At the British-Irish border, the danger of a violent confrontation is growing, after 20 years of peace. Radical in position, residents prepare yourself mentally. Tim look at the mountain from the North of Ireland.
Protests by the group “Saoradh” in April 2017 in Belfast
Patrick Gallager like it cleaned up, sorted a few documents. On the side, close cropped hair, Hipster glasses. He sits at a Desk in the back room of a small shop in the Northern Irish city of Londonderry, near the Irish border, and smiles.
On the wall behind Gallagers Desk, he proudly displays extra large images of his idols: a selection of thought leaders and fighters for an Irish Republic. The 26-year-old Gallagher is the spokesman of a radical group called “Saoradh”, Irish: freedom.
It is not surprising, therefore, that in the corner of Gallagers office, a yellow-green flag is pictured on it plough, sword, and a constellation of seven stars. It is the Symbol of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), the paramilitary underground organization that fought in the conflict in Northern Ireland against the British army. 3500 people died in the bombing, after almost 30 years of war ended, the good Friday agreement of 1998, kept the peace.
British police – a provocation
British police and soldiers, a red cloth and odious to the group. However, the could be seen after the withdrawal of Britain from the EU to secure the UK’s external borders soon increased again in Londonderry. For Gallager a Declaration of war on all radical Republicans. “If there should be a limit, I can only assume that there will be attacks.”
Patrick Gallager in front of the image of a buildup of “Saoradh” to the “Bloody Sunday” in 2017. The radical group is still young and has around a thousand members.
Molotov cocktails fly again
37 years ago, on “Bloody Sunday”, shot British soldiers in Gallagers home to Londonderry during a peaceful protest for the independence on 28 civilians – some of them were fatally wounded. Londonderry was the fighters in times of war, a center of violence between the base and the units of the Kingdom and it might soon be again, as in the case of a Brexits the Northern Irish police has already requested several hundred police officers for the Surveillance of the border.
The city Londonderrys is up to today, 20 years after the peace agreement, fringed with Calling, lettering, and solidarity of the IRA statements. Already in the spring and summer of last year, there were in Londonderry rioting between British units and a Radical out of the haze circle of Saoradh: Molotov cocktails were flying, cars were burned, there were some arrests.
This is the bridge separating the two countries, but it not the communion of the people. A border crossing would separate in the future, families and friends.
The violence of the Patrick Gallager speaks, get Mervin Johnson felt over 40 years ago. He lives in one of the over 200 border crossings. The most lead you through pastures, forests, or through tiny towns – such as Pettigo. The a side is located in Ireland, the other in Northern Ireland. Johnson’s auto repair shop is on the Irish side directly to the small bridge, the halves then both the Village Association and thus in range of the Molotov cocktails of the IRA. “All the shops here were bombed out, my workshop. We were able to then delete it, fortunately, always in a timely manner. Then, when the peace came, it was just fantastic.”
Absurd Lines
A re-bound would be today for the community of the village a disaster. People are born on one side and on the other, buried in Ireland, you go to the Post office in Northern Ireland at Mervin Johnson leaves his car repair.
The gas station by Terry Hughes is in the middle of the border. Soon some of the customers would have to leave the EU, to take advantage of the full Service.
How bizarre the Situation for the municipalities on the border is also a place next to the gas station by Terry Hughes. Its fuel dispensers for petrol and Diesel in Ireland, the reasons for biofuel in the backyard on the Northern Irish and therefore British territory, from the Tax. “I walk every day 30 to 40 Times over the limit. Every Time I get beer, or coal, or to and from work driving,” he says. If there is a “hard limit” and a border fence, he must give up a part of his business, definitely.
“The IRA is to some”
Not only for economic reasons, Hughes is very concerned about the Situation. “As a child I grew up with guns in everyday life. I don’t want to do it to my children.” The Situation as it is at the border, he has not experienced yet. “In 20 years of peace I have seen my country never been so polarized as it is now. We’re just waiting for the match, and the Explosion.”
Even if he hopes that the policy in London will prevent this: With the Arrival of the British units for the control of borders, the Explosion could not be long in waiting. At least, when it comes to Patrick Gallager. He didn’t want, while calling for the violence, but “when the people fight back against the presence of the British, I can’t pronounce myself about it. I can’t deny them the right to violence. Particularly the IRA is underground, it is still with us in our communities and what I hear, they are to some.”