hi, i'm northern irish + live in belfast. the only people claiming a "truce" are the far right, who want to make it seem like more of us support them. we don't. 20 000 people came to the rally against racism the other day (in a city of 350k!), last i'd heard several dozen people have signed up to bring food + other supplies to people who feel unsafe, and £200k+ has been raised to help the people who have been attacked.
no, they were not just targeting sudanese people. anyone not white was a target - i know of indian and syrian families who were attacked, and their shops destroyed - along with people who aren't the "right" type of white (ukrainian, especially).
there were almost certainly some catholics in among the rioters, because catholics/nationalists/republicans are not immune to racism, but the vast, vast majority of them are loyalists - that's why they're going after people in those areas. they're attacking people in their own areas. i think it's important to note that well-known loyalist paramilitaries were seen in the riots and were egging it on on social media. genuinely, one of the people who was posting about it is a convicted UVF bank robber.
these are the same sort of people who rioted last year, and the year before that, and every time there have been riots. they're the same people who have spent months building bonfires taller than houses and who will cover them next month in the irish flag and will put signs calling for the killing of irish catholics alongside the signs denigrating refugees and other immigrants. the targets are different but the hate is the same, because they are deeply, viciously xenophobic. you don't have to be a person of colour. you just have to be Not Them.
Well this sounds Horrible
Loyalists/protestants in Northern Ireland used to be pretty much guaranteed a job for life in industries like ship building and also housing. Catholics didn’t have the same safety net and were barred from most of the housing and a lot of the jobs. This is why the Troubles happened. It was a deeply divided province/country.
With the collapse of industry (exacerbated by NI no longer getting EU money after Brexit) the Protestant working class is bored, angry and struggling for identity. The loyalist paramilitaries are invested in stoking hatred of immigrants as ‘stealing their jobs and houses’ because it’s easier than saying we fecked up and should have a united ireland that’s in the EU.
This is coming into the marching season and the bonfires mentioned above where a large section of the Protestant community remember King Billy (the Protestant William of Orange) and his victory over the catholic king James II in 1690 - yes it goes back that far.
(Very simplified but useful context imo)
