Post by dangeresque on Jun 18, 2008 19:48:34 GMT
Problems 'have not gone away'
"POLITICS is being played around interfaces to make people believe the
problems have gone away," according to Rosemary Rice, centre projects manager
at Avoca Street in the Old Park area of loyalist north Belfast.
The seasoned community worker said a lot of incidents are still going
unreported to the police for different reasons.
She said: "Sometimes I think politics is being played to keep things quiet.
"The reality is that we still have school buses, cars and homes attacked.
"If we lived in an ideal world we would be able to drive down Manor Street but
we have kids who have to take alternative routes to get to Cliftonville
Primary School - that is the choice their parents have to make.
"Ideally it would be great if Manor Street was open the way it was years ago.
But the reality is it is not.
"What would happen to the people living in those houses if the walls came
down? Is it safe? The problems have not got worse but they are still there."
Mrs Rice said she and others in her community still hold "a frustration and a
fear".
She said peace walls give the people who live beside them a sense of security
which they still need.
"It will take some time for that to change."
Mrs Rice said recreational rioting is still rife - especially in the summer
months.
"A lot of these kids - from both sides - are on first name terms with each
other and know each other through cross-community schemes. Then they keep in
touch by mobile, email and Bebo.
"But you have to remember that recreational rioting has been going on for years.
"I remember growing up in the Old Park in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
"Recreational rioting is not something that just appeared overnight. It is
talked about in schools where it gets bandied about that there was 'a great
riot last night' and the teenagers move around from interfaces where they hear
the best rioting takes place.
"The Old Park could be a hotspot for a month and then attention would move to
Westland or Twaddell."
Mrs Rice said the schoolchildren need to be educated to stop rioting.
"This is tradition and psychological conditioning and it needs to be tackled
at the root - there needs to be a re-education of what is happening.
"All this needs to take place before they start talking about peace walls
coming down.
"At the moment what would people be exposed to if the walls came down?
"I would love to know what the medical statistics are for people suffering ill
health, heart attacks, strokes and people on tranquilisers who live on the
interfaces - I have a fair idea they would be very high.
"With the greatest respect, for someone from New York to come in and say we
should be dismantling our peace walls is simply not on."
www.newsletter.co.uk/news/Problems-39have-not-gone-away39.4194828.jp
"POLITICS is being played around interfaces to make people believe the
problems have gone away," according to Rosemary Rice, centre projects manager
at Avoca Street in the Old Park area of loyalist north Belfast.
The seasoned community worker said a lot of incidents are still going
unreported to the police for different reasons.
She said: "Sometimes I think politics is being played to keep things quiet.
"The reality is that we still have school buses, cars and homes attacked.
"If we lived in an ideal world we would be able to drive down Manor Street but
we have kids who have to take alternative routes to get to Cliftonville
Primary School - that is the choice their parents have to make.
"Ideally it would be great if Manor Street was open the way it was years ago.
But the reality is it is not.
"What would happen to the people living in those houses if the walls came
down? Is it safe? The problems have not got worse but they are still there."
Mrs Rice said she and others in her community still hold "a frustration and a
fear".
She said peace walls give the people who live beside them a sense of security
which they still need.
"It will take some time for that to change."
Mrs Rice said recreational rioting is still rife - especially in the summer
months.
"A lot of these kids - from both sides - are on first name terms with each
other and know each other through cross-community schemes. Then they keep in
touch by mobile, email and Bebo.
"But you have to remember that recreational rioting has been going on for years.
"I remember growing up in the Old Park in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
"Recreational rioting is not something that just appeared overnight. It is
talked about in schools where it gets bandied about that there was 'a great
riot last night' and the teenagers move around from interfaces where they hear
the best rioting takes place.
"The Old Park could be a hotspot for a month and then attention would move to
Westland or Twaddell."
Mrs Rice said the schoolchildren need to be educated to stop rioting.
"This is tradition and psychological conditioning and it needs to be tackled
at the root - there needs to be a re-education of what is happening.
"All this needs to take place before they start talking about peace walls
coming down.
"At the moment what would people be exposed to if the walls came down?
"I would love to know what the medical statistics are for people suffering ill
health, heart attacks, strokes and people on tranquilisers who live on the
interfaces - I have a fair idea they would be very high.
"With the greatest respect, for someone from New York to come in and say we
should be dismantling our peace walls is simply not on."
www.newsletter.co.uk/news/Problems-39have-not-gone-away39.4194828.jp