Irish Examiner view: No mandate for gang’s actions

Street violence in Northern Ireland

The PSNI on North Road in Carrickfergus near Belfast following sporadic outbursts of disorder.

It’s been many years since holiday centres along the west coast welcomed an early July exodus from the North.

Every second table in a Westport or Oughterard restaurant was occupied by people with Belfast or Derry accents, trying to enjoy a holiday but also trying to escape July 12. Their welcome presence was symptomatic of a dysfunctional society, just as their absence in recent years is a sign of progress. 

This year, the pandemic rules out those bolt-holes, even as events in the North seem on the cusp of boiling over.

More than 30 petrol bombs were thrown at police in an “orchestrated attack” in Newtownabbey on the outskirts of Belfast on Saturday, after violent scenes in the Sandy Row area of the city, as well as in Derry on Friday. Everything from drug seizures to Brexit and the decision not to prosecute Sinn Féin leaders over funeral breaches of Covid-19 restrictions have been cited as reasons for the rioting.

Not to be outdone, a new IRA chief took to Derry’s streets this weekend in an act of defiance against recent police raids targeting the gang’s leadership. Thomas Mellon — who is on a 10-year MI5 terror watchlist — was one of the high-profile dissidents who gathered near the Bogside.

Just like their predecessors, these gangs have no democratic mandate of any kind and they must not be allowed to break positive, empowering relationships built over recent decades.