Victory for nationalism: Johnson's win puts UK's future in doubt

BELFAST/GLASGOW -- The election result was hailed as a victory for English, Scottish and Irish nationalism - and it could spell the end of the United Kingdom.

Boris Johnson's resounding triumph will allow him to take the United Kingdom out of the European Union next month but it could spell the break-up of the union that has bound England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland for centuries.

While Johnson's Conservative Party swept the opposition aside across much of England on his promise to get Brexit done, Scottish nationalists captured 48 of the 59 parliamentary seats in Scotland.

In Northern Ireland, supporters of a united Ireland won more seats than those in the province who want to remain part of the United Kingdom for the first time since the 1921 partition which divided the British north from the Irish Republic in the south.

Throughout the election campaign, Johnson said he was committed to the union and denied accusations that his Brexit deal would create an economic barrier between the British mainland and Northern Ireland.

"At this stage it does look as though this one-nation Conservative government has been given a powerful new mandate, to get Brexit done and not just to get Brexit done but to unite this country and take it forward," Johnson said on Friday after winning his own seat in west London.

But opponents said it was Johnson's appeal to English nationalism with his promise to "Get Brexit done" at the expense of the interests of Scotland and Northern Ireland which had been instrumental in his success.

Both triumphant Scottish and Irish nationalist leaders and defeated opponents saw Johnson's victory as opening the way to the disintegration of the United Kingdom.

"Tonight we have seen that it is likely that Boris Johnson is on course to get a majority and it is clearly a good night for the SNP (Scottish National Party)," said Jo Swinson, leader of the Liberal Democrat Party who lost her own Scottish parliamentary seat to the SNP.

"Some will be celebrating the wave of nationalism that is sweeping both sides of the border."

SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon said the result was a clear mandate for a second plebiscite on Scottish independence.

Scotland, England's political partner for 300 years, voted against secession from the United Kingdom by 55 percent to 45 percent in 2014. But Scots backed staying in the European Union in the 2016 referendum and Sturgeon argues Brexit means they should have another say on independence.

BORDER POLL

"Boris Johnson may have a mandate to take England out of the European Union. He emphatically does not have a mandate to take Scotland out of the European Union. Scotland must have a choice over our own future," Sturgeon said.

A majority in Northern Ireland also voted against leaving the European Union and anti-Brexit parties took more seats in the province for the first time. Nationalists said the result paved the way towards a vote on whether there should be a united Ireland.

"We are heading towards a border poll, I can't give you a definitive date, but we need to do the spade work now and prepare ourselves," Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald said.

"We need to, in an orderly fashion, structure the conversation about a new Ireland and constitutional change. I don't think unionism should be alarmed or frightened, this is a huge opportunity for everybody who lives on this island."

One of those to lose their seat was Nigel Dodds, deputy leader of the Democratic Unionist Party which propped up the minority Conservative government in London after the last election in 2017.

The DUP said it had ultimately been betrayed by Johnson's Brexit deal with Brussels which they said would create an economic border between Britain and Northern Ireland.

"The great irony of all of this is that for decades unionists have looked over their shoulders and decided that Irish nationalists were the great threat ... but actually it’s English nationalism," Mike Nesbitt, former leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, told the BBC.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Journalist shot dead in Northern Ireland in ‘terrorist incident’

DERRY, United Kingdom  - A journalist was shot dead during riots in Northern Ireland in what police Friday were treating as a terrorist incident following the latest upsurge in violence to shake the troubled region.

"Lyra McKee was murdered during orchestrated violence in Creggan last night," Assistant Chief Constable Mark Hamilton said in a statement.

McKee, 29, had earlier posted an image that appeared to be from the riots in the Creggan housing estate in the city of Londonderry, also known as Derry, accompanied by the words "Derry tonight. Absolute madness."

Images of the unrest posted on social media showed a car and van ablaze and hooded individuals throwing petrol bombs and fireworks at police vehicles.

"A single gunman fired shots in a residential area of the city and as a result wounded Ms McKee," said Hamilton, adding that police believed the gunman was a "violent dissident republican".

"We are treating this as a terrorist incident and we have launched a murder inquiry," he added.

McKee had written for The Atlantic magazine and Buzzfeed News and was named by Forbes Magazine in 2016 as one of their "30 under 30" outstanding figures in media, according to her literary agent Janklow & Nesbit.

Leona O'Neill, a reporter with the Belfast Telegraph, said she saw McKee get hurt.

"I was standing beside this young woman when she fell beside a police Land Rover tonight in Creggan #Derry. I called an ambulance for her but police put her in the back of their vehicle and rushed her to hospital where she died. Just 29 years old. Sick to my stomach tonight," she tweeted.

'TRULY SENSELESS'

Thursday's unrest raised memories of past decades of violence in Northern Ireland.

Ireland's Prime Minister Leo Varadkar warned that "we cannot allow those who want to propagate violence, fear and hate to drag us back to the past".

His British counterpart Theresa May said the killing was "shocking and truly senseless".

In Brussels, a European Commission spokesman condemned the "terrible incident".

"We condemn such violence, and we are confident that the UK authorities will ascertain the exact circumstances of this tragic event," he said.

Visiting US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi joined in a minute's silence for McKee, saying it was "especially poignant", being held on Good Friday.

The violence came in the run-up to the Easter weekend, when Republicans opposed to the British presence in Northern Ireland mark the anniversary of a 1916 uprising against British rule.

A car-bombing and the hijacking of two vans in Londonderry earlier this year were also blamed on a dissident paramilitary group.

Michelle O'Neill, the deputy leader of Irish republican party Sinn Fein, condemned the killing.

"My heart goes out to the family of the young woman shot dead by so-called dissidents," she wrote on Twitter.

"This was an attack on the community, an attack on the peace process and an attack on the Good Friday Agreement," the peace deal that largely brought an end to violence on the island exactly 21 years ago, she added, calling for calm.

Arlene Foster, leader of the Democratic Union Party, which is in favor of Britain's presence in Northern Ireland, described the death as "heartbreaking news".

"A senseless act. A family has been torn apart. Those who brought guns onto our streets in the 70s, 80s & 90s were wrong. It is equally wrong in 2019. No one wants to go back," she wrote on Twitter.

HISTORY OF TROUBLES

The Good Friday Agreement in 1998 largely brought an end to three decades of sectarian bloodshed in Northern Ireland between republican and unionist paramilitaries, as well as British armed forces, in a period known as "the Troubles".

Some 3,500 people were killed in the conflict -- many at the hands of the Irish Republican Army (IRA).

Police have blamed a group called the New IRA for the flare-up in violence in recent months.

Some have expressed fears that recent attacks could be a sign that paramilitaries are seeking to exploit the current political turbulence over Northern Ireland and its border with the Republic of Ireland caused by Brexit.

Londonderry was the scene of one of the darkest episodes in the Troubles in 1972, known as Bloody Sunday, when British troops opened fire on a civil rights demonstration and killed 13 people. A 14th victim later died of his wounds.

A former British soldier was charged with murder last month over the killings.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Queen Elizabeth II tours 'Game of Thrones' set

BELFAST - Queen Elizabeth II and husband Prince Philip visited the set of hit TV show "Game of Thrones" in Northern Ireland Tuesday -- receiving a replica of the throne to crown her visit.

During the set tour in Belfast, the monarch was presented with a miniature Iron Throne, the massive black, snarled mesh of melted swords fought over by rival families in the global hit HBO series.

She also met actors from the show including Maisie Williams, 17, who plays Arya Stark and 18-year-old Sophie Turner, who stars as her sister Sansa.

It is not known whether the Queen is a "Game of Thrones" fan but her youngest son Prince Edward and his wife Sophie are reportedly avid viewers.

Scenes from the series are filmed in the city's Titanic Quarter, named after the doomed liner which was built in Belfast before sinking on its maiden voyage in 1912.

"Game of Thrones" has brought investment worth £82 million plus 900 full-time and 5,700 part-time jobs to Belfast, whose economy is now growing after decades of unrest in Northern Ireland known as The Troubles.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com