The Church of Ireland
Diocesan Press Release

The Bishop of Down and Dromore, the Rt Revd Harold Miller has issued the following statement on the ongoing sectarian violence:

“One of the tragedies of the City of Belfast is the ever-hardening distinction of ‘orange’ and ‘green’ areas. This creates danger at interfaces which can become the tinderbox of rioting, petrol-bombs and shootings.

The recent scenes in East and North Belfast are examples of this, and it is vitally important that everything is done over the next days and weeks to create an atmosphere of calm. I am pleased to hear that community leaders are working together in the Lower Newtownards Road/Short Strand area to find a way forward. I also know that clergy from both sides of the divide have been ministering to those who have been frightened and terrorised by rioting, and also seeking to cross the lines of division to bring peace between the communities.

It is sad to see elderly people in fear, with their homes being attacked and petrol-bombed, and tragic to observe the number of young people who get caught up in the cheap excitement of rioting, with no apparent awareness of the damage this has done to former generations. It is appalling to see the police used as targets, when they are seeking to protect people who are under threat.

All of us know deep down that the time has come to put the sectarianism and division of the past behind us, and to work for a community of peace, prosperity, equality and hope. The time has come for all of us to declare ‘Stop’ – in the name of God, to those who would lead our city back into the devastation of chaos”.