The day after the first anniversary of the peace agreement on Monday, US President Joe Biden will arrive in Belfast. It is the British intelligence agency MI5 that warns against probable terror, write The Guardian and Sky News. The planned terror will target the police in Northern Ireland. The most vulnerable will be the police in Londonderry. The city is the second largest in Northern Ireland with just over 100,000 inhabitants and is located in the west of Northern Ireland. Deputy Chief of Police Bobby Singleton says that the police have received “clear intelligence” that the police may be attacked on Easter Monday. Ireland condemns the threats Police Chief Simon Byrne says the police have implemented a strategy that has not been used for many years. It assumes that the police have been moved to “advanced positions in the field” to repel any potential threat. Deputy Prime Minister Michael Martin in Ireland condemns threats of terror. Photo: MAHMOUD ZAYYAT / AFP – This reflects the exceptional circumstances at the entrance to the Easter weekend, says Byrne. Deputy Prime Minister Michael Martin of Ireland condemns the threats of a likely imminent terrorist attack in Northern Ireland. – Terrorism is crime in its worst form. Only very evil people can be behind such plans, says Martin. – Demanding Easter weekend – This will be a demanding weekend for the police, Deputy Chief of Police Bobby Singleton said at a press conference in Belfast on Friday. – A major concern is that the police are called to quell unrest and protests – and that in that setting terror is carried out against the police. The police fear terror on Easter Monday. The picture is from unrest in Belfast in October 2021. Photo: Peter Morrison / AP – We also get important information from the local community in Derry and Londonderry, says Singelton. Even before the latest concrete information from the intelligence, MI5 had raised the terrorist threat to serious, that is to say that a terrorist attack is highly likely. MI5 raised its threat level after police officer John Caldwell was shot in Co Tyrone recently. The New IRA group is suspected of the attack which left the policeman with life-threatening injuries. Biden is coming The warnings about probable terror come ahead of the US president’s visit to Northern Ireland next Tuesday. Biden will participate in the celebration that on Monday it is 25 years since the peace agreement for Northern Ireland, writes Sky News. President Joe Biden is expected in Belfast on Tuesday to mark 25 years since the Good Friday Agreement. Photo: Carolyn Kaster / AP The president often uses the occasion to remind people of his Irish roots. For three decades there was open conflict between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland. More than 3,600 people were killed and countless others were injured and left behind during the years of civil war. The Good Friday Agreement The violence more or less ended with the Good Friday Agreement on 10 April 1998, which ended with an outline to resolve Northern Ireland’s future. Former Prime Ministers Tony Blair in Great Britain and Bertie Ahern in Ireland on 10 April 1998, the day the Good Friday Agreement was signed. Photo: ALAN LEWIS / AFP But the political process has been turbulent. At times, contradictions have come to the surface, and Catholics and Protestants still live segregated in many ways. Northern Ireland was created in 1921 and then with a ratio of two to one majority for Protestants in relation to Catholics, NTB writes. The Protestants remained loyal to the English throne, while the rest of Ireland seceded from Great Britain and became independent. Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams was instrumental in bringing about peace in Northern Ireland. The picture shows him in the USA on 17 March 2005. Photo: ALEX WONG / AFP Today, however, the relationship between the faiths has changed. Catholics now make up 42 percent and Protestants only 37 percent of the population of 1.9 million people. Will remain part of the UK The Good Friday Agreement authorizes a referendum on Irish reunification if opinion polls suggest it is likely to pass. The picture shows a mural in Belfast in support of the IRA. Photo: Peter Kemp / AP Last year, however, a Gallup survey showed that 50 percent of those questioned would vote to remain part of the United Kingdom, reports the Irish Times. Only 27 percent said they want to become part of Ireland. The survey also showed that only 55 percent of Catholics in Northern Ireland would vote for reunification with Ireland. This is what it looked like in a street in London after an IRA car bomb went off on 8 March 1973. Photo: – / AFP
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Police in Northern Ireland warn of possible terror on Easter Sunday – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
