ruby sparks
Contributor
A local news item here, which has been getting a lot of attention & priority in the rest of Britain today.
Yesterday, in the somewhat historically infamous area of the Creggan Housing estate in the city of Derry/Londonderry (pick your preferred name for the city, it's still a bit contentious here) the PSNI (NI Police) instigated raids on some dwellings after receiving intelligence that so-called dissident IRA guns were being stashed, in this case by a small faction who call themselves the 'New IRA', apparently. The IRA dissidents are basically the intransigent stragglers from the IRA after it ceased operations approximately 21 years ago, on, as it happens, Good Friday, 1998, and they have been causing limited, sporadic trouble and violence in recent years.
A demonstration against the police soon started (there are still a number of Nationalist sympathisers and anti-authoritarians in The Creggan Estate) and the police withdrew to a safe distance, parked in their armoured vehicles. Cars were stolen and set alight to block the road, and petrol bombs (over 50) were thrown at the police Land Rovers, setting them ablaze. Then, late in the night, a man in the crowd fired at least one gunshot at one of the police vehicles and the bullet apparently ricocheted off and hit and mortally wounded a (somewhat unwise it could be said, for being so close) young, local female journalist, Lyra McKee (aged 29). She was rushed to hospital in one of the police Land Rovers but died there. Lyra was a well-respected and talented journalist and was also just starting a career as an author, and was also an LGBTQ activist. Forbes magazine, in 2016, named her as one of the "30 Under 30" talents to watch in the media.
There is still some political violence here, occasionally, and some dissident IRA activity, but on the whole, not very much, and NI is probably still a safer place to live, generally, than many other parts of Britain and other 'western' countries, because 'normal/everyday' crime rates are lower.
It is really sad and tragic, what happened, and the country, indeed the British nation, is shocked and appalled.
Some good will probably come of it. It has already united politicians on both 'sides' in unequivocal and strong condemnation in a way that is unusual, even in these better times, and it will surely take away from at least some of the (minority) support or sympathy for the dissidents. But that won't be any use to Lyra McKee, or much comfort to her friends and family and her bereaved partner.
Police are actively seeking the killer and an accomplice and I think they know who they are looking for, since the shots being fired (or the fatal shot at least) were captured on video.
There is a vigil being held Tonight outside the city's Guild Hall, outside of which, in 1998, President Clinton spoke, after the Good Friday peace deal. Also coincidentally, Nancy Pelosi was in Derry/Londonderry earlier on Thursday, but before the riot started later in the day.
[YOUTUBE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70167wasVGQ[/YOUTUBE]
Yesterday, in the somewhat historically infamous area of the Creggan Housing estate in the city of Derry/Londonderry (pick your preferred name for the city, it's still a bit contentious here) the PSNI (NI Police) instigated raids on some dwellings after receiving intelligence that so-called dissident IRA guns were being stashed, in this case by a small faction who call themselves the 'New IRA', apparently. The IRA dissidents are basically the intransigent stragglers from the IRA after it ceased operations approximately 21 years ago, on, as it happens, Good Friday, 1998, and they have been causing limited, sporadic trouble and violence in recent years.
A demonstration against the police soon started (there are still a number of Nationalist sympathisers and anti-authoritarians in The Creggan Estate) and the police withdrew to a safe distance, parked in their armoured vehicles. Cars were stolen and set alight to block the road, and petrol bombs (over 50) were thrown at the police Land Rovers, setting them ablaze. Then, late in the night, a man in the crowd fired at least one gunshot at one of the police vehicles and the bullet apparently ricocheted off and hit and mortally wounded a (somewhat unwise it could be said, for being so close) young, local female journalist, Lyra McKee (aged 29). She was rushed to hospital in one of the police Land Rovers but died there. Lyra was a well-respected and talented journalist and was also just starting a career as an author, and was also an LGBTQ activist. Forbes magazine, in 2016, named her as one of the "30 Under 30" talents to watch in the media.
There is still some political violence here, occasionally, and some dissident IRA activity, but on the whole, not very much, and NI is probably still a safer place to live, generally, than many other parts of Britain and other 'western' countries, because 'normal/everyday' crime rates are lower.
It is really sad and tragic, what happened, and the country, indeed the British nation, is shocked and appalled.
Some good will probably come of it. It has already united politicians on both 'sides' in unequivocal and strong condemnation in a way that is unusual, even in these better times, and it will surely take away from at least some of the (minority) support or sympathy for the dissidents. But that won't be any use to Lyra McKee, or much comfort to her friends and family and her bereaved partner.
Police are actively seeking the killer and an accomplice and I think they know who they are looking for, since the shots being fired (or the fatal shot at least) were captured on video.
There is a vigil being held Tonight outside the city's Guild Hall, outside of which, in 1998, President Clinton spoke, after the Good Friday peace deal. Also coincidentally, Nancy Pelosi was in Derry/Londonderry earlier on Thursday, but before the riot started later in the day.
[YOUTUBE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70167wasVGQ[/YOUTUBE]
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