There appear to be signs that the Flegs riots are grinding to a halt. PUP Cllr John Kyle seems to be the latest to call for them to cease. As a general rule, politicians who might be thought to bee leaders of unionism don’t want to “call for” anything that won’t be delivered.
The clashes at the Short Strand interface are being blamed on loyalists who outflanked the PSNI on the route home. and too much adverse publicity over the weekend and the PSNI going in hard at the weekend…the media, police and people have lost patience. and perhaps the British media getting interested is long overdue.
But St Patrick’s Day could be extremely interesting. It is a designated “flag day”…..but the thought that a considerable number of nationalists coming into the city centre waving Irish Flags is something that unionists and police will be anxious to avoid.
Keeping An Eye On the Czar of Russia 
Since you might be in the know, being a “semi-detached” member of the SDLP, have you heard rumours of alleged discussions that were held between SF and the SDLP to bring forward a motion to fly the Tricolour beside the Union Jack over Belfast City Hall on March 17th (one of the designated days for flying the British national flag)?
And that such a motion has been put onto the long-finger following the anti-democracy protests by Unionists?
I have been informed that this is so and will probably blog it later but I’ve been enquiring around and people are unusually reticent to discuss.
I have also heard something similar but not from a “Belfast” source and the context was different.
As I heard this the initiative did not come from a “political” source. But rather it was an idea put to SF and SDLP.
The context I heard was a colour party at the parade which had flags of several nations….to reflect the Irish diaspora.
The thing that gets me almost as much as the Irish flag not flying on official buildings is its complete absence from semi official places such as the Europa Hotel.
By any standard there are more citizens of Ireland using facilities/businesses in the North than Americans, Japanese, Germans, Indians and Chinese.
The time has certainly come….it’s long overdue…to fully integrate the Irish Flag into the mainstream.
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The 12th at Ardoyne will be the really interesting thing. After the freedom to block roads that has been given to unionists, how can the PSNI put the GARCistas off the road?
I see that, on Slugger, it’s been mentioned that this could also apply in the Clifton St area.