Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0818 715 815. This is LiveLine on RTÉ Radio 1.
Sponsored by Harry Corrie. Step into summer with our new curtain designs and colours. Explore our latest designs in-store or online. Good afternoon. You are very welcome to LiveLine. 51551 is the number for your text. You can send me an email, LiveLine at rte.ie. Or as always, give me a call on the WhatsApp number 087-484-8888. Amanda Ferguson, the Belfast-based journalist, is on the line.
Amanda, there was talk of renewed protests today from about one o'clock. Have they materialised?
Not so far, but that doesn't mean that they won't at some point and perhaps they may materialise later into the evening. But what I do know is I have been out and about Belfast since early this morning. I've been up at streets that have had houses burnt out, vehicles were on fire outside people's homes and so on.
And I've been talking to people and they're just horrified and saddened and disgusted by what's happening. Then I've been in court for the first hearing in the knife attack incident from Monday night that sparked a lot of these events. And then I was at City Hall where the First Minister spoke to reporters and revealed that the Belfast Mayor has been told by police that she is under threat.
And then I watched as the city centre just emptied of people. Buses stopped running in the city centre and the metro buses right at the heart of where City Hall would be. People were having to get collected from outside City Hall. And pupils in schools were let go early out of their schools in anticipation that there would be protests.
And people are just horrified and just piling out and getting behind closed doors. And now I'm talking to you.
We're just getting reports in ourselves, actually, Amanda, in the last few minutes that a number of protesters have gathered on O'Connell Street in Dublin as well. And that street is closed. As far as we know, Dublin Bus certainly are advising passengers that northbound O'Connell Street is closed until further notice.
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Chapter 2: What happened during the rioting in Belfast last night?
We've seen... Some of the images from O'Connell Street. I don't want to engage in kind of hyperbole or scaremongering. There's not that many people there. It doesn't take that many people to close down a street if you just stand out in front of the traffic. But certainly there is a gathering there of people with flags on O'Connell Street in Dublin. And we'll let people know.
if indeed that develops. But in terms of the North as well, Amanda, you mentioned the victim as well, Stephen Ogilvie, and I know his family have released a statement as well calling for calm. Is that right?
Yeah, that's right. The statement was issued today through Stafford Ward's Facebook page. He's an independent councillor in the Newton Abbey and Antrim council area, and he issued that statement today, which is really just thanking people for their support this far and just telling people they don't want to see what has been happening over the last day or so.
So, you know, it's one of those bizarre scenarios that you're reading things like this. But the statement that was issued on behalf of an approved family said that they're devastated by the horrific attack on their loved ones. in Kinnaird Avenue, which took place on Monday night, is a massive shock to the whole family.
They want to say a profound thank you to local people who bravely stepped in during the attack. They said your quick actions absolutely saved his life. And then they went on to reference the fact that they were aware of tensions and talk of protests, and they want to make it absolutely clear that the overnight unrest is not welcome, that peaceful protest is the only way forward.
I'm saying also that many migrants... to make a deeply valuable contribution, including the health service and hospitality and a whole range of areas. And they're also asking the media and the public to give them some space and a bit of privacy. And if anybody knows anything about Monday night's attack, that they should contact the police with that.
So that's the sort of backdrop that we're dealing with at the moment. And my colleagues in Dublin that I work regularly with have made me aware of that small protest
in in dublin as well but this is kind of what i've been talking about over the last day or two on the air you know civil uh unrest street disorder rioting violence whatever you want to call it can happen anywhere it can it's not unique to the north just because of our sort of legacy troubles past that happens in dublin it can happen in london it can happen in cardiff it can happen in scotland and we've seen uh the recurring theme of of online agitators
whether they're social media figures or whether they're actually politicians who think that they can use inflammatory language and then sort of like the match and then walk away. And the consequences of that is that there are people living in fear. At the moment, there are people terrified to leave their homes, to let their kids go to school and all the rest.
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