Sigh of relief breathed in Londonderry’s Fountain estate

Residents of the estate had been bracing themselves for more trouble, after seeing attacks on six successive nights last week.

Distraction activities were organised by the Cathedral Youth Club yesterday and there are many more activities organised over the summer months.

The mainly Protestant area has suffered a number of attacks over the marching season in recent years and there are fears last week’s incidents could signal an escalation in violence at the interface between now and the end of the 2013 marching season.

Youth worker Graham Warke said he believes the escalation of violence has occurred because of rising tensions between dissident republicans and Sinn Fein in the Bogside and other areas, partly as an attempt by the dissidents to make areas unpoliceable.

One young person told the Sentinel yesterday that two adults had been seen standing behind a crowd of young people, egging them on to hurl stones and petrol bombs at Protestant homes during the worst disturbances last weekend.

As the attacks continued residents of the Fountain took photographs and recorded videos on mobile phones, rather than “be lured by the bait”, he said.

Meanwhile last night a crowd of several hundred people gathered at Free Derry Corner to burn an effigy of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Around 400 gathered at the Bogside monument following a motorcade from Shantallow.

Many of the demonstrators carried IRSP and 32CSM flags and sang, “Maggie Thatcher burn in hell” as the effigy was set alight.

Despite a heavy police presence on the edges of the Bogside, the PSNI stayed out of the area during the demonstration.

The late Baroness Thatcher’s funeral took place in London yesterday.