Pro Israel journalism is quintessentially American

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

What an Irish welcome!

He should use this music when he holds campaign rallies.

"Security Breach"

A document with details about the security arrangements for President Biden’s visit to Belfast, Northern Ireland, was found on the street Wednesday in what local police called a “security breach,” according to reports.

USA Today reported local police lost the document containing the names of Belfast police and where they would be posted, but no information related to the Secret Service.

A BBC show shared an image of the document.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland told the Independent newspaper that an investigation had been launched into the situation.

  The Hill

Ooopsie.

Brexit and Covid bring echoes of "The Troubles" (in reverse) to Northern Ireland

[APRIL 10] For over a week, riots have marred the streets across five cities and towns in Northern Ireland. Cars and a bus have been hijacked and burned, young people have thrown petrol bombs at police, and at least 74 officers have been injured.

The escalating unrest threatens to undermine the region's fragile peace between pro-British loyalists who want to remain part of the United Kingdom, and pro-Irish nationalists who would like Northern Ireland to be part of the Republic of Ireland.

On March 29, police officers were targeted in a petrol bomb attack in a predominately unionist area of Tullymore, in Derry/Londonderry, after an attempt to break up a crowd of approximately 40 people. For five nights, similar scenes unfolded in the city.

By Friday, April 2, the disorder spread to south Belfast, [where rioters from loyalist and nationalist communities clashed along the so-called peace line -- a gated wall separating predominately unionist and nationalist neighborhoods from one another and] where a small protest descended into an attack on police in a loyalist pocket of the Sandy Row area, where 15 police officers were left with burns, head and leg injuries.

[...]

The initial days of disorder came in the same week as authorities said they would not prosecute the leaders of nationalist party Sinn Fein for allegedly breaking coronavirus restrictions last summer when they attended a funeral for Bobby Storey, a former senior figure in the IRA, a paramilitary group who led a decadeslong campaign for an independent and reunified Ireland.Loyalist communities have accused authorities of partisan hypocrisy around that decision, saying that they had taken the decision to cancel their traditional Twelfth of July parades last summer due to Covid-19 and had missed out on events and attending funerals of loved ones because they had adhered to those restrictions.

But many analysts also point to the recent and successful police crackdown on drug gangs and criminal activity supported and run by loyalist paramilitary forces.

[...]

On Thursday evening, clashes continued on Springfield Road in Belfast, with protesters throwing stones at police vehicles on the nationalist side of the peace line.

  CNN

So, it's jealous loyalists who started rioting? Christ. The Brits have sown misery all over the planet, haven't they?

The Loyalist Communities Council (LCC), a group that includes representatives of unionist paramilitaries and which is also associated with the UPRG, said in a Friday statement that "none of their associated groups have been involved either directly or indirectly in the violence witnessed in recent days." It added that "the right to peaceful protest is a fundamental human right" but that all actions taken by members of the loyalist community "should be entirely peaceful."

Like Trump (without any emphasis or sincerity) telling the insurrections to go home in peace.

The riots are unfolding amid rising anger over a specific part of the Brexit agreement. Tensions have been heightened in Northern Ireland ever since the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union in 2016. But there is rising anger over a specific part of the Brexit withdrawal agreement called the Northern Ireland Protocol, which has been a key point of contention.

Throughout the Brexit negotiations, all parties widely agreed that any agreement would honor the Northern Ireland peace deal, known as the Good Friday Agreement (GFA), with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson saying in 2019 that "we will under no circumstances have checks at or near the border in Northern Ireland. We will respect the peace process and the Good Friday Agreement."

The GFA marked an end to the Troubles -- a term used to describe the period of violent conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted from the late 1960s until its signing in 1998.

The peace accord also began the process of dismantling border controls between the North and the Republic of Ireland, and in 2006, the last watchtower was taken down.

But after the UK left the EU (and its single market), a new plan -- the Northern Ireland (NI) Protocol -- was implemented.

The NI Protocol aims to eliminate the need for border controls between Northern Ireland (part of the UK) and the Republic of Ireland (an EU member).

[...]

Northern Ireland Justice minister Naomi Long said on Wednesday that the UK government's "dishonesty and the lack of clarity around these issues has contributed to a sense of anger in parts of our community," saying that the government downplayed the impact that Brexit would have on Northern Ireland.

[...]

Last month, the Loyalist Communities Council said it was withdrawing its support for the GFA, also known as the Belfast Agreement.

[...]

"We should all know well that when politics fail or are perceived to be failing in Northern Ireland, then those who fill the vacuum offer destruction and despair. We cannot allow a new generation of our young people to fall victim to that path or be preyed upon by someone who prefers the shadows, to the light," [First Minister Arlene] Foster told the Northern Irish Assembly.

Loyalist paramilitaries in Northern Ireland deny they have been behind an eruption of street violence in the British-ruled province, but they have warned that politicians in London, Dublin and Brussels are playing with fire, saying they underestimate the impact Brexit is having on the sectarian balance.

The sustained nature of rioting in largely Protestant neighborhoods of Belfast and Londonderry is prompting rising alarm in government circles in Dublin and London, with fears mounting the province risks being dragged back into its dark past of sectarian violence between pro-British, mainly Protestant Unionists and mostly Catholic Irish nationalists. Loyalists are seen as Unionist paramilitaries.

[...]

The imposition of a sea border meant a land border between the two halves of Ireland could be avoided, which would have risked sparking a violent reaction from nationalists and the paramilitary Provisional IRA. The reverse has happened — an outcome that some Unionists warned was likely.

[...]

Northern Ireland's Unionists worry the Brexit deal [Boris] Johnson struck with Brussels will in effect start peeling the province away from the U.K., and they say it affects their cultural identity.

[...]

"More than 600,000 young people have been born in Northern Ireland since the Belfast Agreement was signed," lamented Abby Wallace this week in the Irish Times, using another term for the Good Friday Agreement. "But under the broad umbrella of the 'peace generation,' not all young people have felt this peace in the same way. This is because our leaders have failed to build on the Belfast Agreement in a way which would allow all of Northern Ireland's youth to feel that we are no longer living in the past.

"More than 90 percent of Northern Ireland's young people are still educated in segregated schools," noted Wallace, a radio journalist and postgraduate politics student at Belfast's Queen's University.

  VOA News

Segregation has never worked out well. Anywhere.

"To date there has been a spectacular collective failure to understand properly the scale and nature of unionist and loyalist anger," Loyalist paramilitaries said in a joint statement last week. "Indeed, there is a complete failure to understand loyalists as people and equal citizens."

Sounds like MAGA (white nationalist) grievance.

Sinn Fein, which always saw the Good Friday Agreement as a steppingstone to eventual Irish reunification, is pushing for a so-called border poll on the future of the British-ruled province, to the increasing frustration of Northern Ireland's Unionists.

[...]

British and EU officials are now scrambling to see if they can tweak the trading arrangements to make them less intrusive, and they say they are making progress. But it remains unclear whether that will be a long-term cure.

[U]nderneath all of this is the growing fear among loyalists that Brexit will increase the likelihood of Northern Ireland’s leaving the U.K. to reunify with the Irish Republic, a member of the E.U. The controversy of the moment centers on the question of borders. As part of Brexit negotiations with the E.U., U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson agreed to avoid reimposition of the land border that separates Ireland from Northern Ireland–and, therefore, the E.U. from Britain. Instead, the two sides agreed on the so-called Northern Ireland Protocol, which establishes a trade boundary in the Irish Sea.

  MSN

Unification is a terrible thing, is it not?

There is still haggling to be done over the movement of food, animals and plants across that boundary to ensure that products leaving the U.K. meet E.U. legal, regulatory and health standards. There are also outstanding questions ranging from the future of steel and aluminum tariffs to the movement of pets across the border. The E.U. had argued that an alignment of standards on the manufacture of many products would mean fewer and faster border checks, but Johnson’s government is reluctant to make commitments that make it harder for the U.K. to sign future trade deals with other countries.

All of this leaves loyalists in Northern Ireland feeling pushed to the European side and fearful of a unified Ireland, while facing product shortages as new customs processes slow the movement of goods. This surge of anger comes as the governing and staunchly loyalist Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) preps for a serious electoral challenge next year. To fend off criticism that the DUP, supporters of Brexit, is responsible for Northern Ireland’s current predicament, its leaders have demanded that the protocol be scrapped entirely. If that’s not enough to blunt criticism of the party, a fragmentation of its voting bloc could leave the Northern Ireland Assembly in the hands of nationalists led by a Sinn Fein First Minister. That’s a nightmare scenario for loyalists and a serious challenge to the Good Friday Agreement, which brought peace 23 years ago.

Britain has agreed with the European Union that it will respond to the bloc's legal action over how it has introduced new trading rules for Northern Ireland by mid-May, a spokeswoman for the government said on Wednesday.

[...]

The EU launched legal action against Britain in March for unilaterally changing trading arrangements for Northern Ireland that Brussels says are in breach of the Brexit divorce deal agreed with London last year.

Britain has denied that the move undermines the part of the Brexit deal that governs trade to the British province, saying it extended the grace period for checks on goods moving to Northern Ireland to ease their passage.

[...]

Since leaving the EU's single market at the end of last year, supermarkets in Northern Ireland have seen some shortages of food, and the British government has also delayed introducing checks on parcels and pets.

The difficulties stem from the terms of Britain's withdrawal agreement, which leaves Northern Ireland in the EU single market for goods and so requires checks on goods arriving there from other parts of the United Kingdom.

  MSN

The European Parliament’s ratification of the EU’s trade deal with the UK is set to move a step closer on Thursday with lawmakers poised to endorse the agreement, despite tensions over new trading arrangements for Northern Ireland.

[...]

MEPs put the ratification process on ice earlier this year in protest at unilateral British moves that the EU said violated the two sides’ Northern Ireland protocol.

[...]

Brussels and London have both emphasised the need to apply the protocol, part of the UK’s 2019 Brexit treaty, in a way that minimises the risk of further stoking sectarian tensions that boiled over into eight consecutive nights of rioting in Belfast this month.

[...]

It is widely expected that the final vote will take place this month, as the assembly has now completed detailed scrutiny of the 1,246 page text, and failure to vote it through would force the EU to ask the UK for a further extension of provisional application of the deal, which provides for tariff-free, quota-free trade on most goods.

[...]

Brussels still has legal action under way against the UK for its decision earlier this year to unilaterally extend grace periods for some of the protocols’ requirements for ensuring food safety. Britain and the EU agreed this week that London would have until mid-May to respond to the EU’s objections.

  Financial Times

Good luck to all you Irish. I have a feeling Boris Johnson (and all of England, to be honest) doesn't care for the Irish loyalists any more than Trump cares for his base.

World shutting down

Meanwhile, in Ireland

Sinn Féin has started reaching out to other parties to try to form a coalition government after final election results confirmed its stunning breakthrough in Ireland’s general election. Its leader, Mary Lou McDonald, is to start talks with the Greens and smaller leftwing parties in the coming days to explore a leftwing rainbow alliance, though parliamentary arithmetic means this is unlikely.

Sinn Féin took 37 seats in the 160-seat Dáil Éireann after winning 24.5% of the first-preference vote in Saturday’s election, almost doubling its share from 2016 after harnessing voter anger at homelessness, soaring rents and fraying public services.

  Guardian

They get Sinn Féin to try to fix things, we get Donald Trump.

Changing Ireland, Scotland and Brexit's effect on them

The problem of a split Ireland with the southern republic staying in the EU and the UK northern Ireland leaving with Brexit, thereby creating an effective trade border between the two, may not be a problem at all in the very near future.

For the first time in its history, Northern Ireland has elected more Irish-identifying nationalists than pro-British unionists. Across the water, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has demanded an independence referendum after winning a nationalist landslide.

[...]

In a repeat of the Brexit referendum, the results in England and Wales diverge strongly from Remain-voting Scotland and Northern Ireland. The Brexit heartlands have delivered the biggest mandate in a generation to a Conservative leader who looks close to a caricature of an English Tory toff, and whose appeal does not carry far north of Hadrian's Wall.

[...]

Northern Ireland was carved out of the old Irish province of Ulster a century ago as a home for the two-thirds majority within it who still supported a union with Britain. But over the decades, Catholics — who skew Irish-identifying and nationalist — have steadily increased in number while unionist-leaning Protestants have dwindled. Now, while a firm majority of pensioners are Protestant, a majority of school children are Catholic. The balance is forecast to tip as soon as 2021. The Good Friday peace deal provides for unification with the republic to the south into a united Ireland if a majority is in favor of it.

  Politico

Very interesting.

DUP leader Arlene Foster explicitly blamed demographic change as she conceded defeat for the party in North Belfast.

[...]

The DUP's loss of North Belfast could hardly be more symbolic. The seat had always been unionist.

[...]

Until this election it was held by Nigel Dodds. Socially conservative, against same-sex marriage and abortion, the DUP's deputy leader and leader in Westminster was deeply suspicious of the potential for Boris Johnson's Brexit Deal to economically differentiate Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom.

His challenger was Sinn Féin's John Finucane, a 39-year-old lawyer and Lord Mayor of Belfast. It was a battle heavy with history: Finucane is the son of a solicitor who was murdered at the family dinner table by loyalist paramilitaries working in collusion with British state forces, in one of the most notorious murders of the conflict.

[...]

West Belfast is a Sinn Féin stronghold, and losing South Belfast and North Belfast leaves unionists just one MP in the city: Gavin Robinson of East Belfast, who was re-elected with the cross-community Alliance Party not far behind him.

[...]

The cross-community and anti-Brexit Alliance Party won its first seat ever outside of Belfast, unexpectedly taking the traditionally unionist seat of North Down from retiring incumbent.

[...]

"There was a Brexit effect. The most pro-Remain parties made the biggest gains," said Matthew O'Toole, who was a spokesman in Downing Street during the Brexit referendum and now writes and commentates on Brexit and current affairs. "It signals how Northern Ireland is changing ... nationalists and unionists are going to have to persuade this middle ground who are less interested in identity."

Or maybe the middle ground will become the future.

The sight of triumphant SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon [in Scotland] shaking her fists in victory will rattle unionists from Bangor to Belleek.

[...]

The Scottish National Party's landslide — 48 of 59 Scottish seats and 45 percent of the Scottish vote — and renewed mandate for a second independence referendum will rattle unionists across the Irish Sea.

"Unionists will be looking across the water and thinking if Scotland is going to go, then the Union is going to go," said Sarah Creighton, a unionist commentator. "That vote coming through in Scotland is going to make a lot of people nervous."

[Boris] Johnson's decisive majority enables his party to return to its default position toward Northern Ireland's unionists: ignoring them.

Within the space of a year, the DUP has gone from having the power to disrupt international negotiations by threatening a veto, to waiting in line to ask the prime minister nicely and hoping he grants them the favor.

Within the space of a year, the DUP has gone from having the power to disrupt international negotiations by threatening a veto, to waiting in line to ask the prime minister nicely and hoping he grants them the favor.

Living in interesting times.

Grifters gonna grift

We'll be decades, if not centuries, healing from this administration

And now, for some replies to Deere's tweet:

Also..



UPDATE:  Love this picture...caption it yourself.



UPDATE:

All hail the president of the United States

Trump is expected to travel to Ireland for two nights during his June visit to Great Britain and France to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the World War II battle at Normandy.

[...]

The White House is reportedly pushing for Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar to come to President Trump’s golf course in Doonbeg, Ireland, for a meeting when the president visits the area next month.

An Irish government source with knowledge of ongoing discussions told CNN that the Trump administration is insisting on picking the location of the meeting.

"The Irish government feel that protocol dictates that any event they host for President Trump should be at a venue of their choosing and certainly not at an hotel owned by Trump," the source told CNN.

"It is a bit unseemly to demand that the taoiseach host President Trump at his hotel," the source added, referring to the Irish prime minister.

  The Hill

Everything about Trump is unseemly, sir.

Irish officials have reportedly offered a compromise — Varadkar will host Trump for dinner at nearby Dromoland Castle and then come to Trump’s Doonbeg hotel for breakfast.

Very generous of yous.

The White House has reportedly refused that offer and threatened to have the president skip the visit and travel to one of his golf properties in Scotland instead.

What a superlative dickish move. And Ireland should be so lucky.

Another Irish diplomatic source with knowledge of the planning told CNN that having Trump visit Ireland is "very delicate politically for Varadkar" because the U.S. leader is "incredibly unpopular" in the country.

"Leo is doing his best to minimize his exposure to Trump on this visit, but he is in a tricky position, as practically every American digital company's European headquarters are in Ireland," the source said.

Honestly, Leo, I doubt if they care.

Protests are expected to greet Trump when he visits the Emerald Isle, but Varadkar said Thursday that protest is "allowed and is welcome."

Unlike Trump himself.

Mike Pence had a visitor

The Irish prime minister, Leo Varadkar, who is gay, brought his partner to a meeting on Thursday with the US vice-president, Mike Pence, a conservative Christian once dubbed “the face of anti-LGBTQ hate in America”.

Varadkar, who is in Washington this week to reaffirm the longstanding shared history between the two countries, brought his partner, Matt Barrett, to a St Patrick’s Day breakfast at the vice-presidential residence at the Naval Observatory.

[...]

Pence’s anti-LGBT bona fides include supporting so-called conversion therapy, to signing a religious freedom bill that would have worked as a license to discriminate against gay people. More recently his wife Karen Pence came under fire for teaching at a Christian school with policies of banning LGBT teachers and students.

[...]

Varadkar tweeted that he and Barrett had received a “warm reception” at Pence’s home, but in pointed remarks to Pence and gathered media, he also called out various forms of discrimination.

“I lived in a country where if I’d tried to be myself at the time, it would have ended up breaking laws,” he said. “But today, that is all changed. I stand here, leader of my country, flawed and human, but judged by my political actions, and not by my sexual orientation, my skin tone, gender or religious beliefs.”

  The Guardian

If the Irish can handle it, fer feck's sake, we should be able to.

In a meeting with Donald Trump on Wednesday, the president noted that he and Varadkar had become fast friends.

He's fast friends with anyone who comes to see him.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Irish PM asks for respect for Trump

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar on Sunday said that he expects the nation to treat President Trump with respect upon his visit later this year, despite disagreements with his policies and rhetoric.

“I know a lot of people dislike him, a lot of people object to him, a lot of people disagree with a lot of his policies, just as I do in fact,” Varadkar told national broadcaster RTE, according to Reuters.

“But he is the president of America and the relationship between Ireland and the United States is much more important than any Irish government or any U.S. administration and I think we have to treat his office with the respect that it deserves," he added.

  The Hill

Man, this is Ireland we're talking about.

Within 24 hours of the announcement, the Ireland Green Party had organized a Facebook event for a march to protest Trump and his “destructive politics of hate,” and thousands quickly said they planned to attend.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Hmmmmm

One of the suspects in the London attack who was shot dead by police on Saturday was carrying an Irish identity card, the Press Association reported on Monday, June 5.

The Irish Times reported that the card was purportedly issued by Irish police. These ID cards, issued to vetted foreign nationals by the Garda National Immigration Bureau, include the holder’s name and date of birth, and are proof that the holder has legal residency in Ireland.

Gardaí and British police are working to establish beyond doubt that the dead man is the same person featured on the card found and that the card is genuine.

[...]

The man, who was of Moroccan origin, spent time living in the Rathmines area of Dublin in 2016.

[...]

Ireland’s Department of Justice said: “The expert threat assessment is that while an attack here is possible it is unlikely and that there is no specific information in relation to any threat to Ireland from international terrorism.”

  Grasswire

But how was he vetted and how was he connected with London terrorists?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

St. Patrick Was an Immigrant

Enda Kenny, Irish Taoiseach makes a wonderful little speech:

And look at the face on Trump as he says it.  Ireland will be the next T-Rump Target.

Click the pic to get the video/audio.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph!

Three senior Irish bankers were jailed on Friday for up to three-and-a-half years for conspiring to defraud investors in the most prominent prosecution arising from the 2008 banking crisis that crippled the country's economy.

The trio will be among the first senior bankers globally to be jailed for their role in the collapse of a bank during the crisis.

The lack of convictions until now has angered Irish taxpayers, who had to stump up 64 billion euros - almost 40 percent of annual economic output - after a property collapse forced the biggest state bank rescue in the euro zone.

   Reuters

The crash thrust Ireland into a three-year sovereign bailout in 2010 and the finance ministry said last month that it could take another 15 years to recover the funds pumped into the banks still operating.

[...]

"By means that could be termed dishonest, deceitful and corrupt they manufactured 7.2 billion euros in deposits by obvious sham transactions," Judge Martin Nolan told the court, describing the conspiracy as a "very serious crime".

"The public is entitled to rely on the probity of blue chip firms. If we can’t rely on the probity of these banks we lose all hope or trust in institutions," said Nolan.

"And might as well be Americans," he probably said after that.

Has Britain Gone Mad or Has It Always Been?

Regarding the latest proposal by Britain's government to codify virtually total domestic surveillance:



Yeah, you know really, I can imagine that. And what I imagine is that if there had been the technology to permit it, they would have.

I could be wrong. But I don't think so.

British Torture Files: Ireland's Hooded Men

The British government has used torture techniques as a matter of course throughout the world.

 Watch this special report on its use of torture techniques against 14 Catholic Irishmen in early 1970s protests and riots.

Another Round of Austerity Fail

[Portugal] will become the second [...] country to leave the [euorozone] bailout after Ireland. Portugal underwent three years of painful austerity, in order to receive a 78-billion euro loan (106 billion US dollars), to help a nation that was on the verge of bankruptcy.

[...]

“There is a great need in Brussels and Berlin and other capitals to present Portugal and Ireland as success stories. They will claim that their reforms in Portugal have been a success- well, they haven’t, they have destroyed the society and economy,” Rui Tavares, an independent Portuguese MEP told RT in April.

  RT

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Surveillance States and Their Economies

Theresa May summoned the internet giant Yahoo for an urgent meeting on Thursday to raise security concerns after the company announced plans to move to Dublin where it is beyond the reach of Britain's surveillance laws.

By making the Irish capital rather than London the centre of its European, Middle East and Africa operations, Yahoo cannot be forced to hand over information demanded by Scotland Yard and the intelligence agencies through "warrants" issued under Britain's controversial anti-terror laws.

[...]

In February, the Guardian revealed that Britain's eavesdropping centre GCHQ intercepted and stored the images of millions of people using Yahoo webcams, regardless of whether they were suspects. The data included a large quantity of sexually explicit pictures.

The company said this represented "a whole new level of violation of our users' privacy".

[...]

The move to make Dublin the centre of its headquarters for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) was announced last month and will take effect from Friday.

[...]

Emma Carr, deputy director of Big Brother Watch, said: "It should not come as a surprise if companies concerned about maintaining their users' trust to hold their information start to move to countries with more rigorous oversight processes, particularly where courts oversee requests for information." Surveillance laws have a direct impact on our economy and Yahoo's decision should be ring an alarm in Parliament that ignoring the serious questions about surveillance that are being debated around the world will only harm Britain's digital economy."

  Guardian

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Oregon Occupy Victim Loses Her Case

A jury has cleared the city of Portland, Oregon and two police officers of using excessive force during an Occupy protest in November 2011, when a demonstrator was struck in the throat with a baton and sprayed with pepper spray into her open mouth.

  RT

What is excessive about that?

According to Kenneth Kreuscher, [one of defendant Elizabeth] Nichols' attorneys, officers went beyond their orders to secure a bank branch during the Occupy Portland protest.

David Landrum, the lead attorney for the city of Portland, countered that the protest was unruly and officers simply responded to a threat. In a court motion, city attorneys wrote that Nichols “actively, physically resisted lawful police instructions to move off the sidewalk” and “aggressively moved as if to attack” the police.

I’m sure.

Heavily armed riot police being paid by taxpayers to guard a private bank isn’t bad enough. They get to beat up on civilians exercising their right to peaceful protest.

And isn’t that a quaint law? You have the right to peaceful protest. Since there is zero chance of that ever changing anything, how gracious of your overlords to permit it. Only, then they bring out their goons to shoot you with rubber bullets, launch shock grenades at you, club you with batons, and spray you with capsicum.

Here, you Oregon weenies. Here you are doing your duty as private bank guards. Think there's enough of you?



And here are police actually being attacked by citizens. This is Northern Ireland. See the bricks on the ground? That riot shield looks like it won't be standing up to too many more hits.

Dozens of police officers have been injured in Belfast after clashes broke out during protests against a rally marking the anniversary of the introduction of imprisonment without trial in Northern Ireland.

About 26 police officers were injured, five requiring hospital treatment, when they were attacked with missiles by crowds in the city centre, police said.

  al Jaeera