Loyalists Withdrawal

From the BBC:

“Loyalist group withdraws support for Good Friday Agreement”

A group which includes representatives of loyalist paramilitaries has written to the prime minister to withdraw its support for the Good Friday Agreement. The Loyalist Communities Council (LCC) said it was temporarily withdrawing its backing because of concerns about the Northern Ireland Protocol. The protocol means NI remains in the EU single market for goods, so products from GB undergo EU import procedures. Unionists say it damages trade and threatens NI's place in the UK. In the letter, first reported by the Irish News, LCC chairman David Campbell said the group's leadership is "determined that unionist opposition to the protocol should be peaceful and democratic". He added that the prime minister should not "underestimate the strength of feeling on this issue right across the unionist family". Mr Campbell said the LCC's support for the Good Friday Agreement would be withdrawn "until our rights under the Agreement are restored and the protocol amended to ensure unfettered access for goods, services and citizens throughout the United Kingdom". Responding to the letter, the prime minister's official spokesperson said he was "fully committed to the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement". The official said the government was "determined" to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland, and it was "simply looking to make some changes that have arisen as part of the protocol". The LCC represents groups including the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and Ulster Defence Association (UDA) - loyalist paramilitary groups responsible for the murders of hundreds of people.

The Good Friday Agreement, also known as the Belfast Agreement, was signed in 1998 and marked the effective end of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. It established a devolved power-sharing administration, and created new institutions for cross-border cooperation and structures for improved relations between the British and Irish governments. One of the most controversial parts of the agreement was the decision to grant early release to certain paramilitary prisoners, both loyalists and republicans. It was approved by referendums in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in 1998 and was subsequently incorporated into British and Irish constitutional law and other areas of legislation. The LCC letter states: "If you or the EU is not prepared to honour the entirety of the agreement then you will be responsible for the permanent destruction of the agreement." The letter was published shortly after the EU said on Wednesday that a UK move to unilaterally extend grace periods for Irish Sea border checks as part of the NI Protocol would be a breach of international law.

'A political move' Chief Constable Simon Byrne said the PSNI is currently assessing the letter, but he does not foresee any immediate threat of loyalist disorder or violence. He was speaking at a meeting of the Northern Ireland Policing Board in Belfast. The chief constable described it as "a political move". "It is best dealt with by politicians… but as we sit here we do not see any immediate change in emotion or potential for disorder or violence coming from within the loyalist community," he added. Representatives of the LCC recently held talks with officials from the Northern Ireland Office to warn them of growing tensions around the Brexit protocol, but Mr Byrne said the PSNI had not met the LCC nor would they.

Analysis box by Julian O'Neill, NI home affairs correspondent One person I spoke to last night described the move as a form of passive resistance by loyalist paramilitaries to the protocol. I do not see it as a being a step closer to any street protest or violent actions. Indeed the letter states opposition to border arrangements should be peaceful and democratic. What it captures though is continuing discontent and anger within a section of the community. But in terms of consequences I am not sure withdrawing support for the Good Friday Agreement amounts to much in practical terms. The DUP didn't back the agreement either. Obviously loyalist prisoners were released on the basis of the agreement. It was, though, not conditional on support for the agreement, but rather an individual not engaging in future violence. In February Northern Ireland's major unionist parties said they were supporting a legal bid to challenge the Protocol. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) have said they are supporting judicial review proceedings. In response to the letter, Alliance Party deputy leader Stephen Farry said Boris Johnson faced a decision over whether he would "give more oxygen to the normalisation of treating illegal organisations like any other stakeholder in society". DUP MP Sir Jeffrey Donaldson told the BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme that unionist confidence and support for the Good Friday Agreement "is diminishing rapidly". He said: "People have lost confidence because they believe that no one is listening to the concerns of unionists. "I am not in any way, nor is my party, advocating that there should be the threat of violence or anything like it for any reason, there can be no justification for anyone doing that. "The LCC statement makes clear that their opposition to the Northern Ireland Protocol will be peaceful and democratic."

'Entirely bogus' The chairman of the House of Commons Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, Simon Hoare, told BBC Radio Foyle people "shouldn't be at all surprised" by the LCC's move as it had not been a "strong cheerleader" of the Agreement. He said: ""It is entirely bogus to try to suggest there is anything anti-union within the protocol. "The vast majority of people in Northern Ireland would say trying to be against the Good Friday Agreement is like being against fresh air and clean water. "It is conflating issues that don't need to be conflated."

Loyalist paramilitary groups 'have 12,500 members' The LCC was set up in 2015 by Mr Campbell, a former chairman of the Ulster Unionist Party, and Jonathan Powell, chief of staff to former Prime Minister Tony Blair, as a means to help bring an end to loyalist paramilitarism. It is not a proscribed organisation and is said to represent a range of individuals and views from the wider Protestant, unionist and loyalist communities. In late February the DUP leadership held talks with the organisation to discuss opposition to the protocol. It came shortly after Mr Campbell was criticised after saying loyalists would "fight physically" to maintain "freedoms" within the UK. In January, the LCC also met top civil servants from the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) to express anger at the Irish Sea border arrangements. It is not the first time loyalist groups have withdrawn their support for the Good Friday Agreement. In 2001 the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) - a cover name often used by the UDA when it claimed responsibility for sectarian murders - withdrew its support for the deal. In October 2015 the UDA "recommitted" to the principles of the Agreement, along with the UVF and the Red Hand Commando.

^ For those that don’t know a Loyalist in Northern Ireland is a Protestant that wants to remain part of the United Kingdom. A Republican in Northern Ireland is a Catholic that wants to re-unite all of Ireland under a Republic. The Good Friday Agreement is a Peace Agreement signed by the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and the Protestant and Catholic Northern Irish in 1998 that ended The Troubles and is still the main governing document.

The Troubles were a violent and deadly period (1,840 Civilians were killed, 1,692 British Soldiers, Northern Irish Police, Protestant Paramilitary Troops, Catholic Paramilitary Troops, Irish Soldiers and Irish Police were killed and 47,500 people on all sides were wounded) from 1968-1998 when the British Government, the British Military and the Northern Irish Protestants sought to keep the Northern Irish Catholics as second-class citizens in their own land (in 1966 the Northern Irish Catholics started non-violent protests, based on those of Martin Luther King Jr. in the US, to end the open discrimination - in housing, education, employment, basic civil rights, etc. - of Catholics in Northern Ireland.

The official discrimination was allowed based on the Protestant Ascendancy (the belief that Protestants are better than everyone else) that has ruled the UK, Canada, Australia since the Church of England was formed by King Henry VIII in 1531 (even today the Head of State of the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, etc. can only be a Protestant.) In regards to Ireland the top of the Class System were Protestants from Scotland, Wales and England, then Protestants from Ireland and at the bottom were Catholics.

In 1921, The Irish Free State (later becoming the Republic of Ireland in 1949) gained independence while Northern Ireland stayed part of the United Kingdom. Partition 100 years ago this year gave the Northern Irish Protestants equal rights (with Scotland, Wales and England) but kept the official discrimination of Northern Irish Catholics.

From 1966-1969 the Northern Irish Protestants (that ruled everything from the Government to the Police to the Welfare Office) did everything they could to stop the peaceful Catholic Civil Rights Movement (the Northern Irish Protestants were the same as White US Southerners and the Northern Irish Catholics were the same as Black US Southerners turning the era to end Jim Crow.) In 1969 alone the Protestants burned 150 homes, 750 people were wounded and 8 killed and sent 1,820 Catholic families fleeing either to the Republic of Ireland or to segregated Catholic neighborhoods in Northern Ireland.

In August 1969 the British Military was sent into Northern Ireland to restore law and order. At first the Catholics saw the British as a neutral force to protect both sides from violence and welcomed the British Military, but after several massacres of Catholics by the British Military (the Falls Curfew of 1970, the Ballymurphy Massacre of 1971, the Newry Killings of 1971, Bloody Sunday or 1972, etc.) where the British Military only targeted innocent and unarmed Catholics – oftentimes teaming up with the Protestant Northern Irish Police and the Northern Irish Protestant Paramilitary Groups – the Catholics moved away from their peaceful protests and The Troubles started with all-out war directly affecting people in: Northern Ireland, Ireland, England, Scotland, the Netherlands, Germany, etc.

Before Bloody Sunday on January 30, 1972 (when the British Military murdered 14 unarmed and innocent Catholics - 6 of whom were only 17 years old- and wounded another 12 Catholics and then both the British Government and Military tried to cover-up the truth and blamed the victims for decades until the British Prime Minister David Cameron finally officially admitted the massacre and cover-up in 2010 – there was a  bomb found in Belfast the day I left in June 2010 to go to Londonderry/Derry from a group who disagreed with the British Prime Minister) only 1% of Northern Irish Catholics had any ties to any Paramilitary Group, but after Bloody Sunday 30% of Northern Irish Catholics became directly involved with Paramilitary Groups and another 40% had indirect ties to the Paramilitary Groups. In Contrast: in 1969, 65% of Northern Irish Protestants had direct ties with Paramilitary Groups and another 30% had indirect ties to the Paramilitary Groups.

The Good Friday Agreement in 1998 not only ended the official violence of The Troubles, but also made Northern Irish Catholics equal citizens with the Northern Irish Protestants, the Welsh, the Scots and the English. It also created new International Bodies (involving the Northern Irish, the British and the Irish) in dealing with internal and cross-border affairs – including eventually voting on whether Northern Ireland should: stay with the UK, reunite with the Republic of Ireland or become a separate country.

In 2020 the United Kingdom – and Northern Ireland - officially left the European Union (the Republic  of Ireland is still part of the EU.) Northern Irish Catholics overwhelmingly voted to stay within the EU while Northern Irish Protestants  - the majority – overwhelmingly voted to leave the EU. Brexit has led to a renewed violence between both sides.

This latest move on the part of the Northern Irish Protestant Paramilitary Groups is alarming since it could realistically lead to another all-out war there. ^

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-56276653