Stormont ministers have jointly condemned the violence and rioting in Northern Ireland over the past week and called for calm to be restored.
The Northern Ireland Executive issued a joint statement after a meeting of the power-sharing administration to discuss the escalating public disorder. Earlier ministers were given an update by Simon Byrne, chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
Brandon Lewis, the UK’s Northern Ireland secretary, flew to Belfast yesterday to hold emergency talks with the main political parties as well as faith and community leaders.
In a statement yesterday, the executive said: “We are gravely concerned by the scenes we have all witnessed on our streets over the last week, including those at the Lanark Way interface last night.
“Attacks on police officers, public services and communities are deplorable and they must stop. Destruction, violence and the threat of violence are completely unacceptable and unjustifiable, no matter what concerns may exist in communities.”
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The statement said that anyone who sought to “use and abuse our children and young people” to carry out attacks “have no place in our society”.
It added: “While our political positions are very different on many issues, we are all united in our support for law and order and we collectively state our support for policing and for the police officers who have been putting themselves in harm’s way to protect others.
“We, and our departments, will continue to work together to maximise the support we can give to communities and the PSNI to prevent further violence and unrest.”
Speaking at Stormont House, Lewis said: “It’s really good to see all five parties coming together with a clear statement, which is that violence is not acceptable.
“I’ll be the first to acknowledge over the first few months of the year there were real issues around how the protocol has landed for people, both as consumers and those in the loyalist and unionist community. The way to deal with these things is through a democratic and diplomatic, political process. There is no legitimisation of violence to deal with any of those issues.”
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He denied that he was planning to meet the Loyalist Communities Council (LCC), adding: “I am always willing to meet with anyone who is clear that the process for taking issues forward is a democratic proper political process.”
The Stormont assembly was recalled from Easter recess for an emergency sitting yesterday to hold a debate about the violence, which has mostly flared up in loyalist areas. It was recalled following a motion put forward by Naomi Long, the Alliance Party leader, calling for MLAs to unequivocally condemn those involved and support the rule of law.
Speaking during the assembly debate Arlene Foster, the first minister and DUP leader, said that the scenes witnessed were “totally unacceptable”. She said that the injuries to police officers, harm to Northern Ireland’s image and people’s property had taken the region backwards.
Foster said: “Today is not the time to rehearse the arguments in the last few weeks. We should all know that when politics are perceived to fail, those who fill the vacuum cause despair. Northern Ireland faces deep political challenges ahead.”
She said that the future requires political leadership.
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Long, the justice minister, said that her thoughts were with the police officers who suffered what she said “could be life-changing injuries”.
“It is a mercy that no one has lost their life as a result of this appalling violence and I would appeal again for everyone with influence in our community to use it to end this,” she said. “The scenes over the last week have been as depressing as they are disgraceful.”
Michelle O’Neill, Northern Ireland’s deputy first minister, said that the violence was dangerous and unacceptable, adding: “It is a miracle that, as we stand here today, no one has been killed.”
She said that illegal loyalist paramilitaries and criminal elements were influencing young people and orchestrating the violence.
“They stand back and send youngsters out to do their bidding,” she said. “These people are no role models for our youth; they are outdated, they are antiquated and they are caught in a time warp which has no bearing on where the vast majority of people across this society now are or where they want to be.
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“They are holding back their own people and they are holding back their own community.”
Steve Aiken, the Ulster Unionist Party leader, said that the riots were “completely unacceptable”.
“Organised criminal gangs bringing out children, young people and others to commit acts of destruction helps no one and no cause,” he told the assembly. “The imagery this portrays of 21st-century Northern Ireland ... is not something that anyone should want to see. This violence must stop before anyone is killed.”
Jonathan Roberts, the PSNI assistant chief constable, said that 55 police officers had been injured across several nights of disorder.
On Wednesday night at the Lanark Way peace wall gates in west Belfast, several hundred people gathered on each side from 5pm. This then escalated to “significant disorder”.
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Roberts said that multiple petrol bombs and missiles, including fireworks and heavy masonry, were thrown and that it was “clear there was a degree of organisation” of the violence.
“We saw young people participating in serious disorder and committing serious criminal offences, and they were supported and encouraged, and the actions were orchestrated by adults at certain times,” he said.
“It’s early to indicate whether or not any proscribed organisations were involved but it is our assessment that is a likely situation.
“We have seen scenes last night of a new generation of young people who have been exposed to scenes that I’m sure we all thought were in generations gone by, and I would encourage anybody in a position of leadership — political representatives, community representatives, parents — take an interest in what young people are doing and to have a united message to prevent further scenes like we witnessed last night.”
Roberts said that two adults had been arrested and that further arrests would be made in the coming days and weeks.
The violence is unfolding at a time of increasing rancour in the political sphere amid tensions over Brexit’s Irish Sea trade border and the fallout from the police’s handling of a mass republican funeral that took place during pandemic restrictions last year.
As violence has broken out across Northern Ireland, all four main unionist parties continued to call for the PSNI chief constable to quit over how his service dealt with the funeral of former the IRA leader Bobby Storey last year.
Unionists are furious at a decision by prosecutors not to take action against 24 Sinn Féin politicians, including O’Neill, for attending the funeral in breach of Covid regulations. Byrne has vowed not to resign and has signalled a desire to engage with people who have concerns about policing in the region.
Boris Johnson, the UK prime minister, also appealed for calm yesterday.
He tweeted: “I am deeply concerned by the scenes of violence in Northern Ireland, especially attacks on PSNI who are protecting the public and businesses, attacks on a bus driver and the assault of a journalist.
“The way to resolve differences is through dialogue, not violence or criminality.”
A statement from the Irish government last night said: “The taoiseach and Prime Minister Johnson spoke this afternoon about the concerning developments in Northern Ireland over the last number of days. Stressing that violence is unacceptable, they called for calm.
“The way forward is through dialogue and working the institutions of the Good Friday agreement. They agreed that the two governments would continue to stay in contact.”
