Northern Ireland assembly holds emergency debate after six nights of violence - live
|
Version 4 of 17. MLAs holding emergency session after days of rioting Mervyn Storey, a DUP MLA, used his speech in the debate to criticise the attitude of some Sinn Fein politicians. He said they had shown “a barrage of disrespect” to Northern Ireland’s centenary. He also complained that the SDLP had told unionists to “suck it up” when the DUP expressed concerns about the Northern Ireland protocol. And he also criticised Naomi Long, the Alliance leader, for saying people were lied to over Brexit. People should mind their language, he said. Sir Keir Starmer has restated Labour’s call (see 11.0am) for the PM to convene cross-party talks in Northern Ireland to address the rioting problem. On a visit to Bristol he said: Martina Anderson, a Sinn Fein MLA, says the assembly needs to show ‘a generosity of spirit” and dial down the rhetoric. Twenty three years after the Good Friday agreement, they are in a privileged space where dialogue can be used to build relationships between all traditions in Northern Ireland, she says. She says changes brought about by the British government, and by unionism, have led to people in the protestant/loyalist community feeling their identity has been undermined. Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland secretary, is heading to Belfast for talks with political leaders, Adam Payne from PoliticsHome reports. The power-sharing Northern Ireland executive met this morning before the debate started in the assembly to discuss the rioting, and afterwards it issued a joint statement. Here’s an extract. Nichola Mallon, the SDLP infrastructure minister, says the response of some political leaders to the rioting on social media was disappointing. People want to know what politicians are going to do to de-escalate the situation, she says. She says working class communities have been condemned to a cycle of violence for generations. Michelle O’Neill, the Sinn Fein deputy first minister, says there was a very dangerous escalation of the rioting last night, because it moved to interface gates at Lanark Way (separating the two communities). She says it is alarming that children were involved. And she blames the loyalist paramilitaries. She praises the Good Friday agreement. But the Loyalist Communities Council has now withdrawn its support for this, she says. She says there is room for everyone at the table. But there is no room for armed gangs, she says Arlene Foster, the DUP first minister, is speaking now. She says when politics fails in Northern Ireland, the vacuum will be filled by people offering destruction and despair. “So political problems require political solutions”, she says, not street violence. She says “responsible leadership” will not cherry pick problems, or deny the existence of the most difficult challenges. She says MLAs should redouble their efforts to solve problems peacefully. Naomi Long said it was particularly depressing that some of those involved in the rioting were children, some as young as 12 or 13. She said the fact they were being encouraged by adults to get involved in violent confrontation was “nothing short of child abuse”. She said there were many theories as to why the rioting was happening, and that there could be “an element of truth in each of them”. Brexit had caused simmering tensions for months, she said. She said she had some sympathy for people who feel betrayed. They were promised “sunlit uplands”, but those promises were not realistic, she said. And she said Brexit was supported by those in government who were “more interested in their own ascent” than in the damage their “deception” could cause in Northern Ireland. This sounded like an obvious reference to Boris Johnson. In the assembly Naomi Long is opening the debate. She is justice minister in the executive, and leader of the cross-party Alliance party. She has tabled the motion MLAs are debating. It says: And here are some more Northern Ireland developments this morning. The Police Service of Northern Ireland said a total of 55 police officers have been injured across several nights of disorder in Northern Ireland. PSNI assistant chief constable Jonathan Roberts urged political leaders to unite in opposition to the rioting. He said: Mark Lindsay, the chair of the Northern Ireland Police Federation criticised the calls from unionists, including from the first minister Arlene Foster, for the chief constable to resign. Lindsay said: |