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Shankill '70: The Anatomy of a RiotAuthor(s): Henry KellySource: Fortnight, No. 2 (Oct. 9, 1970), pp. 5-6Published by: Fortnight Publications Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25543109 .

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9 OCTOBER 1970 5

BY HENRY KELLY

Saturday, September 26th, was a warm almost

clammy day. In mid-afternoon Linfield soccer team drew an Ulster Cup soccer match with

Bangor at the Blues home ground at Windsor Park. But there was little to cheer about in a dull game and already the soccer fans of one of Ireland's most famous sides knew that the

trophy was theirs and had been since the

previous week. Just before five o'clock thousands streamed from Windsor towards the centre of Belfast. The older ones would pause for a drink and a chat on their way home. The

younger, and the not so young were heading for the Shankill Road. And they were heading to

pass the Catholic Unity flats at the bottom of Peter's Hill.

At the flats it was an unusual Saturday afternoon. Unlike many previous Saturdays when

young Catholic crowds had gathered to watch the soccer fans pass with their cheers and

jeers, their flags, party songs and banners, there were few people at Unity Walk. There was no

gathering. And the third point to be noted was the presence of the security forces. Military police, police, soldiers were all present in

strength. So too were the vehicles ? from landrovers to huge armoured personnel cars drawn up around the area. Somewhere, it

seemed, somebody expected trouble. There was not long to wait for that trouble.

Around the corner of North street about 2,000 soccer supporters, muted compared with

previous weeks, came with flags lower than usual and no singing. They were accompanied by a large force of military police. Eye witnesses agreed that there had not been so

many military police on previous weeks when the fans had gone wild passing the flats and there had been arrests for various offences.

This Saturday, it seemed, there would be no trouble. Passing the flats there was hardly a shout from the crowd. One flag was pushed up into view. There were no songs. But there were two arrests. Two young boys held by three

military policemen each, were dragged from the

crowd, for what it was impossible to tell. 3ut when it happened it seemed to be the signal for mass confusion, screaming and pushing and

shoving. Within seconds the MPs and RUC were

among the crowd. Men and women were kicked out with speed and bundled into waiting vehicles. There was struggling, shouting and then a rush of the crowd towards the corner of Townsend Street where they turned, faced the

troops, who had now joined the other security force men, and the first stones began to fly.

From that moment onwards, Belfast's protes tant Shankill Road, which for almost a full year had kept its own uneasy peace, was pitched into three nights of rioting, of CS gas and all that goes with it. As if by mistake or

misjudgment a riot had begun. It would continue with a momentum of its own.

The participants in a riot, divide into two

groups - the active and those who support them.

Those actively engaged fall to their task with incredible energy, breaking paving stones and

hurling missiles which would be heavy for an

ordinary person to carry. They break shop windows and use the glass as a weapon. They take cars, buses anything they can lay hands on and build barricades or run them at police and

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6 9 OCTOBER 1970

troops. The passive who support the riot, stand around the street corners giving occasional

advice, joining in the cheers when flames leap or in the cursing when a man is caught and arrested. Over the whole riot scene there is

confusion, the smell and discomfort of CS gas and behind the scenes there are women, old folk and children who suffer from the whole

wretched mess. In the Shankill Road fracas last week all

these things happened at some time or another

during three nights of viciousness directed at soldiers. Army posts were attacked. Banks were

attacked. Shop keepers on the Shankill Road itself did not escape the gathering wrath of rioters. A riot is exactly like a snowball coming downhill ? at first you can direct it as it is

small and manageable, but when it gathers speed and its own momentum not even those

who started it can control any of its movements. It ultimately crashes in chaos.

For two years Northern Ireland has in some

shape or form suffered riot situations like this. It has all had its political- repercussion but the

most immediate and crushing effect of riots is

what they do to the areas involved, to the

people, to the long or short term prospects of

working class people having a better and more

satisfying- life. There have been no riots in

Upper Malone, or at Whiteabbey, none either in

semi-detached housing areas, no trouble at Knock or Dundonald. It has been mean streets,

poor housing and working class conditions which

have formed the riot backdrop. And it is always perfectly predicatable

? if it is difficult to see a precise riot coming afar off, it is not difficult to see that it will be in an area where small

wage earners, unskilled labourers or men out of

work live. When a riot has passed the area feels and

looks different for many days, sometimes even

weeks. More soldiers are moved in and they

guard every street corner. You are challenged on the street by a man with gun and amour as

you make your way home to your house. His

vehicles scream up and down the streets and

side streets where you and your neighbours live. His helicopters clatter overhead. Your youngest children cannot, will not sleep. Your old folk

get sick and you move them, if you can, out of

the area. If you cannot they stay and put up with it.

Nobody likes or wants riots. Yet nobody seems

to know how to avoid them. Scientists and

doctors are working all over the world today on

research into the effects of CS gas whether

long or short term. Is anyone investigating the

social effects of riots? For there must be in

every riot situation the potential for long-term chaos in younger children and in youths and,

young girls. A situation is now emerging in Northern

Ireland where the effects of persistent civil

disturbance will not just be economic or

political but will be social. What sort of girls and young men will they be whose early days have been spent throwing stones and petrol

bombs at troops? How will the young people who have known the tricks necessary to avoid arrest or the effects of CS gas grow up? What

will they want from society or riiore important what will they give?

The Shankill Road riots of 1970 began because of over reaction by the security forces. This is a genuine belief, though no effort is

made to justify what followed those two unfortunate arrests or to pass opinion on the

justice of the captures. For three nights hatred walked in the open. If things are peaceful now

perhaps the time could be taken to initiate a full study into how we can limit the inevitable and incalculable socially adverse effects of such

happenings on the young. The young are the future of communities. It is no longer a

question of whether they will have in Northern Ireland a community to inherit. It is a question of whether they will be able to or not.

Poverty in Downpatrick Downpatrick is not a particularly depressed

area. Yet poverty in Downpatrick is not only much greater than in the U.K. as a whole but

greater also than the poverty found in certain

depressed areas in Britain. This emerges from a

survey of the Downpatrick urban district carried

out by The Child Poverty Action Group of Northern Ireland in late 1968. The results of

the survey have now been analysed and

published (copies at 3s 6d from The Secretary, 3 Seafront Road, Holy wood).

Other findings of the survey are less gloomy. People in Downpatrick had a fairly comprehen sive knowledge of welfare benefits, and,

generally, those entitled to benefits were getting them. The welfare state seems to work

efficiently. There was one sad paradox, however. With certain benefits those most in need knew

little or nothing about them.

The most significant finding of the survey was ascertaining the prime cause of poverty in the area. The conventional image of the poor

comprises the sick, old and and unemployed and little else. By and large this image is

accurate for Britain. In Downpatrick, however, the majority of the poor can attribute their

poverty to low wages. The C.P.A.G. calls on the

Trade Unions to take notice of this.

The Group makes other recommendations.

Some are in line with solutions pressed by the

British C.P.A.G.. For example, they recommend

that family allowances be raised and the first

child included. The "ciawback" scheme (taxing

family allowances and reducing tax child

allowances) is put forward to help meet the

cost of this. It should also be mentioned that

this scheme has the effect of relating family allowances to need. This may give rise to

political objections, particularly in relation to

large families. The C.P.A.G. rightly point out

that people do not have children to claim the

extra family allowances. Northern Ireland does

have its peculiar problem here.

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