Belfast

Belfast appears in 698. The Troubles: The Brink of Civil War (Part 2) as the urban setting where the August 1969 crisis expanded beyond Derry / Londonderry. The episode says communities watched the Battle of the Bogside and expected their own confrontation, with loyalists fearing attack from the Falls Road and Catholics fearing attack from the Shankill Road.

The Belfast fighting included loyalist attacks on Catholic schools and houses, an exchange of gunfire between the IRA and police, RUC armoured-car fire into Divis flats, the death of Patrick Rooney, mass injuries, destroyed homes, and large-scale displacement. British troops entered the city after first going into Derry.

Connections

• Northern Ireland, The Troubles, British Army, and RUC - conflict setting and security response.
• Sectarian Security Dilemma, State Policing Legitimacy Crisis, and Civil Rights To Street War Threshold - source mechanisms.