Interesting developments at the Suffolk/Lenadoon interface, where a crowd of up 100 Catholic youths was reported to have attacked the tiny Protestant enclave in west Belfast. This follows a petrol bomb attack in June on the same community.
The incident brought this from local Sinn Féin councillor Matt Garrett:
“There are people working hard at the Blacks Road/Lenadoon/Suffolk interface to make sure that residents can get on with their lives free from this type of behaviour. It is not representative of the people that live in the area and I would say a lot of those involved are from outside the area.”
Interesting comment. If people are funnelling into an area which has seen some considerable success in lowering tensions on both sides of the divide and the creation of safe a shared social and commercial space, just to have a go at this tiny Protestant community, then what’s driving it?
Mick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty
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