics, I share the concerns of those who see the potential for impending violence. The fear is occasions like the July 12 marches provide an opportunity for these frustrations to boil over into unrest, especially given recent political developments.

Opportunity for violence

The circumstances of this year’s marching season align with what scholars call the “frustration-aggression hypothesis.” Originally articulated by social psychologists at Yale University in the late 1930s, it holds that the likelihood of frustration producing political violence increases with the availability of an obvious outlet – in this case, the marches on July 12 – and the perceived lack of nonviolent ways to make frustrations felt.

Throughout the civil conflict in Northern Ireland, the marching season became a catalyst for sectarian street violence. This was especially the case where Orange Order parade routes passed through predominantly Catholic areas.

The parades have been relatively peaceful since the 1998 Good Friday Agreement – the deal struck by political leaders in Northern Ireland, Ireland and the U.K. that established a power-sharing arrangement and substantially ended political violence across the territory. Nevertheless, the history of the parades makes them a prime opportunity for expressions of simmering unionist frustrations.

This year’s marching season also comes in the context of a series of recent developments that have undermined unionists’ confidence in their political representation. Indeed, this past April saw outbreaks of rioting across Northern Ireland.

Unionist frustration spilled over into violence in April 2021. Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images

The largest unionist party in Northern Ireland is the Democratic Unionist Party, or DUP, founded in 1971 by evangelical preacher Rev. Ian Paisley. While Orangism has historically been more closely linked with the more moderate Ulster Unionist Party – the UUP – Orange Order leaders have attempted, unsuccessfully, to unify the unionist parties into a single political bloc.

Meanwhile, the DUP has lost considerable political influence in recent years. In 2017, it found itself holding the balance of power in the House of Commons and propping up Prime Minister Theresa May’s minority government. But when May’s successor, Boris Johnson, won an 80-seat majority in the election of 2019, the DUP suddenly lost bargaining power. In short, the U.K. government no longer required DUP votes to push through policy.

To unionist dismay, Johnson’s government agreed in January 2020 to a “Northern Ireland only” solution to its Brexit customs issue, ushering in a trade border in the Irish Sea between mainland Britain and Northern Ireland. This outcome played into long-standing unionist insecurities about being “sold out” by Westminster.

The DUP has also been diminished by the party’s own missteps. In May 2021, DUP leader Arlene Foster resigned after party colleagues mobilized to oust her. Her successor, Edwin Poots, inherited a politically vulnerable party. To make matters worse, Poots’ deal to restore power sharing to Northern Ireland was deeply unpopular among his party colleagues. He was forced to step down after only 21 days on the job.

This ongoing instability in unionist politics is reflected in plummeting support for the DUP as frustrated unionists desert the party. Many have turned to the liberal and nonsectarian Alliance Party.

But there is concern that some disillusioned Protestants may be pushed toward parties that oppose power sharing, such as the Traditional Unionist Voice, which was formed in 2007 by ex-DUP members who felt that the party has been too willing to compromise.

Demographic change

Social scientists contend that support for right-wing groups is driven by a sense of lost social and political supremacy, or “nostalgic deprivation.”

This appears to play into what is happening on the ground in Northern Ireland. Demographic changes are contributing to this feeling of nostalgic deprivation. After decades in which Protestants have been the majority group, the 2021 census of Northern Ireland is widely expected to show virtual parity between Protestant and Roman Catholic populations.

While the increasing Catholic population, relative to Protestant, does not translate into majority support for a United Ireland, the shift exacerbates unionists’ sense of lost supremacy. With the DUP failing to deliver political results, there is a danger that “nostalgic deprivation” will find expression through other means, such as in outbursts of street violence during the marching season. Police in the region are preparing for such an eventuality by canceling leave for officers over the July 12 weekend and putting in place a “contingency plan” in case street unrest occurs, the Belfast Telegraph reported.

Channeling aggression

The danger in Northern Ireland is that the gap between expected and actual political outcomes can generate frustration and raise the likelihood of political violence. In the heady days of the 2016 referendum, unionist support for Brexit was based on the expectation that it would solidify the union between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

However, its effect has been the opposite. It has established a customs and trade border between the two islands, weakening the link with mainland Britain and undermining the central goal of unionist politics.

Indeed, surveys indicate that a plurality of unionists now believe a united Ireland to be more likely as a consequence of Brexit. This only exacerbates unionist frustration, increasing the chances of street violence during the “marching season.” As one young unionist put it in an interview for the Financial Times, “you have to be violent to be heard.”

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Political frustration in Northern Ireland has heightened tension around ‘marching season’

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Northern Ireland’s Orange Order will take to the streets on July 12 to commemorate a Protestant military victory. A scholar explains why this year the risk of unrest is heightened.

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It is the annual Ulster Protestant celebration - held every year on July 12th - in religiously divided Northern Ireland that commemorates a 329-year-old military victory when the last British Catholic monarch King James II was defeated by Protestant King William, formerly Prince of Orange in Holland, at the Battle of the Boyne.
How is it celebrated?
Each year, members of the Orange Order - named after the victorious king and founded in 1795 - carry banners and flags in parades across Northern Ireland accompanied by marching bands carrying musical instruments that include pipes and drums. Orangemen wear distinctive bowler hats, white gloves and orange collarettes. The order, a "fraternal" organisation, has 35,000 to 40,000 members, including an estimated 2,000 in the Republic. The annual commemoration starts with bonfires and fireworks on the night of the Eleventh.
What are they celebrating?
They are commemorating the Glorious Revolution, or Revolution of 1688, that granted Protestant groups freedom of worship when King William and Queen Mary, James II's daughter, seized the British throne of the Catholic king. The new king established a parliamentary democracy, representing a shift from an absolute monarchy to parliamentary monarchy. A Bill of Rights passed by the 1689 parliament declared that no future monarch could be a Catholic or be married to a Catholic. On the Twelfth, Ulster Protestants are celebrating "King Billy" as the champion of the Protestant faith who secured the subsequent Protestant ascendancy - the political, economic and social domination by the minority Protestant population for three centuries - in Ireland. The defeated King James's claims to the throne ended with the Battle of the Boyne in July 1690.
Why is it contentious?
It is viewed by the predominantly Catholic nationalist community in Northern Ireland as a provocative display of triumphalism.
Why are bonfires built and lit on the Eleventh Night?
Bonfires were lit, the Orange Order says, across Ulster "from hilltop to hilltop" in celebration when news of William and Mary's coronation reached Ireland and to guide the king and his 15,000 troops as they landed in Carrickfergus and marched in to Belfast in June 1690. The commemorative "Eleventh Night" bonfires are also said to represent the camp fires of the king's troops the night before the Battle of the Boyne.
What happened at Drumcree?
The Drumcree Orange parade has been the most contentious in modern times. A standoff began in the mid-1990s after police stopped an annual Orange parade in Portadown, Co Armagh passing down the mainly nationalist Garvaghy Road on their annual march from Drumcree church. Attempts to ban the march from going down the road before 1998 led to Loyalist rioting in Portadown and across Northern Ireland in July of that year. The parade has been banned from passing down the road since then. There was Republican rioting when Orangemen were permitted by the UK government to march down the road in 1997.
What happens to contentious Orange parades now?
The Parades Commission, the "quasi-judicial non-departmental public body" born out of the Drumcree dispute, decides whether restrictions should be applied on contentious marches and has the power to ban parades outright. It accepts submissions and encourages dialogue between marchers and residents.

In its most recent annual report, for the year to the end of March 2018, the commission received notifications of 4,499 parades and parade-related protests, including 2,435 Protestant/Unionist/Loyalist parades and 126 Catholic/Republican/Nationalist parades. Some 190 of the 4,499 were considered sensitive, including 178 Protestant/Unionist/Loyalist parades. It imposed conditions on 166 Protestant/Unionist/Loyalist parades and eight Catholic/Republican/Nationalist parades during the year.

The commission said in the 2018 report "the Drumcree dispute remains unresolved" - more than two decades after it brought Northern Ireland to a standstill.

"Although the weekly protest parade has limited impact on community life, the Drumcree dispute continues to cause resentment," said the commission.

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Why do Orangemen march? The Twelfth of July explained

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It is the annual Ulster Protestant celebration - held every year on July 12th - in religiously divided Northern Ireland that commemorates a 329-year-old military victory when the last British Catholic monarch King James II was defeated by Protestant King William, formerly Prince of Orange in Holland, at the Battle of the Boyne.

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Thousands of Orange Order members have taken part in 12 July parades across Northern Ireland after a night of sporadic violence in the region.

Masked men hijacked and set 13 vehicles on fire in and around Belfast, while young republicans threw petrol bombs at police during a fifth night of disorder in the Bogside area of Derry.

Assistant Chief Constable Alan Todd of the Police Service of Northern Ireland said: “The disorder we have seen has been caused by a small minority of people who have no regard for their communities.

“No part of this is acceptable and today we are looking at the evidential picture to pursue lines of inquiry.

“I would like to pay tribute to the job that my officers, along with other emergency services, did last night. No one wants to see disruption and disorder and the people behind these incidents need to ask themselves just what they are achieving.”

While 12 July has passed off peacefully in Northern Ireland in recent years, helped largely by the resolution of a longstanding dispute about a parade route in Belfast, the overnight disorder means these commemorations take place amid tensions and concerns about the prospect of further trouble later on Thursday.

The deal between Orangemen and nationalist residents over arguably the most contentious parade, past the nationalist Ardoyne community in north Belfast, ensured there were no incidents on Thursday morning.

This parade was one of about 600 feeder processions taking place across Northern Ireland, with Orange Order members and supporting loyalist bands congregating at 17 host venues for events to mark the victory of the Protestant William of Orange over the Catholic James II at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.

It is the most significant date in the Protestant loyal order parading calendar.

On Wednesday night, a suspected pipe bomb detonated close to a police operation to clear a contentious fire site in Belfast, while other security alerts prompted the closure of main roads, with one incident preventing passengers from exiting Belfast City airport.

Masked men also used burning cars to block roads close to Ulster hospital in Dundonald, while a bus with passengers onboard was hijacked before being set alight in Newtownards.

Police had warned the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) was planning to “orchestrate and participate in serious disorder” in east Belfast.

The violence came after loyalists expressed anger at moves by authorities to limit the size of bonfires at two controversial sites in the east of the city. Hundreds of eleventh night bonfires were lit at midnight across Northern Ireland to usher in 12 July.

By 1am on Thursday, the Northern Ireland fire and rescue service had received 327 emergency calls, mobilised to 164 operational incidents, 57 of which were bonfire-related.

Fire officers said the figures represented a 23% increase on last year.

Fire engines came under attack on three occasions, at Carnhill in Derry, Moygashel near Dungannon and Ballycarry. No firefighters were injured.

While the majority of bonfires in Northern Ireland pass off without incident each year, in recent years there have been tensions in east Belfast over the size of two pyres, with many residents fearful of potential damage to their properties.

Loyalists claimed they had taken steps to minimise risk to buildings this year and characterised attempts to restrict bonfires as attacks on their culture.

The violence in Derry has been continuing for five nights and does not appear to be directly linked to a bonfire or parading dispute. Republicans in the Bogside, most of them young people, have been engaging in sporadic disorder, targeting police and unionist residents.

On Tuesday night, dissident republicans opened fire at police officers with an automatic weapon. No one was injured.

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Orange Order parades take place amid violence in Northern Ireland

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Vehicles set on fire in Belfast and petrol bombs thrown at police in Derry before 12 July

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Thousands of Orange Order members have taken part in Twelfth of July parades across Northern Ireland after a night of sporadic violence in the region.

wo crude but viable pipe bombs, and a number of petrol bombs, were thrown at officers by republicans on a fifth successive night of disorder in the Bogside area of Londonderry while in Belfast masked men hijacked and torched vehicles amid anger about moves to reduce the size of two loyalist Eleventh Night bonfires.

Police Service of Northern Ireland Assistant Chief Constable Alan Todd condemned those involved.

“The disorder we have seen has been caused by a small minority of people who have no regard for their communities,” he said.

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The Orangefield Park bonfire in east Belfast rages on Eleventh Night (David Young/PA)

PA Wire/PA Images

The Orangefield Park bonfire in east Belfast rages on Eleventh Night (David Young/PA)

PA Wire/PA Images

The Orangefield Park bonfire in east Belfast rages on Eleventh Night (David Young/PA)

While the Twelfth has passed off peacefully in Northern Ireland in recent years – helped largely by the resolution of a long-standing parading flashpoint dispute in Belfast – the overnight disorder means this year’s commemorations take place amid a tense backdrop, with concerns about the prospect of further trouble later on Thursday.

The deal between Orangemen and nationalist residents over arguably the most contentious parade – past the nationalist Ardoyne community in north Belfast – ensured that event again proceeded without incident on Thursday morning.

That was one of around 600 feeder parades taking place across Northern Ireland, with Orange members and supporting loyalist bands congregating at 17 host venues for events to mark the 1690 victory of Protestant King William of Orange over Catholic King James II at the Battle of the Boyne.

It is the biggest date in the Protestant loyal order parading calendar.

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Orange Order members take part in the annual Twelfth of July celebrations in Belfast city centre (Niall Carson/PA)

PA Wire/PA Images

Orange Order members take part in the annual Twelfth of July celebrations in Belfast city centre (Niall Carson/PA)

PA Wire/PA Images

Orange Order members take part in the annual Twelfth of July celebrations in Belfast city centre (Niall Carson/PA)

On Wednesday night, 13 vehicles were set on fire in Belfast and surrounding towns.

A suspected pipe bomb also detonated close to a police operation to clear a contentious fire site in Belfast while other security alerts prompted the closure of main roads, with one incident preventing newly arrived passengers exiting Belfast City Airport.

Masked men also used burning cars to block roads close to the Ulster Hospital in Dundonald on the outskirts of Belfast, while a bus with passengers on board was hijacked before being set alight in nearby Newtownards.

Wednesday’s incidents unfolded amid a police warning that the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) was planning to “orchestrate and participate in serious disorder” in east Belfast.

The violence came after loyalists expressed anger at moves by the authorities to limit the size of bonfires at two controversial sites in the east of the city.

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Police at the site of a bonfire in the Bloomfield Avenue area of Belfast (Niall Carson/PA)

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Police at the site of a bonfire in the Bloomfield Avenue area of Belfast (Niall Carson/PA)

PA Wire/PA Images

Police at the site of a bonfire in the Bloomfield Avenue area of Belfast (Niall Carson/PA)

Hundreds of Eleventh Night bonfires were lit at midnight across Northern Ireland to usher in the Twelfth commemorations.

By 1am on Thursday, the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) had received a total of 327 emergency calls, mobilised to 164 operational incidents – 57 of which were bonfire-related.

Fire officers said the figures represented a 23% increase on incidents attended last year, with the regional control centre at times handling an emergency 999 call every 48 seconds.

Fire appliances came under attack on three occasions, at Carn Hill in Londonderry, Moygashel near Dungannon and Ballycarry/Whitehead. No firefighters were injured.

While the majority of Eleventh Night fires in Northern Ireland pass off without incident each year, in recent times there have been community tensions in east Belfast over the size of the Bloomfield Walkway and Cluan Place pyres, with many residents fearful of potential damage to their properties.

Loyalists claimed they had taken steps to minimise risk to buildings this year and characterised attempts to restrict bonfires as attacks on their culture.

The violence in Derry has been ongoing for five nights and does not appear directly linked to a bonfire or parading dispute.

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A firefighter attends to a bonfire in the Sandy Row area of Belfast (Niall Carson/PA)

PA Wire/PA Images

A firefighter attends to a bonfire in the Sandy Row area of Belfast (Niall Carson/PA)

PA Wire/PA Images

A firefighter attends to a bonfire in the Sandy Row area of Belfast (Niall Carson/PA)

Republicans in the Bogside area, the majority of them youths, have been engaging in sporadic disorder, targeting police and residents of the nearby unionist Fountain estate.

There was a major incident on Tuesday night when dissident republicans opened fire at police with an automatic weapon. No one was injured.

Wednesday night’s disturbances witnessed another murder bid as pipe bombs were thrown at police stationed on the historic city walls. Again, no one was injured.

PSNI Superintendent Gordon McCalmont said: “This was a reckless act and those responsible have shown a blatant disregard for life.

“Our officers are working hard to keep people safe and there can be no justification whatsoever for this. Thankfully, no one was injured, however, had these devices exploded we could have been looking at something very different today.

“This is the second bid this week to murder police officers in the city.”

He added: “Police officers should not be targeted under any circumstances and their lives should not be put in danger by simply doing their jobs, keeping people safe.”

A fire was also started at the bottom of the flyover in the Bogside.

The PSNI condemned the outbreaks of sporadic disorder across Northern Ireland.

Assistant Chief Constable Mr Todd said: “No part of this is acceptable and today we are looking at the evidential picture to pursue lines of enquiry.

“I would like to pay tribute to the job that my officers, along with other emergency services, did last night.

“No one wants to see disruption and disorder and the people behind these incidents need to ask themselves just what they are achieving.

“I sincerely hope that today passes off peacefully and that the thousands of people who are attending community events and parades can do so enjoyably and safely.

“I would ask all of those with influence to work with us to ensure the safety of all.

“Our priority remains keeping people safe and I want to reassure people this morning that our response, should there be an further disorder, will continue to be proportionate with the necessary resources in place to detect and deter those responsible.”

One man in his 30s was arrested in the Diamond area of Derry for disorderly behaviour at 6pm.

Police moved in between parade supporters and a group of nationalist protesters as the final march returned to the city.

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Orange Order members parade after night of sporadic violence

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Thousands of Orange Order members have taken part in Twelfth of July parades across Northern Ireland after a night of sporadic violence in the region.

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Olivia O'Hagan tried to keep out of politics. But Northern Ireland's Troubles had a way of coming to her door. First her sister was abducted and shot. Then her father was shot at for buying property from a Protestant. People all around her were paranoid about being hassled by paramilitaries or dying in random attacks, and O'Hagan had become used to a life of fear.

"You didn't know who to trust," she recalled in a 2013 oral history. "You just kept yourself to yourself. You didn't get angry whenever you heard of all the people being shot dead. You just thought 'When is this ever going to end?'"

She had good reason to wonder. The Troubles-a term long used as a euphemism for violent conflict-brought decades of riots and bloody clashes between pro-British Protestants and Catholics bent on national independence to the doorsteps of people like O'Hagan. Rooted in a legacy of colonialism, religious conflict, and political uncertainty, the Troubles would take 30 years, and thousands of lives, to peter out.

Why Protestants and Catholics clashed in Northern Ireland

The Troubles arose from longstanding grievances between Catholics and Protestants who held deeply opposing views on Northern Ireland's relationship with Great Britain. A short distance and a long-shared history bound the two nations together, laying the foundation for the conflict.

In its earliest days, Ireland was home to multiple waves of conquerors, including the Celts, Vikings, and Anglo-Saxons. But beginning in 1541, Ireland was ruled by the British crown-and English emigrants soon began to settle in the country's northern region. Under British rule, the Irish, who were mostly Catholic, had their land confiscated and given to the mostly Protestant settlers.

Animosity between Catholics and Protestants continued, exacerbated by Britain's use of the island as a colony to be exploited. Over time, an Irish nationalist movement grew, and after decades of brutal fighting, Britain partitioned the country in 1921. Majority-Catholic Ireland gained its independence, and Northern Ireland, billed as "a Protestant state for Protestant people," remained part of the United Kingdom.

But not all Northern Irish people wanted to be associated with the U.K., and the newly created nation was roiled with sectarian violence from the start. Catholics, ruled by Protestant officials who discriminated against them and enforced laws unevenly, pushed for equal treatment and political independence.

During the 1960s, they began to borrow from the American civil rights movement with peaceful protests that, like those in the U.S., were met with brutality. At an October 1968 protest in Londonderry, also known as Derry, where the Catholic working class struggled with poor housing, unemployment, and persistent discrimination, police cracked down and beat protesters. The Troubles had begun.

Street battles and guerrilla warfare

Catholic nationalists soon redoubled their efforts, holding a march from Belfast to Derry in January 1969 that mirrored Martin Luther King, Jr.'s march to Selma in the U.S. Crowds of loyalists attacked the marchers throughout the protest and ambushed them on the final day at Burntollet Bridge just outside of Derry. The Protestant police did nothing to stop the loyalists even though they used clubs, stones, and other weapons. In response, riots raged throughout Derry.

Soon the Troubles kicked into high gear. Loyalists and nationalists alike marched and brawled. In one August 1969 incident now known as the Battle of the Bogside, a loyalist march from Belfast to Derry was met with protests and barricades. Local Catholic nationalists assailed the loyalists with Molotov cocktails and stones. The days-long riot only died down when British troops were deployed to Derry.

(The history of the Molotov cocktail, an iconic weapon of underdogs.)

Soon, hardline nationalists had organized into a paramilitary group known as the Irish Republican Army (IRA). Its objective: to force Britain to withdraw from Northern Ireland using any means necessary, including violence and guerrilla tactics. Its political arm, Sinn Féin, was devoted to achieving the same goals in the legislature.

In 1971, in response to the rising violence, Northern Ireland's government instituted a policy of internment without trial and arrested hundreds of IRA members and suspected nationalists.

Bloody Sunday

As the situation deteriorated, the nation's police force struggled to maintain order. Then, on January 30, 1972, the Troubles took an even darker turn when 15,000 nationalist protesters took to the streets in Derry in defiance of a ban on marches.

The protesters tussled with both the British Army and loyalist counterprotesters-until 21 soldiers fired on the crowd, killing 13 men and injuring others. It was a violent escalation that increased popular support for the IRA and represented Britain's willingness to silence the nationalists.

Now known as Bloody Sunday, the incident further inflamed anti-British, anti-Protestant sentiment. A tribunal held at the time acquitted both the soldiers and the British Army, but a more recent inquiry revealed that the civilians were shot without warning and had been doing nothing threatening.

The aftermath of Bloody Sunday was widespread chaos on the streets of Northern Ireland, and a breakdown at the nation's parliamentary level. The U.K. had dithered on how to intervene, but in March 1972 it acted. Northern Ireland's premier suspended parliament and Britain instituted direct rule.

A long path to peace

The first steps toward peace began in 1973 when Britain, the Republic of Ireland, and a variety of Northern Irish political factions hashed out the Sunningdale Agreement. The deal created a power-sharing arrangement between loyalists and nationalists within the Northern Irish government and instituted a Council of Ireland with representatives from both nations. But the agreement collapsed after a group of loyalists, incensed by what they saw as an invitation for the Republic of Ireland to interfere in Northern Irish affairs, held a general strike that effectively closed down the country.

After the collapse of the Sunningdale Agreement, terrorist and counter-terrorist activity resumed with bombings, street fighting, and other violence erupting regularly. The carnage even reached the royal family; in 1979, members of the IRA blew up the boat of Lord Louis Mountbatten, Queen Elizabeth's second cousin and Prince Philip's uncle, assassinating him and killing one of his sons and another passenger.

In the wake of one 1985 IRA hotel bombing intended to assassinate British leaders, Britain and the Republic of Ireland signed the Anglo-Irish Agreement, giving the Republic of Ireland a role in Northern Irish affairs. The agreement improved relations between the countries and opened a path toward Irish reunification. But in Northern Ireland, both the nationalists and loyalists disliked the agreement and violence swelled.

Progress continued to be made at the negotiating table-even as ongoing violence threatened to upend it all. In 1993, British Prime Minister John Major issued a declaration that laid the ground for peace talks, and the IRA and other paramilitary groups declared a ceasefire the following year. But the ceasefire fell apart in the mid 1990s when the British government told the IRA they must completely disarm before joining the peace process. In response, the IRA detonated a massive truck bomb at a London dockyard, wounding a hundred people.

The Good Friday Agreement

After the shock of the bombing, the British government dropped its demand and allowed the IRA to participate in the peace process. The IRA reinstated its ceasefire in 1997-which would mark the official end to the violence as all parties negotiated in earnest.

Finally, on April 10, 1998, Britain, the Republic of Ireland, and most Northern Irish political parties signed the Good Friday Agreement, which established a power-sharing system of government and made Northern Ireland a devolved state that, while part of the U.K., would have its own legislature and executive. Something else came from the agreement: an all-Irish referendum which voters from both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland ultimately approved.

Though the Troubles officially ended with the Good Friday Agreement, Northern Ireland's political woes were far from over. In 2002, Britain suspended Northern Ireland's power-sharing Assembly in response to renewed violence and political upheaval. Only in 2007 did the devolved government come back.

The legacy of the Troubles

Today, the IRA has disarmed, and power-sharing continues in Northern Ireland. But the brutal conflict still reverberates there. Nearly 4,000 people were killed and more than 47,000 injured throughout the 30-year struggle, most of them young adults.

The history of the conflict is also still being written. For example, one 2019 project revealed the confessions of paramilitaries on both sides, leading to a protracted legal battle. Many perpetrators were never brought to justice, and 16 people are thought to have been kidnapped, murdered, and buried in undisclosed locations by nationalists during the conflict.

The Good Friday Agreement was historic. But many of those whose lives were disrupted by the violence and grief of the Troubles are still alive and contending with the conflict's gruesome legacy. "You can't turn it around overnight," recalled O'Hagan in the oral history. "Every now and again, whenever it raises its head, you sort of say to yourself 'You know what? We're really not all that far on.'"

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What were the Troubles that ravaged Northern Ireland?

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Olivia O'Hagan tried to keep out of politics. But Northern Ireland's Troubles had a way of coming to her door. First her sister was abducted and shot. Then her father was shot at for buying property from a Protestant.

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BELFAST - Irish Catholic militants attacked riot police Thursday in a polarized corner of Belfast as the most divisive day on Northern Ireland's calendar reached a typically ugly end - and yet managed, amid the smoke and chaos, to break some ground for peacemaking.

Several hours of violence in the hard-line Catholic Ardoyne district marked the fourth straight year that the area has descended into street battles following the annual passage of Protestant marchers from the Orange Order brotherhood.

Massive Orange parades across Northern Ireland each July 12 - an official holiday that commemorates the Protestant side's victory in 17th-century religious warfare - often stoke conflict with Catholics, who despise the annual marches as a Protestant show of superiority.

But in recent years, as British authorities have restricted the Protestants' march routes, a drab stretch of road that passes a row of Ardoyne shops has become the focal point for provincewide animosity. There, the decades-old battle for supremacy between the British Protestant majority and Irish Catholic minority wages a yearly test of wills, with heavily armored police stuck in the middle.

A British government-appointed Parades Commission sought to defuse the Ardoyne conflict this year by ordering the Orangemen to march along Crumlin Road by 4 p.m., three hours sooner than normal. Protestant leaders grudgingly accepted the deadline rather than mount a later standoff, and all sides agreed this gesture kept a bad situation from turning worse.

The Parades Commission and police also permitted Ardoyne residents for the first time to stage their own march on the road a few hours later in a bid to balance competing rights.

That second gesture was overshadowed by violence.

The police commander directing the operation to keep the riots confined to a few Ardoyne residential streets, Assistant Chief Constable Will Kerr, praised ''the positive efforts of all those parading, protesting, and marshaling today.''

Kerr said four officers were wounded, but none had life-threatening injuries.

The carefully choreographed sectarian dance on Crumlin Road demonstrated how, despite a two-decade peace process and five years of a joint Catholic-Protestant government, Northern Ireland at grass-roots level still faces a long, uncertain journey to achieve reconciliation.

Indeed, Protestant officials of the unity government took part in the Orange parade, while some of their Catholic counterparts stood with the Ardoyne protesters. And yet both sides' leaders said the dispute would do nothing to derail their continued cooperation the rest of the year.

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Orange marches again stir violence in Belfast - The Boston Globe

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Irish Catholic militants attacked riot police Thursday in a polarized corner of Belfast as the most divisive day on Northern Ireland's calendar reached a typically ugly end - and yet managed, amid the smoke and chaos, to break some ground for peacemaking.

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Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland | DW Documentary

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NORTHERN IRELAND: CATHOLICS ATTEMPT TO BLOCK PARADE BY ORANGEMEN

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NORTHERN IRELAND: ORANGEMEN STAGE MARCH IN BELFAST

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By Tom Edgington & Tamara Kovacevic BBC News

Reuters

The Windsor Framework was announced by Rishi Sunak and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen

A new Brexit deal for Northern Ireland, known as the Windsor Framework, has been adopted by the UK and the EU.

It builds on the Northern Ireland Protocol, which led to significant disagreements between the UK and European Union (EU).

Why does Northern Ireland need its own Brexit deal?

Trade between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland was straightforward before Brexit - both were in the EU and shared the same trade rules.

However, when Northern Ireland left the EU, a deal was required to allow trade to continue across the border.

The EU has strict food rules, and requires border checks when certain goods - such as milk and eggs - arrive from non-EU countries like the UK. Paperwork is also required for other goods.

But idea of checks at the border with Ireland is a sensitive issue because of Northern Ireland's troubled political history.

It was feared that introducing cameras or border posts as part of checks on incoming and outgoing goods could lead to instability.

What is the Northern Ireland Protocol?

Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson agreed the Northern Ireland Protocol with the EU. It became part of international law and came into force on 1 January 2021.

Under the Northern Ireland Protocol, new checks were introduced.

But rather than taking place at the Irish border, inspection and document checks are carried out at Northern Ireland's ports. This applies to goods travelling from Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) to Northern Ireland.

The checks apply even if the goods are due to remain in Northern Ireland.

Getty Images

Unionist parties - which support Northern Ireland being part of the UK - argued these checks create an effective border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.

Businesses have also complained the checks mean extra costs and delays.

What is the Windsor Framework?

The new deal is aimed at significantly reducing the number of checks required.

It envisages two "lanes" for goods arriving in Northern Ireland from Great Britain:

A green lane for goods which will remain in Northern Ireland

A red lane for goods which may be sent on to the EU

Products going through the green lane not need checks or additional paperwork.

Red lane goods would still be subject to checks.

The current bans on certain products - like chilled sausages - entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain would be removed.

Northern Ireland would also no longer have to follow certain EU rules, for example on VAT and alcohol duties.

What is the Stormont brake?

Under the previous deal, some EU laws still applied in Northern Ireland. However, politicians at Stormont - home to the Northern Ireland Assembly - had no way of influencing them.

The new agreement introduces a so-called "Stormont brake". This would let the Northern Ireland Assembly - which creates laws in Northern Ireland - to object to new EU rules.

The process would be triggered if 30 Northern Ireland politicians from two or more parties sign a petition.

The brake could not be used for "trivial reasons" and would be reserved for "significantly different" rules.

The threshold would be "really high" according to EU law professor Catherine Barnard. "It's a security measure, but one that's not meant to be used very often," she says.

Once the UK tells the EU the brake has been triggered, the rule cannot be implemented.

The process would not be overseen by the European Court of Justice (ECJ), but it would still have a final say on whether Northern Ireland is following certain EU rules (known as single market rules).

Will the new deal be accepted?

The deal was approved by the UK Parliament, and formally adopted by the UK and the EU.

However, Northern Ireland's largest unionist party, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), voted against it.

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said the party has concerns about the Windsor Framework, but it would "continue to work with the government on all the outstanding issues".

The party also rejected the original protocol, and is still refusing to take part in Northern Ireland's power-sharing government until its concerns are addressed.

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Brexit: What are the Northern Ireland Protocol and Windsor Framework?

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A new Brexit deal for Northern Ireland has been adopted by the UK and the EU.

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In the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Secretary of State Colin Powell introduced President George W. Bush to the “Pottery Barn rule”: “You break it, you own it.” Powell’s point was that military victory over Saddam Hussein would not be the end of America’s involvement, but the beginning. Something similar is true for Northern Ireland today, where the fragile peace settlement that has just about held for nearly a quarter century is close to breaking. And if Powell’s logic is right, those that brought the situation to this point now own the problem: not simply British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, but the European Union too.

In polite society, it is almost uniformly accepted that Britain, and Britain alone, broke things in Northern Ireland, and at first glance, the case against Johnson and Britain seems to be watertight. By leaving the EU, and doing so in the way that it did—exiting the EU’s economic zone as well as its political structure—Britain created a problem that did not previously exist: namely, the need for a trade and customs border between Britain and the EU. This border is at the heart of the crisis in Northern Ireland today.

In ordinary circumstances, a border should not be an issue. Economic borders tend to sit alongside national borders. The problem is that Northern Ireland is not ordinary, but a land divided between those who consider themselves Irish (and who mostly want Northern Ireland to leave the United Kingdom and join the Republic of Ireland, an independent country in the EU), and those who consider themselves British (and who mostly want Northern Ireland to remain in the U.K., separate from the Republic of Ireland). Wherever an economic border is placed, one side of this divide is going to feel separated from the land they consider home. This is a problem because under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, which everyone claims to want to protect, Northern Ireland remains part of the U.K. until a majority there (and in the Republic) says otherwise, but is governed by a system that functions only if power is shared between the sides. And to do this, there must be a consensus.

The situation is this: To “get Brexit done” after years of turmoil, Johnson agreed to a divorce deal with the EU that placed the economic border between Northern Ireland and Great Britain—within the U.K.—to avoid requiring checks on goods traveling between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Ever since this was agreed, however, Northern Irish politics has been in turmoil, with British unionists arguing—reasonably—that the deal prioritizes Irish nationalists’ wishes not to have a land border on the island of Ireland over unionists’ desire not to have a sea border within their own country. In protest, unionists are refusing to share power until the issue is fixed to their satisfaction. And so, a deal apparently made to protect the Good Friday Agreement is the main block to the functioning of the political institutions set up by the Good Friday Agreement.

On Monday, Johnson traveled to Northern Ireland for talks with political leaders and issued a warning that unless the EU agreed to change the arrangement (that he signed up to), he would introduce new laws in the U.K. to unilaterally override some of its provisions. In response, the EU has warned that it could suspend its post-Brexit trade agreement with Britain, effectively beginning a trade war between the two sides. Such is the seriousness of the situation that U.S. President Joe Biden has intervened to caution Johnson against acting unilaterally.

Though Johnson incontestably owns much of this mess, ignoring the EU’s role obscures the reality. The EU shares some of the blame for the crisis. It may not have broken Northern Ireland, but it has bought shares in the place and will not be able to sell them. Northern Ireland is a permanent problem, one involving endless fixes, fudges, bargains, and compromises that will bedevil the relationship between London and Brussels from here on in.

Though many of Britain’s Brexiteers, and certainly Johnson, have clearly been reckless in their treatment of Northern Ireland—not to mention delusional in their stated belief that the border problem can be magicked away by technology, political will, or some combination of the two—the EU has been equally delusional in believing that this is an issue that can somehow be solved in law, codified and fixed without the consent of both communities living there. That is not how Northern Ireland works.

In fact, this mistaken belief has been a fundamental problem of the negotiations between Britain and the EU. Early on, Brussels declared that it would not sign up to any agreement with the U.K. that did not include a permanent solution to the Irish border issue. Unless Britain wanted to inflict significant damage on its economy by leaving the EU without an accord—suddenly paying tariffs on its exports to its biggest trading partner, for example—it would have to find a legally binding solution.

Both sides quickly committed to avoiding a “hard border” on the island of Ireland. For the EU, this meant no border infrastructure at all, anywhere—no cameras, no checkpoints, nothing. The only way to meet this aspiration was either for the whole of the U.K. (including Northern Ireland) to remain permanently tied to EU rules, therefore negating the need for any border controls because both sides would have the same standards, or for Northern Ireland alone to do so. In effect, the EU would sign a divorce deal with the U.K. only if all or some of it remained tied into the EU’s market. This is the so-called Hotel California exit: You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave.

All of this is a far more radical proposition than is usually admitted, or understood. Essentially, the EU’s position was that it would not deal with the U.K. unless at least a part of it permanently abided by EU rules. Would the EU sign a deal with the United States that forced it to abide by rules made by the U.S. Congress, or would the Senate agree to a treaty that bound, say, Alaska to Canada’s laws? Northern Ireland is more complicated than any of these places and must be dealt with as such, but it is also a sovereign part of the United Kingdom—a position that is still supported by a majority of those who live there.

Britain fought against the EU’s power for a while, only to fold and agree that there would be no “physical infrastructure or related checks and controls” on the island of Ireland, meaning the only place the border could go was within the U.K.—between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. The basis of doing this, according to both sides, was to protect the Good Friday Agreement, but the Irish government knew that unionists in Northern Ireland would be against the arrangement. “We just could not believe the British had accepted the text,” one Irish government official told me in 2019, speaking on the condition of anonymity to freely discuss diplomatic deliberations. “We knew it would not be acceptable to the unionists. The truth is, Brexit was always going to poison the atmosphere, and it has.” Theresa May, then prime minister, also knew that the border deal would be unacceptable to unionists—they told her as much at the time. Northern Ireland’s unionists, along with a majority of British lawmakers, thrice rejected her deal, forcing her to resign and paving the way for Johnson to become PM on a promise to scrap May’s deal and replace it with a better one. Yet when he took over, he agreed to a deal that made the internal border even harder, further infuriating unionists.

Throughout this whole sorry saga, British officials were perfectly clear that the deals being negotiated were not practically enforceable. By the end, everyone just needed a deal, something that would end the Brexit chaos. In the years that have passed since the agreement was signed, the protocol has never been fully implemented because to do so would be politically intolerable. This is now accepted by both sides in Northern Ireland and by the EU, which has offered a series of reforms to the deal to make it less disruptive to trade between Britain and Northern Ireland. One senior figure in Dublin told me that if only the EU had shown such flexibility during the original negotiations, perhaps the outcome would have been different.

It is hard to avoid the conclusion that Northern Ireland has been failed by pretty much everyone in a position of leadership, whether in London, Dublin, Brussels, or any of the other European capitals that failed to take the warnings from unionism seriously. May showed extraordinary weakness, Johnson extraordinary cynicism, and the EU extraordinary political ignorance and inflexibility. Johnson signed on to a deal that he initially said was great but now says is a threat to peace; MPs in the ruling Conservative Party who claim to be unionists and sovereigntists voted for an agreement that split their country and placed a part of it under EU regulatory control; Dublin knew that what it was pushing for would upset the peace settlement; and the EU used its power over the U.K. to impose untenable conditions it would never accept for itself.

Even now, you get the sense that no one is really facing up to the reality of the situation.

Northern Ireland’s unionists are not facing up to the reality that they are almost certainly fighting a losing cause. The British government is seeking not to remove the internal border, only to mitigate its impact. The economic unity of the United Kingdom has twice been sacrificed by Conservative governments to ensure greater freedom for mainland Britain, and it is certainly bunkum to believe that this calculation will suddenly shift.

Governments in Dublin, London, Brussels, Paris, and Berlin are not facing up to the reality either: that this is now a permanent negotiation and shared problem that cannot ever be “solved.” Whenever a new law, regulation, tax change, or trade deal is signed by either the British government or the EU, the economic border that now exists will need to be updated.

The issue cannot be resolved in one sweeping deal, because it is a constantly evolving situation. The more the EU and Britain diverge over time, the harder it will be to limit the impact of the trade border between Northern Ireland and Britain (which is, for practical purposes, the border between Britain and the EU). Because the way this border operates affects the functioning of power-sharing in Northern Ireland, both sides are now locked into a permanent negotiation about customs checks, regulatory equivalence, acceptable levels of risk, and so on.

This is the unavoidable reality of geography, an endless negotiation between neighboring trade partners—an ever-evolving, never-ending Brexit. Given the unique nature of Northern Ireland, such a negotiation requires careful handling, the steady building of trust, a willingness to compromise, and, above all, political nous. If power-sharing is to survive in Northern Ireland, the shifting reality on the ground must remain balanced, and the costs and disruption of Brexit must be shared as equally as possible, regardless of whether people think this is fair. Nothing should be off the table; nothing should be dismissed.

As early as 2017, the former Irish leader Bertie Ahern, who negotiated the Good Friday Agreement with Tony Blair, said that the only solution to the border conundrum would involve an element of looking the other way. The same is true today.

Brexit created a problem that cannot be solved, only managed. The old world was broken, and whether it’s fair or not, both Britain and the EU now own the new one.

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Europe’s Ireland Problem Is Here to Stay

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Brexit created a problem that cannot be solved, only managed. Both Britain and the European Union are responsible for what happens now.

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Key moments in the history of the province

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What were The Troubles? | Northern Ireland spotlight

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Worst violence in Belfast for years as British and Irish leaders call for calm - BBC News

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Post-Brexit border reignites tensions in Northern Ireland | Focus on Europe

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How Brexit is Reigniting Tensions in Northern Ireland

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Bloody Sunday 1972: The day's events explained

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The Northern Irish troubles | British Army | Northern Ireland | This Week| 1972

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UK - NORTHERN IRELAND: 1972 WORST YEAR YET

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In 1996 The Provesional IRA bombed Manchester city centre. The bomb was placed in a van and caused widespread damage. Luckily nobody was killed. In fact areas around the city centre were redeveloped and many dilapidated bulidings were knocked. Manchester city centre soon became one of the most modern in The U.K.

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A peace agreement nearly a quarter-century ago helped transform Northern Ireland after decades of bitter conflict. But new issues are reawakening old feuds.

Police officers forming a line on Springfield Road in Belfast to keep nationalist and loyalist groups from attacking each other on Wednesday. Credit... Peter Morrison/Associated Press

Adding to the world's sectarian flash points, the British territory of Northern Ireland has roared back into the news, its relative calm punctured by violent rioting among groups that had made peace 23 years ago.

The reasons for the breakdown are intertwined with Britain's exit from the European Union and the stresses of the Covid-19 pandemic. But they have demonstrated the combustible potency of the old feuds between a largely Catholic side that wants the territory to be part of Ireland, and a mostly Protestant side that wants to remain part of Britain.

For more than a week, protests have descended into mayhem in the streets of Belfast, the capital, and some other parts of Northern Ireland, leaving scores of police officers wounded. Rioters as young as 13 have thrown gasoline bombs at the police and set buses afire. Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain and his Irish counterpart, Micheal Martin, have both expressed deep concern.

"Boris Johnson is wrestling with a problem that is too close to home for comfort: the worst violence on the streets of Northern Ireland for many years," Mujtaba Rahman, managing director Europe for the Eurasia Group, a political risk consultancy, said in an email to clients. The underlying causes, Mr. Rahman said, "were unlikely to be resolved quickly."

Here is a look at Northern Ireland and the issues behind its violent turn.

Northern Ireland is a 5,400-square-mile area of roughly two million people under British sovereignty in the northeast part of the isle of Ireland, bordered on the south and west by the Republic of Ireland and on the east by the Irish Sea, which separates it from the rest of Britain.

Ireland became self-governing almost 100 years ago after centuries of British rule. But the treaty that established self-rule for most of the island, after several years of fierce struggle in the wake of World War I, also contained an opt out for the area with the largest concentration of Protestants, whose leaders strongly opposed the prospect of becoming part of a Catholic-majority state.

This northern area remained part of Britain, with a police force and a local government dominated for decades by Protestants.

The division of Ireland became the source of one of the 20th century's most violent and enduring sectarian conflicts, pitting Catholics and groups opposed to British rule, including the paramilitary Irish Republican Army, against Protestants and pro-British forces including loyalist militant groups.

Belfast, a onetime shipbuilding epicenter and birthplace of the Titanic, became one of the "four Bs" - joining Beirut, Baghdad and Bosnia in the pantheon of the world's most perilous places. Roughly 3,600 people died in decades of strife in Northern Ireland known as "The Troubles."

An accord known as the Belfast Agreement, also called the Good Friday Agreement or simply the agreement, was reached on April 10, 1998, by the British government, the Irish government and Northern Ireland political parties.

It created a governing assembly for the territory designed to ensure power-sharing between Protestants and Catholics, and bodies to ease cooperation between Northern Ireland and Ireland. It committed former adversaries to disarm and settle their disputes peacefully. It also permitted residents of Northern Ireland to obtain Irish citizenship or dual Irish-British citizenship.

Years of relative peace followed. Once considered a no-go area for tourists, Northern Ireland became a draw. Its attraction was further enhanced by the creators of "Game of Thrones," the HBO series, who used its stunning and diverse landscapes as their stage. The show's April 2011 debut put "the north of Ireland on the map," said The Derry Journal, a newspaper in Northern Ireland's second-largest city.

Britain's departure from the European Union, known as Brexit, disturbed the political balance in Northern Ireland, threatening the underpinnings of the Good Friday Agreement.

Ireland remains a European Union member country, and Brexit raised the prospect of new checks at its previously unrestricted land border with Northern Ireland, impeding the free flow of people and goods and angering those who would like to see the island unified.

But workarounds to keep that border open have created new problems in commerce between Northern Ireland and the rest of Britain, disrupting supplies to the territory's stores and upsetting those in Northern Ireland who see themselves as British. Resentment in pro-British Protestant areas has swelled and contributed to the most recent outbreaks of violence, raising fears of retaliation from Catholic communities.

A further source of tension was a recent police decision not to prosecute crowds of mourners who gathered at a funeral last June for Bobby Storey, an Irish Republican Army commander, despite a ban on mass gatherings because of the pandemic. Among the mourners were leaders of Sinn Fein, a political party with links to the I.R.A. that has become the leading party among Northern Ireland's Catholics.

While there are no expectations that the violence will escalate to levels seen during the years of The Troubles, when British forces were deployed to Northern Ireland, leaders on all sides fear the onset of a cycle of revenge attacks.

Northern Ireland's predicament has now become an especially delicate issue for Mr. Johnson's government. He does not want to lose support from Protestants in Northern Ireland who say they feel betrayed and disenfranchised. And any deepening of divisions between Northern Ireland and Ireland could galvanize support for Irish unification, which some polls suggest has already risen since Brexit.

For now, political leaders on all sides are emphasizing the need to honor the 1998 Belfast Agreement, reminding Northern Ireland's young people how it transformed their lives. Mr. Martin, Ireland's prime minister, put it this way in remarks on Saturday, the agreement's anniversary: "We owe it to the agreement generation and, indeed, future generations not to spiral back to that dark place of sectarian murders and political discord."

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The Ghosts of Northern Ireland's Troubles Are Back. What's Going On?

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A peace agreement nearly a quarter-century ago helped transform Northern Ireland after decades of bitter conflict. But new issues are reawakening old feuds. Adding to the world's sectarian flash points, the British territory of Northern Ireland has roared back into the news, its relative calm punctured by violent rioting among groups that had made peace 23 years ago.

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Detailansicht öffnen

Sinn-Féin-Spitzenkanditatin Michelle O'Neill (rechts) macht ein Selfie mit Linda Dillon, die ebenfalls für einen Parlamentssitz kandidierte.
(Foto: CLODAGH KILCOYNE/REUTERS)

Es ist eine Zäsur in der Geschichte Nordirlands: Zum ersten Mal seit Gründung der britischen Provinz im Jahr 1921 ist Sinn Féin stärkste Kraft im nordirischen Parlament. Die Partei, die den republikanisch-katholischen Teil der Bevölkerung vertritt, errang bei den Regionalwahlen 27 der 90 Sitze in der Northern Ireland Assembly. Sinn Féin liegt damit vor den unionistisch-protestantischen Parteien, allen voran der Democratic Unionist Party. Die DUP kam mit 25 Mandaten auf den zweiten Platz, gefolgt von der konfessionsübergreifenden Alliance Party, die ihre Fraktionsstärke mit 17 Sitzen mehr als verdoppeln konnte. Die Regierungsbildung in Belfast gilt als äußerst schwierig. Nordirland steht vor Monaten voller Unsicherheit, womöglich auch Gewalt.

Gemäß dem Karfreitagsabkommen von 1998, das den Nordirland-Konflikt beendete, müssen sich die zwei größten Parteien beider konfessionellen Lager die Macht teilen. Als Wahlsiegerin steht Sinn Féin das Amt der Regierungschefin zu, Spitzenkandidatin Michelle O'Neill dürfte First Minister werden. Kommt es so, wäre dies ein historischer Einschnitt, denn bislang wurde der Posten immer von Politikern aus Parteien besetzt, die sich für die Beibehaltung der Union mit Großbritannien einsetzen. Mit Sinn Féin steht nun erstmals jene Partei an der Spitze, die sich für eine Vereinigung Nordirlands mit der Republik Irland einsetzt. Sinn Féin war einst der politische Arm der Irisch-Republikanischen Armee (IRA), die gewaltsam für ein United Ireland kämpfte.

Ob eine Einheitsregierung aus Sinn Féin und DUP zustande kommt, ist völlig offen. DUP-Spitzenkandidat Jeffrey Donaldson kündigte an, eine Regierungsbildung zu blockieren. Seine Partei hatte im Februar ihren damaligen First Minister abgezogen und damit die frühere Einheitsregierung mit Sinn Féin platzen lassen. Grund dafür ist der Brexit-Vertrag, den der britische Premier Boris Johnson mit der Europäischen Union geschlossen hat.

Das Abkommen zwischen dem Vereinigten Königreich und der EU sieht einen Sonderstatus für Nordirland vor, der im sogenannten Nordirland-Protokoll festgelegt ist. Die DUP fürchtet, dass diese Vereinbarung dazu führt, dass Nordirland langfristig nicht mehr Teil des Vereinigten Königreichs sein könnte. Die Unionisten in Nordirland hatten während der Brexit-Verhandlungen immer wieder darauf gedrängt, dass die Provinz gleichbehandelt werde wie der Rest des Vereinigten Königreichs.

Weil Johnson sein Land aber aus dem EU-Binnenmarkt und der Zollunion gelöst hat, musste aufgrund der geografischen Lage und der historischen Situation Nordirlands eine spezielle Lösung gefunden werden. Ziel war es, dass auf keinen Fall eine harte Grenze auf der irischen Insel errichtet wird, darüber herrscht nach wie vor Einigkeit zwischen den unterschiedlichen politischen Lagern.

Die Lösung bestand also darin, dass in der britischen Provinz weiter EU-Regeln gelten, damit der Güterverkehr zwischen Nordirland und Irland nicht kontrolliert werden muss. Nur: Die von Johnson ausgehandelte Regelung bedeutet eben auch, dass der Güterverkehr zwischen Großbritannien und Nordirland kontrolliert wird, schließlich könnten Waren, die nicht EU-Standards entsprechen, über Nordirland nach Irland, also in die EU, gelangen.

Boris Johnson hat eine Grenze in der Irischen See geschaffen

Die DUP und ihre Anhänger sehen darin nichts anderes als eine Spaltung des Vereinigten Königreichs. Denn im Grunde hat der Premier eine Grenze in der Irischen See geschaffen. Die DUP kämpft seitdem gegen die sogenannte "Irish Sea Border", der Brexit-Streit war ihr Wahlkampf-Thema Nummer eins. Auch nach der Abstimmung dürfte die DUP an ihrem Versprechen festhalten und erst in eine neue Regierung eintreten, wenn das Nordirland-Protokoll geändert wird.

In Londoner Regierungskreisen wird deshalb erwartet, dass Johnson den Wahlausgang in Nordirland für seine Zwecke benutzen wird. Der Premier dürfte gegenüber Brüssel argumentieren, dass niemand - auch nicht die EU - ein Interesse daran haben kann, dass Nordirland de facto ohne Regierung dasteht. Deshalb wird Johnson wohl einmal mehr eine Änderung jenes Vertrags fordern, den er selbst verhandelt und unterschrieben hat.

Der Premier will zunächst den Dialog mit der EU-Kommission suchen. Sollten die Gespräche zwischen London und Brüssel allerdings scheitern, dürfte Johnson auch nicht vor einem Vertragsbruch zurückschrecken. Laut britischen Medien lässt er bereits ein nationales Gesetz vorbereiten, mit dem Teile des Brexit-Abkommens ausgehebelt werden könnten. Der Times zufolge hat Johnson sogar schon einen Vertrauten nach Washington entsandt, um die dortige Regierung davon zu überzeugen, dass sein Vorgehen das Karfreitagsabkommen nicht infrage stellen würde. US-Präsident Joe Biden, der familiäre irische Wurzeln hat, hatte bereits mehrfach klargemacht, dass er das Good Friday Agreement für unantastbar hält.

In Brüssel verfolgt man Johnsons Manöver mit einem gewissen Argwohn. Einerseits sei dem Premier alles zuzutrauen, heißt es aus Kommissionskreisen. Andererseits bestehe durchaus die Hoffnung, dass Johnson die dringend nötige Einheit des Westens nicht mit einem erneuten Brexit-Streit gefährden will, schon gar nicht im Lichte des russischen Angriffskriegs auf die Ukraine.

Sinn Féin vertritt im Brexit-Streit die Haltung der Wirtschaftsverbände in Nordirland

Laut Brexit-Vertrag muss das nordirische Regionalparlament spätestens im Jahr 2024 darüber abstimmen, ob das Nordirland-Protokoll beibehalten werden soll. Bislang sieht es so aus, dass die DUP von den anderen Parteien überstimmt werden dürfte. Sinn Féin etwa vertritt die Haltung der großen Wirtschaftsverbände in Nordirland, die lediglich technische Änderungen für geboten halten. Damit hätte auch Brüssel kein Problem.

Sinn Féin hatte versucht, das Brexit-Thema so gut wie möglich im Wahlkampf auszublenden. Die erfolgreiche Spitzenkandidatin O'Neill stellte vor allem Themen in den Mittelpunkt, die laut Meinungsumfragen als größte Probleme genannt wurden: die steigenden Energiepreise, die schlechte Gesundheitsversorgung und die akute Wohnungsnot.

Das ureigene Anliegen von Sinn Féin, nämlich die Vereinigung Nordirlands mit der Republik Irland, spielte im Wahlkampf eine geringe Rolle. Dennoch bleibt es bei dem erklärten Ziel von Sinn Féin, ein Referendum über die irische Einheit abhalten zu lassen. Geht es nach O'Neill, soll es noch in diesem Jahrzehnt soweit sein.

Der Generalsekretär von Johnsons konservativer Regierungspartei, Oliver Dowden, sagte am Tag nach der Wahl, dass London einer Volksabstimmung nicht im Wege stehen würde. Voraussetzung sei aber, dass sich eine andauernde Unterstützung der Nordirinnen und Nordiren für die Vereinigung in Meinungsumfragen abzeichne. Bisher sprechen sich dafür aber gerade mal etwa 30 Prozent der nordirischen Wählerinnen und Wähler aus.

Im Sinn-Féin-Lager hofft man deshalb auf das Jahr 2025. Spätestens dann finden die nächsten Wahlen in Irland statt. Auch dort hat Sinn Féin beste Chancen, die nächste Regierungschefin zu stellen. Sollte es tatsächlich dazu kommen, dass die republikanisch-katholische Partei in beiden Landesteilen der irischen Insel triumphiert, dürfte die Frage eines United Ireland wieder stärker in den Vordergrund rücken. Und mit ihr die Gefahr, dass die Gewalt in Nordirland wieder ausbrechen könnte.

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Sinn Féin erstmals stärkste Kraft in Nordirland

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Es ist eine Zäsur in der Geschichte Nordirlands: Zum ersten Mal seit Gründung der britischen Provinz im Jahr 1921 ist Sinn Féin stärkste Kraft im nordirischen Parlament. Die Partei, die den republikanisch-katholischen Teil der Bevölkerung vertritt, errang bei den Regionalwahlen 27 der 90 Sitze in der Northern Ireland Assembly.

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Rise of Alliance reveals surprising facets of North's shifting politics

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LONDON, May 20 (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi told Britain there could be no U.S.-UK trade deal if it proceeds with plans to unilaterally scrap some of the rules governing trade with Northern Ireland.

Britain warned European Union authorities this week that it could discard post-Brexit regulations painstakingly negotiated with Brussels including border checks on some goods shipped from mainland Britain to Northern Ireland.

The trade protocol aims to keep the British-run province, which borders EU member Ireland, in both the United Kingdom's customs territory and the EU's single market.

Pelosi said she viewed the existing agreement as essential to maintaining the 1998 Good Friday peace deal,brokered by the United States to end three decades of conflict in Northern Ireland between Catholic nationalist militants and pro-British Protestant paramilitaries in which around 3,600 people were killed.

"If the United Kingdom chooses to undermine the Good Friday accords, the Congress cannot and will not support a bilateral free trade agreement," Pelosi said in a statement.

Britain says it is acting in the interests of preserving the Good Friday deal.

A spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson welcomed Pelosi's commitment to preserving the peace deal and said a U.S. Congressional delegation will meet Britain's foreign and trade ministers in coming days to discuss the planned changes to the protocol.

Northern Ireland remains deeply split along sectarian lines.

"I urge constructive, collaborative and good-faith negotiations to implement an agreement that upholds peace," Pelosi said.

Britain had viewed a trade deal with the United States as the one of the biggest prizes of leaving the EU but hopes of a quick agreement were dashed when the incoming Biden administration made clear it was not a priority.

Any U.S.-British trade agreement would have to pass the U.S. Congress.

Pelosi's warning follows a visit to Washington by Johnson's newly appointed special envoy for the Northern Ireland protocol in the United States, Conor Burns, to explain the British position.

Reporting by Andrew MacAskill; Editing by Tomasz Janowski and John Stonestreet

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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U.S.' Pelosi warns Britain: No trade deal unless you respect Northern Ireland peace deal

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LONDON, May 20 (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi told Britain there could be no U.S.-UK trade deal if it proceeds with plans to unilaterally scrap some of the rules governing trade with Northern Ireland.

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Political frustration in Northern Ireland has heightened tension around ‘marching season’

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Political frustration in Northern Ireland has heightened tension around ‘marching season’

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- Orange Order: members of a protestant organization
- they organize a monthslong ‘marching season’ to commemorate the military victory of the Dutch Protestant     King William of Orange over King James II in July 12th 1690.
- it is mostly seen as provocative by Northern Ireland’s  catholic community
- Brexit has intensified the tensions in Northern Ireland again
- However, it has been mostly peaceful since the Good Friday Agreement in 1998

- Danger:  the gap between expected and actual political outcomes -> raise frustration and the political violence

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BBC: What is the Northern Ireland Protocol?

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BBC: What is the Northern Ireland Protocol?

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General Information:

Part of the Brexit withdrawal agreement, deals with the Situation at the Northern Irish Border

The protection of the Good Friday Agreement is it’s utmost priority

Goods are checked between Great Britain and Northern Ireland instead of at the aforementioned border (—> picture)

Criticism:
Unionist parties argue, that the effective border undermines Northern Ireland’s place within the UK and Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist party refuses to take part in the power-sharing government with Sinn Fein

UK government’s proposal:
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said that the Protocol lead to unnecessary bureaucracy for moving goods and that British goods would only have to meet British standards, not those of the EU. She also acted without reaching an agreement with the EU do to the “urgency of the situation”

What is the EU saying?

unilateral action by the UK will have consequences

EU’s proposals:

80% reduction of checks on food products

allowing the trade of medicine between GB and Northern Ireland to continue

relaxing rules for chilled meats

extra safeguards to prevent products from GB crossing into the Republic of Ireland

—> UK rejected the offer saying it would "worsen the current trading arrangements".

What happens next?

new legislations will take months

fear of a possible trade war

Theresa May warns that abandoning the protocol would damage the UK’s reputation

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Why do Orangemen march? The Twelfth of July explained

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Why do Orangemen march? The Twelfth of July explained

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- called the annual Ulster Protestant celebration
- every year on July 12th
- they carry banners and flags in parades across Northern Ireland  followed by marching bands carrying musical instruments
- They celebrate the Glorious Revolution of 1688 that granted the Protestant group freedom
- the commission said ‘although the weekly protest parade has limited impact on community life, the Drumcree dispute continues to cause resentment’

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Orange Order parades take place amid violence in Northern Ireland

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Orange Order parades take place amid violence in Northern Ireland

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- Belfast:  masked men set 13 cars on fire, while others threw petrol bombs
- the violence came after loyalists expressed anger at moves by authorities to limit the size of bonfires at two controversial sites in the east of the city
- hundreds of eleventh night bonfires were lit at midnight across Northern Ireland to usher in 12 July
- while the majority of bonfires in Northern Ireland pass off peacefully, the last years there have been tensions in east Belfast

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Orange Order members parade after night of sporadic violence

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Orange Order members parade after night of sporadic violence

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- many cars and busses have been hijacked
- it is caused by a small minority of people who have no regard for their communities
- a suspected pipe bomb also detonated close to a police station
- “No one wants to see disruption and disorder and the people behind these incidents need to ask themselves just what they are achieving”

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The Atlantic: Europe’s Ireland Problem Is Here to Stay

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The Atlantic: Europe’s Ireland Problem Is Here to Stay

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The problem that Brexit created can not be solved but only managed

the fragile peace settlement is close to breaking and is problem of the UK and the EU from now on

Wherever an “Economic border” is placed, either Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland will feel separated from the land they consider home

Unionists argue that the deal, to put the border within in the UK, prioritises the nationalist’s wishes and thus are refusing to share power with them

Boris Johnson warned the EU that unless it would change the arrangement, he would introduce new laws to override some regulations to which the EU responded with a warning to suspend the post-Brexit trade agreement

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Northern Ireland conflict
-> political conflict and not a religious war!
Date: late 1960s - 1998
Location: primarily in Northern Ireland, parts of the Republic of Ireland, England and Europe
key issue: state of Northern Ireland
-> Unionists/loyalists (most of whom were Protestants) wanted Northern Ireland to remain within the United Kingdom
-> Irish nationalists/republicans (most of whom were Catholics) wanted Northern Ireland to leave the United Kingdom and join a United Ireland
Casualties: 47,500+ injured, 3,532 dead ( 1,840 civilians killed )
45,000 bombs detonated in Belfast alone
-number of killings done by the Loyalists was nearly half as that of IRA

the beginning:
- political activism on the rise in Europe
- in Northern Ireland, Catholic activists started coming together
- parties involved in the conflict Irish Republican Army, State Security Forces of Ireland and Britain, and Ulster Loyalist

important events:
- Bloody Sunday (30th of January 1972 in Derry) 26 unarmed civilians were shot by British soldiers
-21st of July 1972, the IRA placed bombs in Belfast. Over 20 bombs exploded in the space of 80 minutes, killing 14 people altogether including civilians and injuring 130 others
-IRA gave a notice about 20 minutes before so people could be evacuated
-In 1991, the IRA attacked British Prime Minister’s house on 10 Downing Street. Their main goal was to assassinate the then Prime Minister John Major (he was uninjured)

The end: The Good Friday Agreement
-goal to create a government where the power would be shared between the unionists and nationalists
-was decided that Northern Ireland would stay a part of the UK

Current situation:
-stable country ever since
-traveling is safe
-peace in Northern Ireland is an on-going topic especially because of Brexit (also the question of the border)

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Catholics and Protestants took part in one of the most violent riots in recent years

A lot of young people also join the riots because they don’t know all the details and get told what to do by others