In talking about the Real IRA, the splinter group that took responsibility for the March 7 attack on an army barracks outside of Belfast that left two soldiers dead, Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde has said, "The people we are arresting are not 50 or 60 year olds from the old world.
Northern Ireland: Last Impression
Published April 27, 2009
Scott P. Harris, for the Pulitzer Center
I've come to the end of my stay in Belfast and I would like to think that I've gained some understanding of the complexities in overcoming a long history of sectarian violence.
My final impression of Belfast came last night, as I walked down Shankill Road I saw two young boys, maybe 12 or 14 years of age, throwing rocks against a short wall in an empty lot next to the main road. It wasn't a riot, it was just kids being immature. But the wall was so short, it wouldn't have taken much for a rock to go sailing into the busy street. When I saw them I grabbed my camera and got a quick shot. The reason this stands out is that a random man walking down the street got quite angry at me and said, "Those are minors, you better not show their faces!" This man, who was walking with his own children in the path of the flying rocks, cared more about me filming the act of vandalism, than he did about the kids committing the act of vandalism.
In a way, that has been a reoccurring theme here. People in both communities are paranoid about people taking pictures of them, as they imagine the other side is keeping track of who goes to which political parades, and almost every parent I've spoken with has refused to let me interview their child on camera because they are so afraid of how it could be used, and what the reaction would be in Belfast.
Featured on Foreign Exchange beginning Friday, July 10, 2009.
Produced by Scott P. Harris
In association with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting
Teenagers in working class Belfast belie success of integration efforts.
