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Dissident Terrorists in North Belfast

Dissident Terrorists in North BelfastWe have written about terrorism in Belfast back in the 60’s and 70’s in the last two several posts. We thought we would provide an update on what is going on in Belfast to day. This information is drawn from various news articles from local newspapers in Belfast. This is about Dissident Terrorists in North Belfast. If you have more current information, let us know and leave a comment on this post.

It looks like there is still a small group of what are now called dissidents, formally called terrorists that are still trying to cause havoc. Recently these dissidents have tried planting bombs under cars belonging to the police timed to go off when the policeman started the car. Fortunately the bomb was detected prior to the bomb being set off. Fortunately there are less and less opportunities to take pictures such as the one above which was apparently taken during a national day of protest in Belfast.

There are all kinds of pictures like this one all over the internet showing some of the events that took place in Belfast when the riots etc were at their worst. Fortunately this is all behind them now and the Irish can get on with building a solid country without the fear that there has been for many years. If Ireland can recover from the recent economic down turn and get people back to work they will have less time for these kinds of activities. People with jobs are happier and have less time to plan bad things.

I was wondering what the difference was between a terrorist and a dissident. The definition is as follows:

Dissident Terrorists in North Belfast

The term Dissident Terrorists in North Belfast has become the primary term to describe Irish republicans. They are politically continue to oppose the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. They reject the outcome of the referendums on it. These political parties also have paramilitary wings which espouse violent methods to achieve a United Ireland.

Irish republican dissident groups include the Irish Republican Socialist Party (founded in 1974. Its currently-inactive paramilitary wing is the Irish National Liberation Army), Republican Sinn Féin (founded in 1986 – its paramilitary wing is the Continuity IRA), and the 32 County Sovereignty Movement (founded in 1997 . Its paramilitary wing is the Real IRA). In 2006 the Óglaigh na hÉireann emerged, which is a splinter group of the Continuity IRA.

Terrorist :

the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes; or the state of fear and submission produced by terrorism or terrorization.

After reading these definitions, and reading what the dissident Irish are doing , I would call them terrorists. However due to the very sensitive political issues in Northern Ireland, you probably cannot risk doing that. Or risk a return to the violence that seemed to permeate the society in Belfast in earlier years.

The assessment of the local police is that the numbers of people involved in this activity is relatively small. They are focused on containing these small groups so that more damage and mayhem does not again become part of Belfast society.

This is a quick post on this particular topic. If you have direct knowledge of this issue and would like to leave a comment, please do so. We will even accept links back to your web site for those comments that are constructive and informative.

For more topics about Ireland, click here.

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2 Responses to “Dissident Terrorists in North Belfast”

  1. my friend just came back from Ireland after being away for many years. he was really surprised at how much it had changed and how safe it is now. The Irish have done a good thing to put it all behind them

  2. i agree something needs to be done, too many people are getting killed. someone has to take the lead and be prepared for a big fight.

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