Word: unionists
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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When British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Tom King arrived at Belfast city hall for a luncheon, he had to run a gauntlet of angry Protestants who pushed him, threw eggs and hurled insults. The Rev. Ian Paisley, leader of the militantly Protestant Democratic Unionist Party, denounced King as "a white-livered cur" and "a yellow-bellied coward." On Saturday, tens of thousands of Protestants converged on the city hall, where they set aflame the Irish tricolor and an effigy of Thatcher...
...House of Commons voted 473 to 47 in favor of the accord giving the Irish Republic a formal consulting voice in the governing of Northern Ireland. After the tally was announced, the Rev. Ian Paisley, a militant Protestant leader, shouted, "Ulster forever!" The next day, Paisley and fellow Democratic Unionist M.P. Peter Robinson tendered their resignations in the Commons' traditional fashion by applying for nominal Crown jobs, which would bar them from House membership. Their 13 Ulster Unionist colleagues vowed to follow suit...
...Irish Republic in the affairs of the province is an infringement of British sovereignty. As such, they fear that the agreement marks the beginning of a process that will lead inevitably to a united Ireland under Dublin's control. Said Peter Robinson, deputy leader of the Democratic Unionist Party: "We're being cast aside, and there's a deep sense of betrayal...
Provincial leaders were kept guessing about the summit and its controversial compromise until the last minute. The secrecy surrounding the negotiations only heightened the resentment felt by James Molyneaux, the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, and the Rev. Ian Paisley, the fiery head of the more militant Democratic Unionists. Normally fierce rivals, the two men joined forces to oppose the Anglo-Irish rapprochement. Jointly they protested, first by letter and then by visiting 10 Downing Street to make their case in person. They demanded that Thatcher submit any proposed agreement on Ulster to a referendum in the province, where...
...without their agreement. Said Paisley: "We left her in no doubt that if we don't have a democratic system, the politicians will be swept aside and other people not interested in politics will take over. Let the ballot speak before the bomb and bullet speak." For the moment, Unionist politicians ruled out disruptive street demonstrations and strikes because they were fearful of causing further damage to the province's already ailing economy, with its 21.8% unemployment rate. But they did schedule a mass rally in Belfast for this weekend, and one extremist faction, the Ulster Freedom Fighters, threatened violence...