Irish Prime Minister warns of “spiraling” conflict over Belfast riots

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The Prime Minister of Ireland, Taoiseach Micheál Martin, pleaded for calm on Saturday after a week of violent riots that erupted in Belfast, Northern Ireland – as officials sounded alarms over reports that children under 12 -they joined.

“We owe it to the ‘agreement generation’ and, indeed, to future generations not to go back to that dark place of sectarian crime and political discord,” Martin said in a statement marking the April 10 anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. , the 1998 agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland after decades of bloody conflicts.

Growing frustration with the new trade barriers between Northern Ireland and the UK following Brexit has triggered a week of unrest – with violent clashes between nationalists and loyalists that set fire to cars and buses and injured several police officers.

Religious leaders in Belfast, Rev. Tracey McRoberts, center and others meet at the Forthspring Inter Community group for dialogue and prayer on the recent sectarian riots of the last week in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on April 9, 2021.
Religious leaders in Belfast, Rev. Tracey McRoberts, center and others meet at the Forthspring Inter Community group for dialogue and prayer on the recent sectarian riots of the last week in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on April 9, 2021.
Mark Marlow / EPA-EFE / Shutterstock

Meanwhile, Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Youth Koulla Yiasouma said 12- and 13-year-olds had been seen taking part in the riots.

“What we have is that criminals control or coerce young people into drug trafficking, engaging in criminal activity, and that I would include street riots,” she told The Guardian.

The hijacked cars burned on the wall of peace on Lanark Way as riots broke out in West Belfast, Northern Ireland, on April 7, 2021.
The hijacked cars burned on the peace wall on Lanark Way as riots broke out in West Belfast, Northern Ireland, on April 7, 2021.
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Justice Minister Naomi Long condemned the trend as “nothing more than child abuse”.

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