Police punchbags for our political failings

Justice Minister Naomi Long was undoubtedly right when she described the weekend rioting in Belfast in which 26 police officers were injured as “utterly intolerable.”

One sustained two broken vertebrae in the violence that broke out as the police provided protection to contractors who were removing internment anniversary bonfire material.

Mark Lindsay, chair of the Police Federation, spoke for all fair-minded people when he said: “One officer injured is one too many, but 26 is ridiculous.”

The police were attacked with petrol bombs and bits of masonry.

This is proof, as if it were needed, that the violence was premeditated. As Mr Lindsay said: “Petrol bombs and chunks of masonry don’t materialise out of thin air.”

The bonfires, which are lit in some areas to mark the anniversary of the introduction of internment without trial on August 9, 1971, have proved to be increasingly contentious. And, as always, the police are in the front line.

A multi-agency approach involving them, local councils and private contractors has allowed the majority of these bonfires to be removed totally, or significantly reduced in scale and without incident. However, a number of flashpoints such as that in Distillery Street in west Belfast still persist.

Police are putting themselves in harm’s way because of something that we as a society have failed to resolve satisfactorily.

As Mr Lindsay says, they are “sick of being a punchbag for a society that has failed to tackle contentious issues”.

Our on-off and stop-start approach to legacy issues, and the shameful treatment of victims and survivors, has created a vacuum that irreconcilable elements are more than happy to fill.

Police officers are risking their lives because of the failings of our political class. Only when we as a society are finally at peace with ourselves will we see an end to the violence such as that witnessed in Belfast over the weekend.

That is properly the work of the politicians and not the PSNI.

The video footage from the evidence-gathering cameras will be reviewed, and all efforts will be made to identify those involved.

It will then be up to the courts to send out strongly the message that criminal behaviour will not be tolerated, with sentences that reflect the gravity of the offences committed.