Protestant Anger Runs Deep in Belfast; Riots Seen as Expression of Rage and Frustration Among Working Class
For three nights Protestant rioters trashed David Hamilton's neighborhood in east Belfast, tossing firebombs and rocks, hijacking and burning cars and ripping down streetlights in the city's worst violence in years.</br></br>Looking at the shattered battlefield of his street on Tuesday, Hamilton, 37, also a Protestant, said he would have been out there too if he were a little younger and didn't have four children. "The Protestant people are persecuted and want to stick up for themselves, but nobody seems to be listening," he said. "The only way to be heard is the way the Catholics do it -- with violence."</br></br>According to a variety of Protestants interviewed here, the riots over the past few days were an expression of rage and frustration among members of the Protestant working class, who feel they are being left behind economically and politically in the aftermath of the three-decade sectarian war known as "the Troubles."</br></br>When the Irish Republican Army this summer declared an end to its armed struggle, British Prime Minister Tony Blair hailed the historic step. His government immediately began withdrawing troops and dismantling military posts in the province.</br></br>But furious Protestants said they were being betrayed. Their rage was compounded by the release of a convicted IRA bomber, Sean Kelly, the night before the IRA declaration in July. Protestants saw it as a reward from Blair for disarmament.