Loyalist anger fuelled by a cocktail of social decline and sectarianism

THE rioting which erupted in Belfast last weekend was depressingly predictable.

For many years now it has been apparent that disillusionment in working class Protestant areas was the weak point in the spine of the peace process. There is a risk that if these pressure points snap, the entire peace process could be paralysed.

Predictably, too, there has been an angry blame game about who carries most responsibility for both the long-term and immediate circumstances which triggered the events of Saturday afternoon and subsequent nights. Most loyalist and unionist opinion has blamed the British government. They claim the "one-sided" peace process and repeated concessions to Sinn Féin-IRA have caused disillusionment in the rioting areas.