Sunday in Belfast, Northern Ireland a parade was held for local British troops returning from tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. Talk about the parade has dominated the Irish and English news over the past week because of the anticipation of trouble. In many nations around the world a parade for returning troops brings a sense of belonging and pride to the people who attend but in Northern Ireland parades mean a very different thing. Since the beginning of the troubles in the region, parades have been used most notably by the loyalists who want Northern Ireland to remain part of Great Britain. The parades in Northern Ireland in the past have been very bloody and violent, and even though the Troubles are over, marching British troops in the area were bound to stir up controversy.
The parade took place in Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland and home to some of the worst violence during the troubles. Today most of the violence has ended but the hatred still lingers and a parade like the one Sunday causes much more harm than good. If you were to have attended the parade and were in the city center, you would have seen thousands of people cheering and waving English flags to welcome the troops home, but if you ventured just outside the city center you would have witnessed a much different scene.
This was the first time that British troops had marched in the city since 1970 and the Irish republicans (people who believe that the island of Ireland should be united) were not going to take this lightly. About a thousand republican protesters stood just outside the city center with funeral posters depicting the people killed by the British troops during the Troubles. As the soldiers marched passed the porters released black balloons. The protesters were met with jeers by the loyalists who chanted things like “scum scum” and “the famine is over, why don’t you go home.” Plastic bottles and fireworks were also thrown at the republicans by the loyalists. Riot police had separated the two groups and violence occurred after a military parade in another part of the city.
Northern Ireland has come very far in the past few years, the violence that plagued the region for the previous 40 years has largely subsided and people are beginning to get on with their lives. Last summer I visited Belfast and walked down the 2 roads that symbolically represent the loyalist and republican parts of the city, the loyalist Shankill road and the republican Falls road. The Shankill road is covered in red, white, and blue, the colors of the British flag, whereas the Falls road is covered in green, white, and gold, the colors of the Irish flag. When I returned back to the Republic of Ireland many of my friends were shocked that I as a Catholic had walked down the loyalist Shankill road. I laughed at my friends and told them that it wasn’t any different from walking down the Falls road except for the differences in colors and the difference in the murals that are painted on people’s houses. For my friends and many people in Ireland, England and especially Northern Ireland walking down “the other road” is unthinkable.
The conflict of interest in Northern Ireland is far from being resolved and even if the island of Ireland is one day unified there will still be many people in Northern Ireland who want to remain part of Great Britain. Even though the violence has decreased over the past 10 years, parades like the one held on Sunday do nothing more than stir up hatred. Each year there are annual parades through the region to celebrate loyalist victories and other events in history. These traditional parades are well embedded in the region and would be almost impossible to stop but avoidable parades like yesterday’s in Belfast do not need to be staged because they are a catalyst for violence and hatred. It will talk a long time for people on both sides to come together, and decreasing the number of avoidable parades will go a long way towards helping that happen.