#loyalist paramilitary

As the racially motivated violence unfolded in Northern Ireland this week, a striking dissonanace could be seen behind the mobs and flames and smoke. The knife attack that triggered the disturbances occurred in a nationalist area yet the mayhem played out against a backdrop of union jacks and loyalist murals. You could watch rioters hurl missiles and target foreigners on Shankill Road, then cross a few blocks to Falls Road, bedecked with Irish tricolours and republican murals, and experience serenity. History, demographics and psychology can explain some of the diverging community reactions, but there is also a familiar factor at play under the surface – paramilitaries. The security services and some academics say there are more loyalist paramilitaries today than in 1998 when the Good Friday agreement drew a line under the Troubles. One estimate from 2020 put the number as high as 12,500, albeit with many members inactive. The Ulster Volunteer Force and Ulster Defence Association, which are proscribed as terrorist groups in the UK, have endured despite engaging in a state-sponsored process of “transitioning” that is supposed to phase out their existence. The groups have split into sub-groups. Some are involved in drug dealing, extortion and racketeering while others have cooperated with politicians and civic society organisations that seek to consign them to history. The riots have renewed scrutiny because they happened in areas where paramilitaries wield influence. Ryan Henderson, an assistant chief constable, said police had no evidence that paramilitaries orchestrated the violence. Instead, there is evidence that some paramilitary leaders chose neutrality, neither stoking nor impeding the violence, to make a point: beware a vacuum.

There are more loyalist paramilitaries today than there were 30 years ago, an academic has told MPs. Dr Aaron Edwards, a lecturer at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, was speaking as he gave evidence to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee on the impact of paramilitarism on society in the region. He previously worked on major projects to help loyalist paramilitaries transition away from violence. “There are more loyalist paramilitaries today than there were 30 years ago, and I think that’s a really disturbing reality,” he said. Dr Edwards described paramilitary groups as “complex organisations” and “networks deeply embedded in the most marginalised and deprived parts of Northern Ireland”. Public support for them was described as “ebbing and flowing”, but not “widespread”. “The political dimension has lessened since the ceasefires (in 1994), however since the Brexit referendum and subsequent protest actions on the streets we have seen new life breathed into these old antiquated paramilitary structures,” he told MPs.

The European Commission has told officials working on post-Brexit customs arrangements at Northern Irish ports not to go to work today due to concerns over their safety amid tensions over the Northern Ireland Protocol.

“It is obvious for us that the first and utmost priority is the safety of people,” European Commission spokesman Eric Mamer said.

“Obviously the security of our staff in Northern Ireland is as high a preoccupation as that of any other person working in Northern Ireland on the implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement.

“We have asked them not to attend their duties today and we will continue to monitor the situation and adapt accordingly.”

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