THE NORTHERN Ireland Secretary has called for loyalist paramilitary groups to condemn the violence in the country during a visit for emergency talks with politicians.
Brandon Lewis flew to Belfast for crisis discussions with Northern Ireland's First Minister Arlene Foster and deputy Michelle O'Neill, among others.
It comes after six nights of consecutive violence on the streets of Belfast and in other areas of the country, over growing tensions about the Brexit trade agreement and policing of a funeral for a former IRA man.
Mr Lewis welcomed a joint statement made earlier by the Northern Ireland Executive condemning the violence and criticising those who were exploiting children to take part in rioting.
However he called on the Loyalist Communities Council (LCC) to also come out and condemn the rioting, which saw seven police officers injured, a bus hijacked and set alight, and a newspaper photographer attacked last night.
The LCC is an umbrella organisation which represents the UVF, factions of the UDA and Red Hand Commando paramilitary organisations.
Mr Lewis also urged politicians to be mindful of the language they used, and be "clear about the fact that what politicians say here matters".
He said: "My message to the LCC would be that the right thing for them to do is come out and be very clear (they are) against violence.
“There is a proper political process and they have been clear that violence in the past is not the way to move forward and they need to be clear about that again.
“I would like to see them out condemning what we have seen over the last few days, and call on people in communities to behave in a way that allows the political process to represent them and work with them and people to get involved in that."
He encouraged politicians to “think very carefully” about the language they use, adding: "Not just unionists, but if you look at the tweets and messages from politicians from all parties – they have put out messages that can be interpreted in a particular way as having a bit of spite to them.
“I don’t think there is any place for that. I have spoke to people across parties about that.
“I think we all have to be very clear about the fact that what politicians here say matters."
This evening the Prime Minister and Irish premier Micheál Martin both called for calm.
READ MORE: Douglas Ross condemns Northern Ireland violence amid grilling on post-Brexit trade rules
A statement from the Irish Government following a call with Mr Johnson read: "Stressing that violence is unacceptable, they called for calm.
“The way forward is through dialogue and working the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement.
“They agreed that the two governments would continue to stay in contact."
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said Mr Johnson had to "step up and show leadership", adding that the violence was not justified, regardless of broken promises of the Prime Minister over Brexit.
Douglas Ross, Scottish Conservatives leader said Mr Johnson could be trusted to resolve the issues.
READ MORE: Starmer: Johnson's broken Brexit promises do not justify Northern Ireland violence
Mr Johnson said on social media that he was “deeply concerned by the scenes of violence in Northern Ireland, especially attacks on PSNI who are protecting the public and businesses, attacks on a bus driver and the assault of a journalist.”
He added: “The way to resolve differences is through dialogue, not violence or criminality.”
Northern Ireland education minister Peter Weir confirmed that some youth services would be reopened in areas of heightened tensions, in the hope that they will avoid “risk taking and dangerous behaviours”.
He said: "Youth services play a vital role in supporting young people throughout Northern Ireland.
“As a society we should all be appalled at witnessing young people and even children being involved in the recent violence on our streets.
“At this time it is even more important that youth services are able to meet the needs of young people in these areas.”
Mr Weir added: “These measures are intended to safeguard and ensure the welfare of our young people and to divert them from becoming involved in risk taking and dangerous behaviours.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel