Christmas? You mean a Pagan holiday that outdates Christianity and was only merged with the religion by the Romans to prevent their empire being torn apart? God? Which one exactly? There are hundreds of those narcissists described in thousands of religions since the dawn of time, without any empirical evidence for any of them.
wouldn't know, i'm not a big fan of fiction
"Treating loyalists like white trash is not going to work"
It does if you're acting like white trash #OccupyTwaddell
You have one party that wanted the flag removed. One party that wanted it up every day of the year (contrary to the vast majority of councils in G B. So isn't the compromise, the 'shared future', having the flag up on designated days (in line with much of G B? Republicans accepted that compromise. Loyalists have failed to do so. Flying the flag on designated days is a step towards a shared future. The fact that Loyalists have failed to accept that is no reflection upon any other part of Northern Ireland other than the loyalist community.
As far as I remember the last republican parade to pass through the city centre was well publicised in advance. And loyalists are equally capable of grotesque acts of violence such as shooting innocent women, kneecapping young boys etc. Although both sides are a detriment to our city, i can't see how one is any way better than the other.
Emphasis on the "elected people". It's not their fault the bottom 0.007% of NIs gene pool disagrees with their decision to the extent that they're prepared to make life a misery for the rest of us. Are you suggesting that our elected law makers give into the demands of a minority of thugs who take our city hostage?
It might not be a big issue personally to you, however I know many people who would avoid the city in its entirety during such protests. Particularly younger generations who didn't grow up during the troubles and get desensitised to such disorder. That's not even to mention the lost tourism revenue when images are beamed around the world of saturdays protest
Well 10,000 protestors is roughly 0.007% of our population. Unfortunately however no one I know will be going to shop in town on Saturday. I have had friends who have mentioned having to change their plans to avoid these protests and inevitable violence. It's clear that the vast majority of people here can't live their lives peacefully. Which is a shame because these are the people who make our society work, the peacemakers and tax payers.
Oh I see....we don't live in a democracy any more? Instead of elected representatives voting on a proposal we should let those vitriolic nutcases (who make up 0.0076% of the Northern Irish population) decided flag and emblem policy....? Why stop there... let No Surrender Susan and Never Never Norris dictate health care policy, education policy, justice and policing, god knows they're qualified enough to make such decisions and not protesting at all due to their own sectarian prejudices, upset that their community no longer dictates the rules for all other communities...
"You can't have one rule for some and another the rest"
I very much agree. If 10,000 inbred republicans also wanted to march through the city on a busy shopping day before christmas....with a good chance of it turning violent....and a policing bill running into the hundreds of thousands, if not millions...and pictures of a riotous NI being beamed all around the world....all because the brainless thugs wanted a flag up....I'd say that parade should be banned too.