Something's going on in Northern Ireland

[JohnKleeb]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/06/18/nireland.violence.reut/index.html
BELFAST, Northern Ireland (Reuters) -- Eighteen police officers in Northern Ireland were injured in clashes with Irish nationalist protesters on Friday night, police said on Saturday.

Violence erupted after Protestant "Orange" men and their supporters marched through the mainly nationalist Ardoyne area in north Belfast during the annual Tour of the North parade.

"During the disturbance a total of 18 police officers sustained minor injuries," a police spokeswoman said.

Police used water cannon to disperse the protesters who attacked the police and marchers with bottles and stones.

Northern Ireland's summer marching season, in which pro-British Protestants celebrate historic victories over Catholics, often sparks conflict between the two communities.

The Tour of the North is one of the first in a series Orangemen parades, which culminates in the biggest demonstrations on July 12.

[DaveinMD]

1. just the normal crap

that happens every year.

[greatauntoftriplets]

2. Coming up to the marching season....

"The Glorious 12th". July 12th is the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne.

[JohnKleeb]

3. Yeah I got linked to it earlier

Hey me and you may disagree on baseball teams but I agree with you totally on Ireland, goddamned Brits need to get out.

[DaveinMD]

4. I think

we agree on most important things. Sports is just a diversion.

[JohnKleeb]

5. Yeah and I actually get along better with

people who are actually from New York who go for them rather than these people who really have never had a team but like to bandwagon, I think its probably because I understand the motivation of those who are just going for their hometeam, hell even I admit as much as I dislike the Yankees I would be a fan if I grew up in the Bronx or New York or Jersey, and it would be the same if I had grown up in Boston, Rhode Island, or wherever, I take it youre from there since I know you like the Giants. Now about Ireland, I think its just disgraceful how the British government still gets away with it, Ian Paisley and his freaks to me are terrible individuals to me. I think I read in a book of my grandmother's on Ireland by I think it was Leon Uris that Paisley once spoke at Bob Jones University in the 60's.

[DaveinMD]

6. I grew up on Long Island

and my parents are from the Bronx. I hope my kids will be Yankees fans despite living here in Maryland. I'm also a Knicks fan, so you could never call me a frontrunner.

The British gets away with whatever they want because the world didn't seem to care. Clinton is the only one that ever did anything about the plight of the nationalists in Northern Ireland.

[JohnKleeb]

7. See I understand that

Same reason why I root for the Orioles, bandwagoning happens in all sports and I dont care what team it is, it pisses me off. I think its tragic that the British get away with what they do, its just as bad as some of the stuff that has happened here, what has happened in South Africa, etc.

[DaveinMD]

8. I agree

I hate the bandwagon fans too.

The stuff that happens in NI is just so senseless. I'm not Irish, but I always knew it was wrong. When I read up on it, it infuriated me. I'm now a member of NORAID and other Irish organizations. I wonder how many Jewish members they have. :-)

[JohnKleeb]

9. Well I appreciate you being Jewish realizing the outright

criminal acts of the British Government. I am only a quarter Irish myself but seeing the film Sunday Bloody Sunday I remember really angered me, I just wanted to scream so many times seeing that movie, and seeing that the head of the British paras was knighted is outrageous. You know the Irish and the Jewish have some in common, I guess being Irish and Catholic for that matter is why I think I can relate to Jewish people better than I can Protestants, despite the not so good history between the two churches, same with the Eastern Orthodox Christians, I guess I have a hard time identifying with Protestants since with the exception of Germany, my family comes from parts of the world that arent too heavily Protestant. Yeah bandwagoners are assholes to the core for me, I am sure you may know the type who has jerseys for just about every team.

[DaveinMD]

10. I had a co-worker

who rooted for over 5 NFL teams. I just couldn't get it through to her how wrong that was.

[JohnKleeb]

11. How do you do that?

Its ridicious to me, like sure there are more than one teams that I like but I have one sole team for each sport, well exempting baseball now since the Nats are my NL team but 5 teams in a year is jsut nuts.

[DaveinMD]

12. she rationalized it

She was from Seattle so she liked them. She lived in Baltimore so she liked them. Her boyfriend was from Denver so she liked them because she saw a lot of their games. There were two other teams. It was pure insanity. It really made me angry.

[JohnKleeb]

13. Would have been even funnier if she liked Cleveland or Pittsburgh

or Oakland since I think thats Denver's rival. Like there are some people who show up wearing jerseys of one them one day and their rival the next. I like the Orioles hte most in baseball and I stand by it, I may wear another team's hat occassionally but other than that, I only really follow the Orioles, same with football, on sundays I look for the Steelers game, unfortunely that can be a little hard around here.

[DaveinMD]

14. Seattle

was in Denver's division forever until they were recently moved to the NFC. She was the classic bandwagon fan. Covering her ass in most cases.

[JohnKleeb]

15. Seattle was once AFC?

Had no idea, like theres always gonna be one plus team that I will like but only one team I want to get the big one.

[two gun sid]

16. The Marching Season is starting...

Look for more trouble as the Orange Order will not discuss routes with the Nationalist communities and insist on marching through predominately Catholic areas. I guess they wouldn't be much fun marching if they couldn't terrorize the Taigs.


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