LONDON — Leaders in Northern Ireland appealed for calm Wednesday and denounced violent demonstrations that have rocked Belfast as the work of fringe elements intent on sabotaging the peace process in the religiously divided province.
Since the weekend, nightly protests over annual pro-British and pro-Protestant parades have left dozens of police injured, including one officer who had a concrete block dropped on her head. Riot police have used batons and water cannons to disperse rock- and bomb-throwing demonstrators, many of whom were described by witnesses as teenagers and even children as young as 9.
Officials blame splinter groups that want the British out of Northern Ireland for fomenting the violence and recruiting or encouraging the protesters. The demonstrations were among the most violent the province has seen since the Good Friday agreement in 1998 formally ended armed conflict between militant republicans and loyalists who support the British presence.
“There are still people within our society who (are) against the experiences that we’ve been involved in, in terms of the importance of dialogue, negotiation and accommodation . . . who do not accept that as a sensible way forward,” said Martin McGuinness, a onetime leader of the Irish Republican Army who is now the deputy first minister of Northern Ireland’s devolved government.
The demonstrations in the capital come during a traditionally tense time in Northern Ireland, a season of parades when mostly Protestant groups march through neighborhoods commemorating anniversaries or events that underscore their loyalty to the British crown.
But besides expressing anger over the marches, analysts say instigators of the violence also may be trying to challenge one of the linchpins of the power-sharing accord: the transfer earlier this year of policing and justice powers from London to Belfast.
Peter Robinson, the first minister, called on “our whole community to stand beside the police” and said he was especially disturbed by the reports that teenagers and children had been caught up in the riots. “We’re particularly disappointed when we see young people involved and the baton of hatred being handed on to another generation,” he said.
