Protests Against Lizzie Windsor!

Ohhhhhhh a student on the issue? How nice, may I have you autograph sir?
A respected scholar lol.

Yes, peaceful protest should be respected, but that is an old issue in N. Ireland which recurs every year. Just look at the violence on both sides in the Orange March!

good for them

Exacly, why is the Apprentice Boys march allowed to go ahead and is rigorously policed, yet in this instance the loyalists were allowed to do as they pleased.

What about all the IRA members who tore thousands of British families apart during the Troubles? We forgave them (for the most part) for the sake of peace after the Good Friday Agreement. Can you not do the same for the Army and PSNI?

I'll remind you that the vast majority of Northern Irish would prefer to remain in the union, including more than half of Catholics. If republicans want to be in the Republic then you're perfectly welcome to move there, but you have no right to force upon the rest of the population a change that would affect everyone.

The protesters or the attackers?

the protestors ofc i would never condone this kind of violence... it is COMPLETELY wrong it's quite sickening. i would say the exact same if it were republicans attacking royalists... sign of idiocy if anything.

Of course they were. It was an unofficial protest, up the arse end of the mountain. The police only got involved once something actually happened. It's not like anyone behind the flag asked if they could go up there and do it. Frigging mountain has been used for such things for decades.

As much as I respect that they stood by their beliefs and peacefully protested, I'm not sure it was ever going to do any good, why isolate Sinn Fein....and nationalists?

Also look, the Unionist politicians have asked the PSNI to end the protest, no condemnation of the attackers.

they have a right to protest their beliefs... i don't know what sinn fein is or the relation to the nationalist is but... this is not the same as being pro nationalist surely, so is unrelated?

i don't think their point is to directly achieve something, it is to let people know there are people out there that disagree with the queen, it's not like they are expecting the government to go "oh, is that right? there are some people in NI who dislike the queen? right, someone call in the bailiffs! we have a job for them in london!"... but making people aware of their opinions. it's always a good thing.

My point is that during the troubles, the IRA, seen by nationalists as protectors, led by Martin McGuinness, among others, should be respected by Republicans.

But now republicans are splitting, not good.

I'm not surprised. When have Unionist politicians ever admitted their own side are just as bad? The hypocrisy from Unionists is just shocking, and that's why these people need to make these protests, really. Not that anyone will ever question Unionist hypocrisy apart from them, but at least someone does.

Whether or not I agree with their stance, I still feel they should do it. Distancing themselves from SF, however, probably isn't going to work in the long run, but IRSP044's welcome to his beliefs on the matter.

i'm not really up to date with the whole IRA thing, but surely republicans would want to distance themselves from them as they are seen as an extremist terrorist group?

also irish unity and UK republicans are different... you can be a republican (UK) yet still want to remain part of the UK

The IRA initially didn't see itself really as a terrorist group, they were freedom fighters, fighting to free themselves from their british oppressors. They had until recently generally retained the national support of the Catholics.

And Irish republicans fight for a 32 county Ireland, completely free from British rule.

yes but when i last went to ireland i learnt a lot more about the IRA, from irish people... they were very aggressive.. they did some awful things.

and national support of the catholics doesn't really impress me. they aren't known for their all loving and unhypocritical stances.

Have they? Because the Commander in Chief of the brit armed forces is hear, there are 5000 British troops stationed in the country, not to mention the many families still waiting for truth and justice on the murder of their family members by state forces.