Luke Butterly – April 12, 2021
Belfast, Northern Ireland – On Saturday, the 23rd anniversary of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement that ended the decades of conflict that claimed over 3,000 lives, David Devlin was on the streets trying to keep the peace.
“Anything could happen, but we are hoping for peace, hoping tonight remains calm,” they told Al Jazeera.
Video footage of young people throwing petrol bombs at one of the gates that separate these areas – on which the words “There was never a good war or a bad peace” are painted – has been watched with horror across the world.
“Things this evening appear to be quite calm, there does not appear to be any other gatherings on either side of the interface,” Devlin said as they began their shift.
“Over the past few nights, we have been out on the ground trying to talk to young people, dissuade them from any risk-taking behavior, trying to get them go, stay safe, and not engage in anything that is going to put their safety at risk.”
Northern Ireland has been rocked by sporadic rioting in loyalist working-class areas, amounting to the worst violence seen in years.Loyalists back a Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom, as opposed to a united Ireland.