Word: irelands
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...Since they'd spent years arguing that giving up their arms amounted to an unwarranted surrender, the IRA's reversal signals the extent to which Irish republicans have turned to politics as the path to pursuing their goal of a united Ireland. ?We are closing the curtain on 700 years of Irish history,? said Father Alec Reid, a Catholic priest who had been invited, alongside a Protestant cleric, to witness the decommissioning with de Chastelain...
...looked sadly familiar. After a parade by Northern Ireland's Orange Order was diverted from a Catholic area, members and supporters of the Protestant brotherhood rioted. Over most of last week, cars were burned, blockades were erected and gunmen turned automatic weapons on police. Most people thought spectacles like this were a thing of the past. The unionists' chief enemy, the I.R.A., announced in July that it was giving up its armed campaign and would dispose of all its weapons. Unionists claim the violence broke out because concessions to the I.R.A. had shown that violence pays. "I know there...
...quickly by members of two loyalist paramilitary groups. They coordinated attacks that spread to towns outside Belfast. The burning cars and rubble-strewn streets they left in their wake were a sharp reminder of just how severe this outburst had been. Earlier this year, the Police Service of Northern Ireland had congratulated itself for not having to use plastic bullets, a riot control weapon, for two and a half years - last weekend, police and soldiers fired more than 400 of the projectiles. Perhaps more significantly, the British soldiers also used live ammunition when they came under fire from loyalist gunmen...
...finally declared an end to its armed campaign and announced that it would decommission its entire arsenal. That promised disposal of thousands of weapons under scrutiny by international observers, which the IRA has promised would be completed by mid-October, may have already started in secret arms dumps around Ireland...
...However, the apparent waning of the IRA threat hasn't stopped Protestants from feeling threatened. Success or failure in Northern Ireland is often measured by how well the other side is doing, and right now Catholic society exudes confidence. The nationalist camp is still well short of its goal of a united Ireland, but its politicians have often shown remarkable dexterity in delicate negotiations with the British and Irish governments...