A border buried at sea

Riots in Belfast are a European problem too

Photo credit: Peter Morrison, AP

TWENTY-THREE YEARS is not a bad run as ceasefires go. That’s how long the Good Friday Agreement ‘succeeded’ in blurring the grievances of both sides - nationalist republicans and pro-British unionists - in the bitter, sectarian struggles for Northern Ireland. Long may it continue.

Rioting on the streets of Belfast over the past two weeks is just the most obvious symptom of tolerance frayed. In the Shankill Road area, at least 90 police officers suffered injuries from youth armed with rocks, molotov cocktails and (though it hurt no-one) a burning bus.

The unrest marked the 23rd anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, but the real culprit in the eyes of most Dutch commentators was Brexit. Trouw’s editor-in-chief warned that Northern Ireland has been thrown back in time - teruggeworpen in de tijd. 

The rioters were mostly teenage boys, allegedly loyal to Protestant factions which demand “full equal” treatment - volledig gelijke behandeling - for Northern …