Tensions linger in Belfast after riots

Belfast ground to a halt on Monday evening after Protestant demonstrators blocked roads after a weekend of the worst unrest Northern Ireland...

Belfast ground to a halt on Monday evening after Protestant demonstrators blocked roads after a weekend of the worst unrest Northern Ireland has seen in years.

‘‘It’s just like the bad old days,’’ said one Catholic shopkeeper.

Tension in Northern Ireland’s Protestant communities, which largely favour British rule, has mounted amid fears that Britain is moving too fast to scale back its security presence at a time when the Irish Republican Army, which formally ended its armed campaign against British rule in July, has shown no sign of getting rid of its weapons.

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‘‘There has been a build-up of resentment that those who practise violence get listened to and have their concerns addressed,” said Reg Empey, leader of the moderate pro-British Ulster Unionist Party.

In what analysts said was a strong warning to Protestant paramilitaries to end their violence, Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain said he was reviewing their ceasefire status, which could close off negotiating channels for the militants.

Some 3,600 people died in 30 years of sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland, but the bombings and shootings largely stopped when ceasefires were declared in 1997.

However, a lasting political settlement has proved elusive. A regional, Belfast-based government that shared power between Catholics and Protestants has been on ice since 2002.

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The riots flared on Saturday after a disputed Orange Order parade—by Protestants fiercely loyal to British rule—was re-routed away from a Roman Catholic area of West Belfast.

Most Catholics in the province regard such marches, held each summer to celebrate the 17th century defeat in battle of Catholic King James II by the Protestant William of Orange, as an offensive display of triumphalism. —Reuters