LBC listeners branded this call on Northern Ireland 'brilliant' and 'insightful'
8 April 2021, 14:00 | Updated: 8 April 2021, 14:59
Northern Irish caller's moving take on violence in Belfast
This is the 'brilliant' and 'insightful' call on Northern Ireland that LBC listeners said 'hits the nail on the head repeatedly.'
After a week of violence in Northern Ireland which saw 55 police officers injured and a bus hijacked and set on fire in Belfast, James O'Brien invited listeners to give their views.
He explained to James the unrest within loyalist communities is partly because they're unhappy with post-Brexit trading arrangements.
"This was always going to happen," he warned as he explained to LBC he had grown up in a post-Good Friday agreement world in Northern Ireland.
"I've grown up in a peaceful country, I've grown up not knowing what the generation before me knew. Which was guns being pointed at you, bombs going off during school assemblies."
Revealing he was getting worried he told James he never thought things in NI would return to how they had been.
Watch: Northern Ireland was used as Brexit bargaining chip, commentator warns
PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Jonathan Roberts said a total of 55 police officers have been injured across several nights of disorder in Northern Ireland.
He said several hundred people gathered on each side of the peace wall gate at Lanark Way in west Belfast from around 5pm on Wednesday, which escalated to "significant disorder where crowds from both sides of the gate were committing serious criminal offences, both attacking police and attacking each other".
Mr Roberts said multiple petrol bombs and missiles, including fireworks and heavy masonry, were thrown.
Oh my! What an insightful caller
— Cassie Oh Dear 🇪🇺 (@cassieodea) April 8, 2021
*The divide is intersectional*
My heart is aching for Northern Ireland, but with young voices like his, there's hope. They are worthy of a better future
Great call from a very clued up young fella. He hits the nail on the head repeatedly.
— D∆N (@2012xof) April 8, 2021
Brilliantly spoken and as a person who grew up in Belfast during the troubles, I can honestly say he is spot on
— 🏆Champ19ns🏆Darán Mac Thoirealaigh (@DazLFC79) April 8, 2021
Read more: Northern Ireland: Stormont condemns 'deplorable' violence after sixth night of unrest
The Northern Ireland Executive issued a joint statement following a meeting of the power-sharing administration to discuss the escalating public disorder.
Assembly members also united to condemn the violence, unanimously passing an Alliance motion after being recalled to discuss the scenes.
A total of eight people have been arrested - seven of them have been charged with riot.
