{"id":23037,"date":"2021-09-12T10:13:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-12T14:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=23037"},"modified":"2021-09-12T10:13:03","modified_gmt":"2021-09-12T14:13:03","slug":"donaldson-warns-of-unrest-on-the-streets-if-ni-protocol-remains-unchanged","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=23037","title":{"rendered":"Donaldson Warns Of Unrest On The Streets If NI Protocol Remains Unchanged"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson (PA Wire\/PA Images)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has said he fears unrest on the streets of Northern Ireland over the Brexit protocol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Donaldson was speaking after warning his party\u2019s ministers will resign from the Stormont Executive if changes to the protocol are not delivered by November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this year, there was significant disorder with loyalist anger at the protocol forming a border in the Irish Sea blamed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Donaldson said he fears a return to that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe protocol is creating significant political instability,\u201d he told the BBC\u2019s Political Thinking podcast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEarlier in the year we had people back out on the streets again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere was civil unrest, there was violence on the streets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want that to happen, I want Northern Ireland to be peaceful, prosperous, stable but I\u2019m worried that if this protocol continues and people become more fearful about the future, then again we will see people back out on the streets, and that is not good because it has the potential for further unrest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe need the peace process to deliver for Northern Ireland, to deliver prosperity for everyone in Northern Ireland and right now this protocol is getting in the way of that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added: \u201cRight now the future of the union is threatened by this protocol and I hope the UK government will do the right thing and honor the commitments they have already given to resolve these issues.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Donaldson said he has been urging all summer against violence on the streets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have been saying to the boys on the streets is \u2018please don\u2019t be on the streets\u2019, and you will note that all summer Northern Ireland has been peaceful,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat didn\u2019t happen by coincidence, that happened because people like me, my political colleagues and community leaders worked hard and persuaded people that politics is the way to resolve these issues, not street protests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut I\u2019m simply saying that if politics fails and if we don\u2019t find the solutions then I fear that there will be others who may decide to step into the gap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want that to happen so I am committed to finding political solutions and I want to do that quite quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The protocol was agreed by the UK and EU as a way to maintain a free-flowing land border on the island of Ireland after Brexit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It achieves that by moving many of the checks and processes required on goods to the Irish Sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the arrangements, the North remains in the EU single market for goods and continues to apply EU customs rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unionists in the North have been vehemently opposed to its terms which see additional checks on goods arriving to the region from the rest of the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Donaldson has said the UK government committed to protect the North\u2019s place in the UK internal market in the New Decade, New Approach agreement which restored Stormont after a three-year suspension.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll I am asking the Government to do is to is honor New Decade, New Approach, honor that agreement, honor the basis upon which devolution was restored, do the right thing and protect our place within the UK because that is what the people of Northern Ireland actually want,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Donaldson also contended the basis of devolution will be \u201cundermined\u201d unless New Decade New Approach is honored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am not afraid to go to the country, I\u2019m not afraid to go to the people and say, \u2018this is what I believe and I\u2019m asking you to support the stance that we are taking\u2019, and that is a perfectly reasonable thing to do in a democracy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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