Irish PM warns against ‘spiral’ in Northern Ireland violence | Al Jazeera

The Irish prime minister, Micheal Martin, warned against a “spiral back” into sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland on Saturday, after a week-long streak of unrest continued with 14 police injured in the latest night of clashes.

Disorder sparked in pockets of Belfast – the capital of Northern Ireland – on Friday night with petrol bombs and masonry thrown at officers, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said.

A car was also “hijacked and set on fire and pushed towards police lines”, as the total number of officers injured in the recent disorder reached 88.

Elsewhere, police clashed with a crowd of 40 in the northern town of Coleraine and a man was charged with “possessing petrol bombs in suspicious circumstances” following disorder in Newtownabbey, a suburb north of Belfast.

Saturday marks the 23rd anniversary of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which wound down the three-decades-long conflict over British rule in Northern Ireland which killed more than 3,600 people.

“We owe it to the agreement generation and indeed future generations not to spiral back to that dark place of sectarian murders and political discord,” Martin said in a statement.

“There is now a particular onus on those of us who currently hold the responsibility of political leadership to step forward and play our part and ensure that this cannot happen.”

Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney said it “has been a difficult and worrying week”.

“This anniversary comes as a reminder of the responsibilities we all have, as well as what politics, determination and dialogue can achieve,” he said.

“That is the spirit we need now.”

“It is incumbent on all of us to support Northern Ireland in leaving its divisive past behind,” said Britain’s Northern Ireland Secretary, Brandon Lewis.