[Grey Wolf]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4235278.stm

[aldo_14]

Aye.  Shower of ****e.

[karajorma]

Every F**king year.

[Rictor]

Oi lads, let's 'ave at it!

[vyper]

That's what happens when you try and tell people they can't walk down a street in a free country.

[karajorma]

Problem is that the police keep breaking things up. I say that every year we simply let everyone into a big arena and natural selection the stupid out of NI but letting them fight for as long as they wish.

[Martinus]

Originally posted by karajorma
Problem is that the police keep breaking things up. I say that every year we simply let everyone into a big arena and natural selection the stupid out of NI but letting them fight for as long as they wish.

[color=66ff00]It doesn't work that way, the people that are doing this are fundamentally cowards, they attack from behind a crowd and use uneducated youths to do their dirty work.

They get them to shine lasers at the police and army to instill fear of snipers, they're told to attack homes on opposite sides of the community as reprisal.

If you placed these people in an arena they'd not do anything to each other. Terrorism doesn't work that way.
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[aldo_14]

Originally posted by vyper
That's what happens when you try and tell people they can't walk down a street in a free country.

I presume you'd feel the same about a BNP march through Sighthill, then?

[vyper]

Originally posted by aldo_14


I presume you'd feel the same about a BNP march through Sighthill, then?

Yes I would. And the same if a human rights or other liberal group wanted to march past the BNP offices.

Democracy works both ways.

[aldo_14]

Interesting.

[vyper]

I assume you wouldn't be happy with such a situation?

[aldo_14]

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for civil liberties & free speech, but I don't see an inherent benefit in behaviour calculated simply for the purpose of causing offence.  If there's some valid message, sure, but not when it's simply racism or bigotry.

Because if the OO didn't simply want to piss off (or worse) the Catholics, they wouldn't riot when asked to take a different route.  And soforth.

[Col. Fishguts]

Originally posted by karajorma
... let everyone into a big arena and natural selection the stupid out of NI but letting them fight for as long as they wish.

That sounds almost exactly like my Plan™ for the Israel/Palestine conflict.... which will come into action as soon as I'm supreme overloard of the planet.

[Mongoose]

As an outsider, I have to ask those of you more knowledgable about the situation:  are riots like these even remotely about religious issues anymore?  Or do they happen pretty much because both sides have been at odds for so long?

[Martinus]

Originally posted by aldo_14
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for civil liberties & free speech, but I don't see an inherent benefit in behaviour calculated simply for the purpose of causing offence.  If there's some valid message, sure, but not when it's simply racism or bigotry.

Because if the OO didn't simply want to piss off (or worse) the Catholics, they wouldn't riot when asked to take a different route.  And soforth.

[color=66ff00]

Marching down a street grasping a hand-grenade above your head has nothing to do with free speech, neither does endorsing riotious behaviour and shutting down power stations and public amenities.

I'd also like to point out that some OO marches are pretty peaceable and cause no offence, they're just seen as a bit of a community event. In my town in the 80's the catholic churches invited the protestant community to take part in the Saint Patricks day parade (which moves around nationalist areas). Pressure from the hardliners in the protestant community quashed the effort.
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[Martinus]

Originally posted by Mongoose
As an outsider, I have to ask those of you more knowledgable about the situation:  are riots like these even remotely about religious issues anymore?  Or do they happen pretty much because both sides have been at odds for so long?

[color=66ff00]There's no religious issue at all, it's pure, in-bred hate and fear.
[/color]

[Rand al Thor]

Democracy has nothing to do with it, unless you're looking at from the point of protecting civil liberties and equal rights.

The Orange order is an organisation setup specifically for one reason; to subjugate Catholics and block them from gaining power. Plain and simple. Catholics in the N.Ireland don't try and march through loyalist areas to celebrate 1916, 1921 or 1949 (although those dates had less effect for them than the Republic).

I've no problem with them marching, IF they march through an area that will appreciate it and can cheer them on or whatever it is they do. But why don't they? Because THIS is what the OO is for.

Thing I can't understand is that there seemed to be no inflamation from the Republican or Catholic sides, and still this chaos happens. I guess there's still of unhappy people up there.

[vyper]

That's it, I'm going back to my tank philosophy for Ireland...

[Rand al Thor]

Eh?

[vyper]

We send every tank division we have and roll over everything. Then turn it into the world's biggest beer garden. Or possibly a new Rangers training camp, just to make a point.