A policewomen barely survived, when a petrol bomb was thrown at her police car in Belfast. Tensions in Northern Ireland caused by the decision whether to keep flying the U.K. flag have been continuing to simmer.
When the attack was happening, the car was parked outside the office of Naomi Long (Alliance Party Lawmaker). Naomi had received a death threat last week. The police officers in Northern Ireland are treating this as an attempt of murder.
Naomi Long has asked David Cameron (British's Prime Minister) to take action.
These attempts of violence have been occurring since last week on Monday due to the fact that Belfast city councilors have decided to stop flying the Union flag everyday of the year. Now it is only being flown certain days of the year.
Northern Ireland's First Prime Minister, Peter Robinson, said "The attempted murder of a police officer in East Belfast was a despicable act of terror. The masked men responsible do not act in the name of our Union Flag. They are bringing shame on it. My prayers are with the police officers at the center of this attack."
Peter Robinson of the Democratic Union Party defends the right to peaceful protest, but "those intent on violence should stay home."
Around 32 police officers were harmed in the past weeks violence said Chief Constable George Hamilton. There have been about 38 arrests in connection with the loyalists disorder.
He said "It is completely unacceptable that officers who were carrying out their professional duty on behalf of the community should be subjected to a potentially murderous attack. This was a planned attempt to kill a police officer which also put the lives of the public in danger, and it is fortunate there were no injuries."
Police said that there were many fights between nationalists and loyalists in east Belfast. The Secretary of State of Northern Ireland, Theresa Villers expressed disapproval towards this violence. She stated "There can be absolutely no excuse or justification for this kind of thuggish and lawless behavior. Nobody can be in any doubt about the government's support for the union and its flag. But those people engaged in the kind of violence we have seen in the past few days are not defending the Union flag. They are dishonoring and shaming the flag of our country."
The Alliance party has been targeted due to the fact that it wants to restrict the flying of the flag. Alliance Party Councilor, Linda Cleland, said that the windows of her car were smashed, and several windows in her house were broken. She doesn't see the reason for all of this violence.
Hilary Clinton (U.S. Secretary of State) joined Robinson and First Minister, Martin McGuinnes in appeasing the this violence.
Robinson and Mike Nesbitt (Ulster Unionist Leader) met on Monday to discuss the concerns that are evolving. They agreed to have further talks soon.
It was said that the loyalist paramilitaries were a cause of some of the violence in Belfast.
The vote on the raising of the flag has followed an extreme number of tensions between Northern Ireland's communities (Catholic and Protestant). There were many clashes in September that left many injured police officers.
About 5 weeks ago, a Prison officer was killed in an attack, in Ireland. This was the first attack in many years, and many IRA members were arrested.
Most of Ireland gained independence in 1921, after conflict for years, but 6/9 of the countries choose to stay with the U.K. There have been many conflicts with Catholics and Protestants, and they continue to remain.
Analysis: The authors of this article, Laura Smith-Spark and Peter Taggart wrote this article because they want to inform us about the violence that has been happening in Ireland. There was some bias in this story because quotes were being given only from the victims of this violence. There were no quotes from people that were causing the violence. These people weren't able to give there reasons for wanting to keep the flag up. Quotes were only from people that didn't want the flag up year round.
I think that all of this violence is ridiculous. There is no reason for it. I am perfectly fine with peaceful protesting. The key word in there in peaceful, though. There is no reason for smashing windows of cars or destroying houses. I hope that all of this violence is solved soon.
Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2012/12/11/world/europe/northern-ireland-unrest/index.html
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