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A-14-YEAR-old boy has been charged with riotous assembly, says the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
He is expected to appear before Belfast Magistrates Court this morning, Friday 10th August.
It is believed the charge is in connection with disorder in the Ardoyne area of Belfast on 12th July. Four police officers were injured during significant disorder on the day, following an Orange Order parade in North Belfast.
Riotous or disorderly behaviour is an offence under Article 18 of the Public Order (Northern Ireland) Order 1987. The maximum sentence under the provision is 12 months.
In a separate incident, two teenagers and one male will appear before Lisburn Magistrates Court this morning in connection with disturbances in the Stewartstown Road area of West Belfast on the night of Wednesday 8th August.
The trouble started as crowds gathered to mark the anniversary of internment in 1971. Four vehicles were burnt and petrol bombs thrown at a police landrover.
Two 17 year old boys and a 20-year-old man have been charged with riotous behaviour and several other charges, including criminal damage and resisting police.
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Nobody wants to see a young lad brought up in front of the courts but if it has to be done it has to be done!
This is the kind of thing that cools enthusiasm for a united Ireland. How would we like having to pay for this kind of damage, every year?
Adrian if we had a United Ireland what reason would there be for rioting? Think about it for a minute. Why would Nationalists riot as they would have their United Ireland? What would be the point in Loyalists rioting seeing as the Brits would have gone back to “the Mainland” and sure as hell wouldn’t be coming back! Unionists would be Unionists in name only as there would be no more Union. The Orange Order could probably march where ever they wanted as their triumphalist bigotry would now be laughed at by communities seeing them as old men living in the past. In fact they would probably be invited to march through Nationalist areas so that the Nationalists could take the piss out of them for a change and see how they like it.
Brian, that’s an awful simplistic way of looking at the matter. Fact of the matter is, the two communites in Northern Ireland are as far apart from each other as ever, and the Republic wants no part of either of them.
There cannot be a united Ireland unless there is a united Northern Ireland. Creating the former without achieving the latter would be a disaster.
It might be simplistic Adrian but again just look at it for the moment. If Britain pulled out then you would have 2 communities left. What can the Unionists do in a situation like that except that they would have to be part of a United Ireland. They can either sit and sulk or just get on with life because Britain wound be gone for good.
As for the Republic not wanting them well there will always be the people who will put money and greed before their country but that has always been the way. There are however some of us who want a United Ireland so that all the violence, all the hatred and this rioting can come to an end for good. Sometimes the simplest answers are the best one’s.
@brian – I will everything in my power to ensure this country is never united with those toxic six counties. They’re as foreign to Ireland as falkland islanders would be.
What you would have would be The Troubles in reverse. The UK would be only delighted to be rid of Ireland, and we’d be stuck with one millon very angry Unionists who would do all in their power to get out of a united Ireland. Back to guns, bombs, murder, and maiming. Why should we force them against their will? Too few of them to cause trouble? The IRA were a minority even in Northern Ireland, yet look at the destruction they caused.
The concept of a united Ireland is political dogma that was never realistic. Its the Irish equlivant of papal infallability, you cannot question it. Well, it has cost Ireland thousands upon thousands of ruined lives over the centuries, simply because we cannot accept the fact that two nations exist on this island. Let the people of Northern Ireland sort out their problems – and it is entirely they who have these issues; the Republic has its faults but we at least are a united country – then we can talk about unification.
“I’m alright Jack”
It’s ironic that many people in the south have views closer to Ulster Unionism than they care to admit.
Gearóid, if you want opinion in the Republic to change, unite the north. Then people will have a lot more time for talk of Irish unification.
A kid with no clue – just a bunch of adults standing around encouraging him to go with it. And the cycle continues.
How seriously sad. What a waste.
Hope his parents are charged aswell
Peace will take time so will a united Ireland. Their is always a few who only know violence on both sides. And they brand the rest of us with their brush
Look at the fans at boxing they were cheering for the English boxer before Katie’s fight, times are a changing
Sure, but we should never assume that a united Ireland is a good idea. Just because it has been a goal for so many for so long does not mean its a good idea in this day and age. A large section of the country thought voting Fianna Fail for generations was a good idea, and look where it got it. New idea for new days.
Check out hear the neuroscience evidence for why adolescents, while ‘knowing’ right from wrong, should be deemed less criminally responsible than adults because their pre-frontal cortex development doesn’t take place until age 17-22-ish – this is the area of the brain that allows you to control impulses, think about the outcome of your actions, etc… Also they are proven to be extremely susceptible to peer pressure – that’s in their brains too. So why are they bringing this boy before the court, a child in terms of neuroscience who has maybe been subject to bad influences in his community.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/dec/13/age-criminal-responsibility-brain-scientists
Maybe if one of the “Brain scientists” had their car burnt out they might have had a different view!
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