Northern Irish loyalist paramilitaries withdraw support for 1998 peace deal

[DonViejo]

Source: Reuters



2021/3/4 10:35 (GMT)3/4 10:37 (GMT)updated

By Guy Faulconbridge and Amanda Ferguson

LONDON/BELFAST (Reuters) - Northern Irish loyalist paramilitary groups have told British Prime Minister Boris Johnson they are temporarily withdrawing support for the 1998 peace agreement due to concerns over the Brexit deal.

While the groups pledged "peaceful and democratic" opposition to the deal, such a stark warning increases the pressure on Johnson, his Irish counterpart Micheál Martin and the European Union over Brexit.

Northern Ireland’s 1998 peace deal, known as the Belfast or Good Friday Agreement, ended three decades of violence between mostly Catholic nationalists fighting for a united Ireland and mostly Protestant unionists, or loyalists, who want Northern Ireland to stay part of the United Kingdom.

The loyalist paramilitaries including the Ulster Volunteer Force, Ulster Defence Association and Red Hand Commando said they were concerned about the disruption to trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland due to the Brexit deal.

Read more: https://this.kiji.is/740111200400080896?c=592622757532812385

[samnsara]

1. its been years since I was in London but do they still have posters around about reporting bombs?

[The Magistrate]

2. Since They All Worked For England, Sir

It ought not to be too hard to sweep them up off the street.

All the names and addresses will be known, as they had to know where to mail the salary checks, and surely there is something in the Defense of the Realm acts that allows such a measure....

[mopinko]

5. yup. the bombs were provided by british intelligence.

and they were deliberately given defective bombs, so they would go off pretty much randomly.

watched a netflix thing about this incident- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami_Showband_killings

just appalling, and the brits still cant bring themselves to admit what they did.

[Roisin Ni Fiachra]

3. Relatively soon, these fascist domestic terrorists will be driven from Ireland

when the rapidly growing Native Irish population in the Six Counties increases to critical mass, and votes the English occupiers off the island.

[mopinko]

6. i so hope you are right.

a nation once again. how sweet would that be?

[Roisin Ni Fiachra]

10. It would be the first time in over 800 years that whole

island was free of English occupation.

That's pretty darn sweet!

[mopinko]

11. no shit.

i'm planning a visit this winters. never imagined it would be to a single irish nation.

[greenjar_01]

4. Shite

[IronLionZion]

7. They better not restart the Troubles

It makes perfect sense to keep a soft land border and a hard sea border to simplify the movement of people and goods.

[cab67]

8. Predictable, but....please not again.

I can't claim to have seen any Troubles-related violence, but I've been to the Natural History Museum several times throughout my career for research.

The first couple of times were before the Good Friday Agreement. The collections I use are primarily in the sub-basement, which in spite of being a gray, windowless cellar, was a place where I could work alone and in peace.

The gloom I would feel had nothing to do with being in a gray, windowless cellar. It came from the instructions I got during my first visit on how to exit the sub-basement and where to assemble in the event of a bomb threat.

Visits since 1998 were somewhat cheerier, if only because I wasn't worried that something would explode on the street next to the museum.


(For what it's worth, I was in London, riding the Underground, on July 21, 2005. This was a couple of weeks after the bombings on July 7 of that year. Bombings were also attempted on the 21st, though they failed. I was heading from the Museum to Kings Cross Station, where I'd board a train to visit a good friend of mine at the Royal Veterinary College. Again, I didn't see any violence, but I noticed that they kept closing stations after we left South Kensington, and that the police were suddenly much more heavily armed. I got to Kings Cross, but by bus - the Underground was more or less shut down long before I got there.

That's got nothing to do with anything.)

[Miguelito Loveless]

9. Who could have forseen...

Wait, everybody not in the Tory party.

[DVDGuy]

12. Brexit: The xenophobic own goal that keeps on giving! (nt)