https://www.reddit.com/r/northernireland/s/h61IhtbH84

Well that was an experience. Went to the Sandy Row one. Won't be going again. Lots of pissed up Scots with Rangers tops and a big fight broke out between teenagers as bonfire was being lit.

Felt unsafe as a Taig, especially when they were singing "Fuck the Pope" (- which is something that I would also say as an atheist, lapsed Catholic), but this was different lol.

Bad dance music was pumping, there were some bangers in amongst them in fairness, and the fireworks before the bonfire was lit were pretty cool.

Spotted a few people with Israel flags watching the bonfire, and there was Palestinian Flags and Tricolour on top, something about Kneecap and an effigy of someone in a Celtic Jersey there too.

I headed off once it collapsed. The experience had an impression on me, I thought about it all the next day. Couldn't quite put my finger on it, but felt kinda sad, and despondent for the PUL community, especially the kids.

by Illustrious-Golf-536

24 comments

  2. This is how all us taigs up north feel, we’ve had to endure this our whole lives

  3. That’s very much I view it, a very sad insecure existence!

  5. Just remember you’re only looking at a portion of the PUL community.

    My wifes (Protestant) friend and her husband stopped with us on Friday on the way to Donegal for the weekend.

    On Saturday my neighbour who can accurately be described as ‘Ulster-Scots as fuck’ came round to borrow some tools and sat for a cup of tea during the first 15 minutes of the Tyrone game (wish he’d stayed as we went to fuck after that, maybe he’s good luck).

    Anybody would hate to be judged based on the most bitter elements of their community so we should extend to them the same.

  6. From a republican area, stayed adjacent to a bonfire for first time, heard a man come on a microphone shouting… ‘”for all the fenian bastards out there, we are the people”… great people im sure…

  7. Well I’m glad it lived up to the description of what we expected you’d see. Absolute dregs of society and I’m a prod. 

  8. As others said this display isn’t fully representative. A colleague of mine a few years back asked to swap a shift, I wrongly assumed he wanted to attend the bonfire but he actually was taking it off to stay at his daughters house as she was scared. This was a young woman who very much identified as loyalist but was living in an estate and on the 11th night moat ‘sane’ people stayed in given the disorder on the street. I was left with an impression of a community ill at ease with itself and very little leadership.

  9. This guy’s comments section, outside view lol.

    Just shows a united Ireland would never work they’re worst down there.

  10. I was at an OO parade in Co. Down once, it was not the experience I was expecting.

    It was family friendly affair, no alcohol in sight and if I’m being brutally honest a bit dull. It reminded me of the grim St. Patrick’s day parades from my youth.

  11. Very good hope you enjoyed it I’m sure they probably played sectarian but I’m sure there was drink

  12. ‘Oooh look at me I drove a hundred miles to be offended’

  13. I was out at garvagh on Saturday evening for a run. – I wanted to go somewhere shady (’cause it was bloody hot asf 🤣), so garvagh forest sounded great.

    Trouble is, I have no self awareness, so there I am in my gear wearing a Galway jersey, with a bunch of people from bands, people out drinking.
    Whilst asking for directions to the right car park, an old guy said id probably be okay, but they’d recommend I change the shirt “just in case” as he mentioned people were drinking.

    Met the same man as I was leaving the forest, who noticed I did change the shirt (always have a spare change of clothes in the car). He said, I would have probably been okay, but you never know with some people out and about.

  14. Yet people will swear blind that burning tricolours is a thing of the past but every year we see it.

  15. It really is important to remember it is representative of such a small part of the unionist/protestant community. My family and friends want nothing to do with them but what are we supposed to do? The police won’t help and politicians encourage it.

    They rarely have much support from outside of their estates but I do get the same despondent feeling you get – and I’m a protestant. Watching a kid, off his head, screaming at a burning tricolour is just sad. 

  16. Well you were told not to go, but if you learned something and got home safe there’s that.

  17. Did they buy the cork orange order story ?

    Nice one lad, welcome to the British branch of Northern Ireland

  18. I’m amazed you and your friends even went to be honest. Bonfires and marches have always been known for their sectarianism and bigotry. At least you were not assaulted or anything to that extent.

    I do agree with the last paragraph. It has always felt to me as the unionist attempt at ‘culture’ but it’s just a pathetic display of hate.

  19. Sandy Row is one of the most depressing backwards places I’ve ever been – incredibly dirty, destroyed/unused buildings everywhere and insanely unionist. Horrible vibes all round stay away from areas like that

  21. As a non-irish guy these posts are so confounding to me. I certainly can’t shame anyone else for having severe national issues with tribalism (I’m American, so,) but I still struggle to really wrap my head around it. The OO do their marches specifically where Catholics live and worship, correct? And the bonfires aren’t just for them, but many of the Protestant community come out too? But the whole point is to antagonize a Catholic minority. And then, the next day, everybody just goes back to intermingling and working and sharing space on the bus like yeah whatever?? I just can’t see it. To my mind it sounds like if the KKK here in America were to don their robes and march through black neighborhoods. And then to somehow claim this is about heritage and pride, not a juvenile attempt to provoke people minding their own business.

    Excuse my ignorance but this is an honest question; do Catholics and Protestants intermingle much socially or do people tend to kind of stay with their own? Are most workplaces mixed? What I’m wondering is outside of these events, how significant is the divide between people of the two sects? Here, overt bigots like the klan will make every effort to avoid blacks, Mexicans, gays, and anybody else who isn’t a white Protestant. But you can also tell who isn’t white by looking at them. Are there ways to instantly identify what group someone’s in over there? Do you basically know which group everyone you know is in or is it sometimes like maybe a “don’t ask, don’t tell” situation?

  22. I’m a Prod. For the record – burning anyone’s flag is just pathetic.

    Sandy Row, like other loyalist areas, are in permanent decline. Education is not prioritised. Middle class Prods (of which I guess I’m one) are generally embarrassed by the antics of these areas (even though many of us have family links to them, myself included).

    You’re right to feel sorry for these communities – they have nothing going for them.

    The problem is – they have no political voice. The DUP say they stand for them, but they do nothing. Leadership would mean stepping in to say, “Hang on a minute guys. Burning tricolours and effigies of migrant boats is unacceptable” but they don’t.

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