The British and Irish governments have condemned petrol bomb attacks on police in Derry on the eve of Joe Biden’s visit to Northern Ireland.
A small crowd threw petrol bombs and other missiles at a police Land Rover during a parade by dissident republicans in the Creggan area of the city on Monday. The vehicle briefly caught fire and was withdrawn.
There were no casualties but the images overshadowed the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday agreement, which is drawing dignitaries to Northern Ireland. Rishi Sunak is to welcome Biden to Belfast on Tuesday night, the start of the US president’s four-day visit to the island of Ireland.
Chris Heaton-Harris, the Northern Ireland secretary, said the scenes in Derry were disappointing. “Hopefully it will calm down very, very quickly and the police can go about their business,” he told the BBC.
Simon Coveney, Ireland’s minister for enterprise, trade and employment, said so-called dissident republicans had nothing to offer society, and the scenes were caused by a “tiny minority of thugs seeking headlines, wanting to take Northern Ireland backwards”.
Political party leaders also condemned the violence. Naomi Long, the Alliance leader and a former justice minister in the Northern Ireland executive, said it was tragic to see people born after the peace agreement attacking police.
“They are being groomed by adults who have nothing to offer but misery and destruction,” she said.
Michelle O’Neill, the vice-president of Sinn Féin, has described violent scenes as “deplorable”. She said: “25 years on from the Good Friday agreement this needless street disorder in Derry has no place in our society.
“As political leaders we must stand united, appealing to all those concerned to end these attacks and refrain from further threats of violence, whether in Derry or North Down.”
About a dozen people in camouflage gear marched through the Creggan neighbourhood, watched by 300 spectators, to commemorate the 1916 Rising. The parade had the backing of Saoradh, the political wing of the New IRA.
Violence has erupted at previous Easter parades in Derry but police believe the international spotlight on Northern Ireland this week gave added incentive to republican dissidents. Police have maximised the number of officers available for frontline duties and brought in about 300 officers from forces in Britain.
In Rome, Pope Francis lauded the 1998 Good Friday agreement, which largely drew a line under the Troubles.
“In a spirit of gratitude I pray to the God of peace so that what was achieved in that historic step can be consolidated to benefit all the men and women of the island of Ireland,” he said in his Easter Monday address at St Peter’s Square.
Asked about the matter during a press briefing, a White House spokesperson said the US president is “more than comfortable” visiting Northern Ireland despite the recent violence.
John Kirby said: “As for security concerns, you know we don’t ever talk about security requirements of protecting the president but the president is more than comfortable making this trip and he’s very excited to do it.”
He said Biden was grateful for the work Northern Ireland’s security forces have done and “continue to do to protect all communities”.
Biden and Sunak are to hold talks at a Belfast hotel before the president makes a speech at Ulster University’s new campus on Wednesday – his only public engagement in the region.
President Biden NI visit - a postage stamp would be too big for Mr Biden’s Belfast itinerary. Downing Street has some explaining to do. ‘Dropping in here’ is risible given the scale and scope of the President’s trip to ROI.
— Eamonn Mallie (@EamonnMallie) April 8, 2023
I doubt if this is what Washington wanted. https://t.co/Mw9FqVYtKq
Logistical, security and political challenges are believed to have compressed Biden’s time in Northern Ireland, where political stalemate has soured the peace deal anniversary. One commentator said the itinerary for the president’s trip to Belfast could fit on a postage stamp.
Security and logistical issues appear to have crimped Biden’s trip across the border, too, where he will celebrate his Irish roots. It is thought his original desire was to have a family holiday in County Mayo, but he is not travelling with the first lady. His stint in the republic entails a two-night stay in Dublin with sorties to areas where he has ancestral connections.
During the trip, Biden will hold a meeting with the leaders of the five Northern Irish parties: the Democratic Unionist party, Sinn Féin, the Ulster Unionist party, the Alliance party and the Social Democratic and Labour party, according to the Daily Telegraph, in an effort to kickstart the power-sharing executive.
On Wednesday, Biden is expected to do walkabouts in Carlingford and Dundalk, in County Louth, near the border, where he has relatives.
On Thursday, he will hold separate meetings with the Irish president, Michael D Higgins, and the taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, in Dublin before making a speech to a joint sitting of parliament, following in the footsteps of John F Kennedy in 1963, Ronald Reagan in 1984 and Bill Clinton in 1995.
On Friday, Biden will fly to County Mayo and meet relatives from another side of his family before making a speech that evening outside St Muredach’s Cathedral in Ballina.
There is speculation that the US’s second Catholic president – the first was Kennedy – may visit a shrine at Knock. He is to return to Dublin briefly on Friday night before flying back to the US.
