The Northern Ireland flag protests: Politics of Distraction
A member of the Belfast local (in-formation) comrade has written this article to be read in conjunction with this piece we published last week.
Can't We All Just Get Along?: An apolitical response to political events in Belfast
A member of the Belfast local (in-formation) writes...
On 16th December 2012 about 1000 people gathered at Belfast City Hall in the wake of 2 weeks of demonstrations, some of them violent, by Loyalist protesters angered by the City Councils' decision to fly the Union Flag only on 'designated days' rather than the full 365 days a year as it has done up until now. The gathering at City Hall was billed as being 'about peace' and 'to show that Northern Ireland has moved on'. Leaving aside the facts that the approximately 1000 attendees were 1000 out of about 3500 who had proclaimed to be 'attending' on facebook, and the fact that a Loyalist demonstration the previous day at the same location was able to attract roughly similar numbers, we have to ask, 'moved on' to what?, and for whom?
The Northern Ireland flag protests: Politics of Distraction
A member of the Belfast local (in-formation) comrade has written this article to be read in conjunction with this piece we published last week.
On December 3rd Belfast City Council decided, by 29 votes to 21, to reduce the number of days the Union flag was flown above the city hall from 365 to 17 days a year.
Within minutes of the vote a protest of over 1000 loyalists broke through the rear gates and into the grounds of the city hall. One security guard and a number of police were injured.
Can't We All Just Get Along?: An apolitical response to political events in Belfast
A member of the Belfast local (in-formation) writes...
On 16th December 2012 about 1000 people gathered at Belfast City Hall in the wake of 2 weeks of demonstrations, some of them violent, by Loyalist protesters angered by the City Councils' decision to fly the Union Flag only on 'designated days' rather than the full 365 days a year as it has done up until now. The gathering at City Hall was billed as being 'about peace' and 'to show that Northern Ireland has moved on'. Leaving aside the facts that the approximately 1000 attendees were 1000 out of about 3500 who had proclaimed to be 'attending' on facebook, and the fact that a Loyalist demonstration the previous day at the same location was able to attract roughly similar numbers, we have to ask, 'moved on' to what?, and for whom?