Less than six weeks since the IRA announced it was ending its armed struggle, Northern Ireland is once again in the grip of violent sectarian tensions. On Saturday, as the Guardian's Northern Ireland correspondent Angelique Chrisafis points out, the province had been celebrate its fresh hopes of peace with a live link-up to London's Proms:
It was meant to be the night that Belfast showed its shiny new face, with operas stars and percussionist Evelyn Glennie linking up live to the Last Night of the Proms from a stage in front of the City Hall.
But the worst night of violence in the city in years, with loyalist paramilitaries unleashing mayhem on a scale reminiscent of the anarchy that brought down the last attempt at power sharing in 1974, has proved that Belfast is still in thrall to the call of the old tribal drums.
Read the rest of Angelique's report here.
