Monday, July 15, 2013

North Ireland Violence Flares for Second Day




Protesters in Belfast, angry over a route restriction for an Orange Order march, throw rocks and petrol bombs at riot police, who respond with water cannon.

Full Story:

Angry young men confront police in Northern Ireland on Saturday.

It's not unusual for the annual Protestant Orange Order marches in Belfast to turn violent.

The parades are a regular flashpoint for sectarian clashes.

A high profile peace deal in 1998 largely ended three decades of strife in Northern Ireland.

But Belfast is still riven with religious and nationalist tension between Protestants loyal to the British government and Catholics, many of whom favor reunification with Ireland.

The Protestant Orange Order was angered this year when authorities ruled they couldn't march a stretch of road dividing the two communities - an act seen as provocative by many in the Catholic community.

Police drafted 400 reinforcements from other parts of Britain as they battled Protestants demonstrators into the night.

More than 20 people have been arrested.

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