For nearly a fortnight, I've been getting more and more annoyed. I've left my house three times, and each time was to go to work. I've even had to skip work three times. My work has had to close too. Those times that I went to work were the
only times I left my house.
Why?, I hear you ask. Why have you not been out living a healthy
life, out
socialising with your friends, out shopping for those couple of things that you've been wanting to get for a little while now? Why have you not gone to work, and why has your work had to shut down?
So here is my reply, for those of you who have asked similar questions to those above: it's because I live in
Belfast. For the past few weeks, there have been demonstrations all over
Northern Ireland. The atmosphere is tense, people are in anticipation of what's going to happen come the 11th night and marches on the 12th of July. People have been hurt and some even killed.
Take, for instance, the night of the 11th of July. This is a night when many people from the Unionist community light
boneys and celebrate something that I don't really know about. And on the 12th of July, they will march the streets of Northern Ireland, either as members of an
Orange Lodge or in a band.
On this night, one man was
stabbed to death in Coleraine, several others hospitalised in
knife attacks, and one man
beaten to a bloody pulp then shot in the back of the head by a member of a
paramilitary organisation. The latter was killed in front of around 100 people at a bonefire in (i think) Larne. And, he was a protestant
killed by another protestant, for those of you who may be interested.
Throughout the two weeks, there have been countless
riots, attacks on the
security forces, attacks on
paramedics, even. There have been
hijackings,
car bombs,
shootings,
blast bombs. Roads have been blocked off by protestors. The whole country has been brought to a standstill. Businesses have just shut down for the day because their staff cannot get to or from their homes. Even the busses would not run after 6pm.
This is what I mean when I say the word "
standstill".
And so I've been trapped in my house, unable to leave because public transport has stopped, and because I wouldn't feel safe leaving my house. And I'm relatively lucky, because I live right in between the two "
communities", and when there is any serious trouble, the riot police congregate right outside my door. Most of the rioting either occurs further down the road, or further up the road. (By this I'm talking 50m in one direction and 100m in the other. A literal stone's throw away.)
Someone left their house a few doors down a few years ago because it was set alight with a petrol bomb. They decided it just wasn't right for them to live in this area anymore, so they've moved elsewhere.
If you're looking for an explanation now, I'm afraid I haven't got one. Perhaps ask someone such as
ryano and he will give you the historical context for our situation here. But I have a feeling he doesn't live in a situation that I live in... 50 metres away from a "
peace wall"...
And to be honest, it doesn't affect me the whole year round, or perhaps I'm just used to the fact that you can't go into certain areas, and you can't wear certain colours or say certain things for fear of being beaten up. The fact that I haven't cycled a certain route for about 5 years, since someone threw a
punch at me as I cycled downhill,
down my own street. (I ended up with cuts on my hands and hit my head on the ground... I felt totally scared, my head had nearly been run over by a Vauxhall Corsa, and there was a gang of around 40 youths standing a few metres away... I grabbed my bike and started running...)
* It wasn't until I went on holiday to Vancouver, BC last summer that I realised the actual extent to what I was accepting as normal. I got on my aunt's bike and just cycled
anywhere in the city without fear. They said, stay out of (certain area past chinatown), but I decided I would anyway, and some guy asked me if I wanted to buy drugs, and I said no thank you, and went about my business...
If the people in this country were to experience the standard of living seen in places like that, I doubt there would be many people left in this country.
I've gone off on a tangent, I realise that.
The twelfth fortnight is now over (I hope) and I'm going to go about my business as usual. It's not that I'm suddenly safe again, but at least this period of heightened violence is over. Just back to the routine of bomb-scares and sectarianism that is life in Belfast.
*
After the bike incident, my aunt's friend came round to my house. She called the police to report it. They came a while after, and took a statement. I was still dazed and confused at the time, having just bounced down the road and wrecked my bike... They said they would get back to me, and I never heard from them again. One of the officers even took an accusative tone with me, as if to say, are you stupid going down that road at this time of year?... What can I say...
fuck the pigs... they don't do anything about it...