What is behind the latest unrest in N Ireland?

JILL LAWLESS

ABC News

Northern Ireland unrest. A man walks past a burning car that was hijacked Saturday by Loyalists at the Cloughfern roundabout in Newtownabbey. Masked men threw petrol bombs and hijacked cars in the Loyalist area North of Belfast. (AP)

LONDON -- Young people have hurled bricks, fireworks and gasoline bombs at police and set hijacked cars and a bus on fire during a week of violence on the streets of Northern Ireland. Police responded with rubber bullets and water cannons.

The streets were calmer Friday night, as community leaders appealed for calm after the death of Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth II's 99-year-old husband. But small gangs of youths pelted police with objects and set a car ablaze during sporadic outbreaks in Belfast.

The chaotic scenes have stirred memories of decades of Catholic-Protestant conflict, known as “The Troubles.” A 1998 peace deal ended large-scale violence but did not resolve Northern Ireland’s deep-rooted tensions.

A look at the background to the new violence:

WHY IS NORTHERN IRELAND A CONTESTED LAND?

Geographically, Northern Ireland is part of Ireland. Politically, it’s part of the United Kingdom.

Ireland, long dominated by its bigger neighbor, broke free about 100 years ago after centuries of colonization and an uneasy union. Twenty-six of its 32 counties became an independent, Roman Catholic-majority country. Six counties in the north, which have a Protestant majority, stayed British.

Northern Ireland’s Catholic minority experienced discrimination in jobs, housing and other areas in the Protestant-run state. In the 1960s, a Catholic civil rights movement demanded change, but faced a harsh response from the government and police. Some people on both the Catholic and Protestant sides formed armed groups that escalated the violence with bombings and shootings.

The British Army was deployed in 1969, initially to keep the peace. The situation deteriorated into a conflict ... Click to continue