Belfast riots - Orange Order leaders reveal true colours

NOT only have loyalist politicians and the Orange Order grave questions to answer, they must accept responsibility for the explosion of mob violence and mayhem unleashed on the streets of Belfast over the weekend.

It was some of the worst rioting seen in Northern Ireland for years.

This orgy of violence can be attributed to the growing level of disaffection and disillusion among loyalists in inner city working-class communities starved of funding and where social problems and educational neglect are endemic.

Here the spreading political vacuum has taken a stranglehold on life.

Besides feeling alienated from the wider society, loyalists perceive the political process as biased towards republicans. But none of this can justify the frenzy of naked aggression which saw cars set alight, shots fired and bombs thrown in the course of what has aptly been described as a murderous assault on the PSNI and the British Army. One police Land Rover was struck by 50 bullets.

With more violence likely to break out at any time, there are ominous signs that paramilitaries thugs are embarking on an organised bid to bring local communities under their control. It would be an exaggeration to suggest these activities would de-rail the peace process or destabilise the North but clearly that is what many extremists want.

Internecine strife has left a trail of dead bodies in the bloody feud between rival loyalist groups, the UVF and the LVF. But as witnessed in the weekend riots, the paramilitaries are now attacking the police and even turning on the protestant community. To what extent this has been orchestrated remains unclear.

However, there is evidence to show that loyalists attempted to use the violence to provoke a violent response from nationalists. Fortunately, that did not materialise. But if the riots had taken on an inter-communal dimension, the situation would have been far worse.

Thus, it is crucial for the IRA not to renege on its pledge to decommission arms and turn its back on violence and criminality. If peace is ultimately to be established in the North it is essential to take the bomb and the bullet out of the equation. But clearly that objective applies with equal force to both loyalist and nationalist paramilitaries alike.

Undeniably, the leaders of Orangeism abrogated their responsibility by failing to keep a tight lid on what was plainly an explosive scenario on the streets of Belfast. They turned a blind eye to bully-boy elements within their own ranks as Orangemen joined in the onslaught on the police, 50 of whom were injured. The true sectarian colours of the order were seen over the weekend.

Making a bad situation worse, there was an appalling lack of leadership from politicians right across the spectrum of unionism. That was equally to blame for the rioting and mindless violence which raged through the city for two nights when a single loyalist parade through a Catholic neighbourhood was re-routed.

As Northern Secretary Peter Hain observed, the deathly silence from all the political parties speaks for itself.

In the aftermath of the riots, the British Government must take tough action against loyalist paramilitary organisations.

Ominously, we have not seen the end of loyalist violence. Both unionist politicians and the leaders of the Orange Order have serious questions to answer. Orange leaders must face up to the question whether or not they are on the side of the forces of law and order.

Ultimately, loyalists must decide what kind of society they want in the North.