Burning cars, heavily armed security forces: Londonderry in Northern Ireland has been rioting and a 29-year-old has been killed. The police speak of a „terrorist incident“.
On the edge of the northern Irish town of Londonderry there is violent riots. A young woman had been killed by gunfire, the police said via Twitter. The death of the 29-year-olds in the housing development Creggan is treated as a „terrorist incident“. Murder investigations were initiated.
The police had previously reported that incendiary devices had been fired in Creggan and several shots had been fired. Pictures of the scene show burning cars, police armored vehicles and heavily armed security forces. The authorities initially did not disclose any details about the background.
In the northwest near the border with the Republic of Ireland
Londonderry has about 85,000 inhabitants and is located in the extreme northwest of the Northern Irish province on the border with the Republic of Ireland. It is mainly Catholics who call their city Derry.
Paramilitary groups are active in the British part of the country. Since the beginning of the year, explosives in Londonderry repeatedly exploded without injuring them. One of them detonated in front of a court in the middle of the city in January after a recent warning to the authorities.
Worry about the resurgence of the Northern Ireland conflict
It is unclear whether the recent disturbances are related to the Easter weekend, which is traditionally used for political rallies. Most recently, the Brexit negotiations raised concerns that the impending introduction of border controls between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, which would continue to belong to the EU, could re-launch the spiral of violence.
In the decades-long conflict, Catholic nationalists seeking union with Ireland faced Protestant unionists who want to remain part of the United Kingdom.
