Ireland Protests 2013: 10 Photos of Violent Violent Clashes Between Catholics and Protestants

Civil tensions between Northern Ireland’s pro-British Protestants and pro-Irish Catholics, which were supposedly placated by a 1998 peace and power sharing deal, have resurrected this year and escalated over the past few days. At least 56 police officers and two civilians have been injured during protests staged by the Catholic nationalists, with ongoing activism and violence consuming the central streets of Belfast.

Protestors have pelted police officers with bricks, often dug out from the paved streets, bottles, and the occasional beer keg while police officers have responded with plastic bullets and water hoses. There have thankfully been no fatalities thus far attributed to the protests, of which there have been 3,600 since they first erupted in the 1960s, but the hostility is persistent and the moderate stability is fragile. 

1. Civilians run away from a site of conflict

2. A Catholic nationalist stands atop a police vehicle

3. Protestors release tear gas amongst police officers to cause confusion

4. A police officer with a head injury awaits medical attention on the ground

5. Police officers attempt to contain protestors and pressure them off the street

6. As protestors charge towards the police, one picks up a brick to use as a weapon

7. An injured police officer is lifted onto a stretcher to be taken to a hospital

8. Specifically trained after protests erupted earlier this year, police officers use water hoses to douse and contain protestors

9. A car sits aflame resulting from the protests’ hysteria

10. Flag-waving protestors stand vigilantly in front of police vehicles