Irish Examiner view: Same old story in North as 26 officers injured

PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Mark McEwan speak to the media, following the the injury of 29 officers, after coming under attack as they facilitated the removal of an internment bonfire in West Belfast on Saturday. Picture: Rebecca Black/PA Wire

Less than a week after John Hume, the chief architect of the North’s peace agreement, died, the old, poisoned monsters pawed the ground and reminded the world that what passes for normal in that society remains absurdly abnormal.

Over the weekend, police officers came under sustained attack in west Belfast, as they facilitated the removal of a bonfire pyre prepared to mark the introduction of internment, a year short of half a century ago, on August 9, 1971.