A ‘dangerous’ tug-of-war over teenagers’ loyalties is raging in the Tiger’s Bay area of Belfast.
And two factions of the UDA are involved.
One is the North Belfast ‘old brigade’ under John Bunting.
They are striving to keep kids from re-igniting the ‘bad old days’ of rioting involving youngsters from both ‘The Bay’ and the New Lodge Road.
But a rump of expelled UDA members are trying to ramp up interface violence, and wrest control from the established faction.
And community workers on both sides of the New Lodge/Tiger’s Bay flashpoint are warning that the actions of the rebel UDA faction – it’s headed up and goaded on by a well-known loyalist flags protestor – could spark a summer of street disorder, and could end up with teenagers either in the dock in courts, or in hospital beds.
John Bunting
The potential for more rioting raised its ugly head on Wednesday night last.
Two youths, one from the New Lodge the other from Tiger’s Bay, faced up for a fight set up through social media.
Our sources say that about 15 youths turned up to watch the fight.
But almost immediately afterwards members of the dissident UDA faction started posting claims, again on social media, that a gang of 50 youths from the New Lodge had gone on the rampage on the other side of the interface area.
That was followed up on Thursday night when a posse of loyalists suddenly appeared in Duncairn Gardens to stage a white line flag protest.
Said one eyewitness: “They were standing across from Catholic homes shouting abuse and making threats.”
Loyalist sources in Tiger’s Bay say there were teenagers from the area in that mob.
But they claim there were ‘only a few.’
Said Kate Clarke of the New Lodge Safer Streets group: “Some people seem to have an agenda and are using this incident (the fist fight) to fit that agenda.”
The police have confirmed they are still probing the fist fight, which took place in Edlingham Street.