N.Ireland rioting no surprise says Protestant leader

By Anne Cadwallader

BELFAST (Reuters) – The Protestant group blamed for
instigating riots in Belfast at the weekend warned on Wednesday
that Northern Ireland’s pro-British community was resorting to
violence because it felt sidelined by the government.

The head of the Orange Order said the province’s worst
riots in decades reflected insecurity among Protestants who
feel Britain is appeasing Irish Republican guerrillas who have
made a show of peace moves but have yet to give up their guns.

“For years we have seen nationalists achieve what they want
by violence and the threat of violence. In these circumstances,
when frustrated and with no other option, we should not be
surprised that some individuals resort to violence,” Robert
Saulters, head of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland, told
reporters.

“I am deeply concerned at the attempt to demonize the
institution (the Orange Order), to make us the scapegoats for
what happened on Saturday. We may have put the lance in place
to lance the boil, but the boil already existed and it was not
of our making.”

The Orange Order, a religious organization whose origins
lie in the victory of Protestant William of Orange over
Catholic King James more than 300 years ago, says it aims to
celebrate and defend the rights and culture of Northern Irish
Protestants.

Saulters said heavy-handed policing had sparked the
violence, which saw mobs hurling petrol bombs, setting fire to
cars and shooting at police.

His comments will do little to ease tensions in Belfast and
are likely to anger the British government, which said on
Wednesday the riots showed pro-British paramilitary groups had
broken promises to cease violence.

The province’s majority Protestant population, which wants
British rule in the province to continue, is unhappy that
Britain has started to scale back its security presence there
after Irish nationalist guerrillas pledged in July to disarm.

Hopes were high the Irish Republican Army would act swiftly
to destroy its arsenal, but seven weeks after the group’s
formal end to armed struggle it has yet to show any sign of
disarming.

POLITICAL DEAL SOME WAY OFF

Northern Ireland police chief Hugh Orde has blamed the
Orange Order for inciting the weekend’s disturbances.

The Ulster Volunteer Force, one of two paramilitary groups
deemed by Britain on Wednesday to have broken ceasefires
declared in the 1990s, was also said to be behind the riots.

“What I’ve done in this decision overnight is to send an
absolutely crystal-clear signal out to everybody that we will
not tolerate violence,” Secretary of State Peter Hain said
after announcing the UVF’s ceasefire had collapsed.

The action is largely symbolic but could make it more
difficult for the groups to get their views heard by
government.

Guerrilla groups on both sides of the conflict declared
ceasefires last decade, paving the way for a 1998 peace deal
that attempted to forge a political settlement acceptable to
Irish nationalists and those supporting British rule.

Although the sectarian violence that killed 3,600 people
over three decades has subsided since the Good Friday
Agreement, outbreaks of fighting and accusations of broken
promises mean parties have been unable to make local government
stick.

The main pro-British party, the Democratic Unionists,
refuses even to discuss restoring a Belfast-based assembly, set
up under the 1998 accord and in which Protestants and Catholics
together ran Northern Irish affairs, until the IRA proves it
has given up arms for good. The assembly has been on ice since
2002.

Gerry Adams, president of Northern Ireland’s main Catholic
party and the IRA’s political ally, will meet U.S. officials on
Thursday to brief them on the latest violence and other recent
developments, raising speculation an IRA move may be imminent.