The British government has sent military and intelligence to Belfast in an attempt to stop clashes between loyalists and nationalists
Unrest in Northern Ireland has been ongoing for more than a week. Tensions peaked in the middle of last week when radicals hijacked and burned a city bus and then set fire to a gate separating parts of the city.
What is happening now is not the limit, according to Britain’s MI5 counter-intelligence service. The Sunday Mirror, citing its own sources, reports that the street riots could escalate into full-scale paramilitary clashes. Undercover special forces and intelligence officers have therefore been dispatched to Northern Ireland.
“Northern Ireland has long been a powder keg”, – the journalist’s interlocutor told reporters. – “Tensions are very high. Both nationalists and loyalists have elements who want British troops back on the streets, which would be a disaster.”