Young People and Interfaces Report - Institute for Conflict Research

YOUNG PEOPLE AND INTERFACES
It should be noted that while some young people reported difficulties in using particular shops or
services given their location, other young people felt relatively unconcerned with where they could
travel to, and a number of young people suggested that they even felt safe wearing their school
uniform in public. They tended to contrast this to a few years ago when they would have been
more wary of doing so:
Yeah. I was down after school today and walked down to Tesco’s in my uniform (Young
Protestant female).
Like I never think or it. Like I never think of Protestants. I just walk about (in uniform) (Young
Catholic female).
This increasing sense of confidence for some young people to wear one’s school uniform
appeared to at one level be linked to the fact that levels of violence at the interface have
significantly decreased. However, other young people reported ongoing difficulties in terms of
school uniform clearly identifying community background:
Our friend went up to Ligoniel and it was Protestants pushed them…And this woman called my
friend a ‘slut’ when she was in her school uniform (Young Catholic female).
The young participants were subsequently asked to think about violence at the interface, why it
occurred and what impact it had on their lives.
3.7 Interface violence and Policing
Although young people tended to be unaware of the term ‘recreational rioting’ and several
young people referred to wanting to ‘defend their community’ if it was under attack, many felt that
those young people who get involved in riots do so as a result of boredom or there being nothing to
do. This particularly appeared to be the case for those in their mid-teens who had outgrown some
of the more structured youth activities in their area. Some young people spoke of their excitement
at participating in riots when they were younger, and now that they were a bit older they had
matured and ‘grown out of it’. However, this sense that riots could develop out of boredom and for
the ‘craic’ tended to be more focused on ‘our’ young people and as such the motivations of young
people from the ‘Other’ community who were involved in rioting were at times viewed as more
sectarian in origin. This particularly appeared to be the case with regards the rioting in East Belfast
in June 2011:
Researcher – Why do you think some young people rioted in East Belfast last summer? Was it for
the ‘craic’?
No, I think there was bitterness or something (Young Catholic female).
Yeah, something happened like the Protestants ran in or something and that’s how it
all kicked off (Young Catholic male).
Youth workers also tended to focus on the ‘recreational’ aspects of young people engaging in
rioting, although several youth leaders also suggested that there were deeper reasons as to why
some young people get involved in violence, including disputes over parades and protests, a
perception they are ‘defending’ their area and ‘confused’ community leadership from adults. On a
number of occasions both young participants and youth leaders spoke about the role of young
people from outside the immediate interface area participating in violence. Indeed, the work at
Skegoneill-Glandore Common Purpose interface group with young people on the Antrim Road who
at times became involved in fights at the interface was an attempt to deal with these hinterland
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