Northern Ireland churches hope relaxing of lockdown will help address “complex” riots
by Joel Forster, Evangelical Focus:
Peter Lynas of the Evangelical Alliance UK asks to “pray for youth workers, church leaders and others working behind the scenes to ease tensions and work for peace”.
The riots that started at the end of March in Northern Ireland have caused over 80 injured police officers and 18 detentions.
The situation at this point is “complex and driven by a number of factors”, Christians in Belfast say.
Among Unionists or Loyalists (those who want Northern Ireland to remain a part of the United Kingdom), there has been frustration at the fact that the funeral of a well-known member of the paramilitary pro-independence group IRA which attracted over 2,000 people (including government ministers) and breached lockdown restrictions, did not lead to police prosecutions.
But the effects of Brexit on the creation of a new “regulatory” border has also unsettled members of the Unionist community, who feel betrayed by the Great Britain authorities. Yet another cause for the recent street violence is a crackdown of the police on criminal activities of the largest loyalist paramilitary group.
But for Peter Lynas, UK Director of the Evangelical Alliance and from Northern Ireland, there has been and additional factor that needs to be taken into account. “Lockdown has created a build up of tension and a lack of community, religious and sporting spaces for those tensions to be aired in a safe way”.
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