See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/274691563 The Flags Dispute: Anatomy of a Protest Book · December 2014 CITATIONS READS 5 82 6 authors, including: Dominic Bryan Katy Hayward Queen's University Belfast Queen's University Belfast 33 PUBLICATIONS 94 CITATIONS 51 PUBLICATIONS 137 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE Peter Shirlow University of Liverpool 109 PUBLICATIONS 1,433 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: Brexit and the Border View project devolution View project All content following this page was uploaded by Dominic Bryan on 08 April 2015. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. The Flag Dispute: Anatomy of a Protest Full Report Paul Nolan Dominic Bryan Clare Dwyer Katy Hayward Katy Radford & Peter Shirlow December 2014 Supported by the Community Relations Council & the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Ireland) Published by Queen’s University Belfast ISBN 9781909131248 Cover image: © Pacemaker Press. 3 Acknowledgements The authors of this report are extremely grateful to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Community Relations Council for funding this research project and its publication. A huge debt of gratitude is also due to those who gave their time to be interviewed, and for the honesty and candour with which they related their experiences - these were often quite emotive experiences. The Institute for Conflict Research (ICR) was commissioned to undertake the interviews presented within this report. These interviews were conducted with great care and skill with ICR capturing many voices which we hope have been represented fairly and accurately within this publication. Finally, warm recognition must be given to those who transcribed the recordings, and the care they took with this painstaking task. 4 CONTENTS List of Tables, Figures and illustrations ............................................................. 7 Glossary ........................................................................................................... 8 Executive Summary ......................................................................................... 9 1. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................... 14 1.1 Why we wrote this report ............................................................................................................ 14 1.2 How we set about the task ............................................................................................................. 15 2. WHY ARE FLAGS IMPORTANT? .................................................................... 18 2.1 Symbolic contest in Ireland and Northern Ireland ......................................................................... 18 2.2 Symbolic contestation after the Agreement .................................................................................. 21 2.3 Post-Agreement divergent practice on flying the Union flag......................................................... 23 2.4 The handling of the flag issue in local councils .............................................................................. 25 2.5 The symbolic and cultural environment of Belfast City Council .................................................... 26 3. HOW EVENTS UNFOLDED ............................................................................ 29 3.1 The build-up to the vote: inside City Hall ....................................................................................... 29 3.2 The build-up to the vote: outside City Hall .................................................................................... 35 3.3 The night of the vote ...................................................................................................................... 38 3.4 The first week of the protest .......................................................................................................... 42 3.5 The protest escalates ..................................................................................................................... 44 3.6 Political reactions: support, alarm and ridicule ............................................................................. 48 3.7 Efforts to conclude the protest ...................................................................................................... 51 3.8 The decline of the protest .............................................................................................................. 58 4. SHIFTS IN THE PUBLIC MOOD ...................................................................... 61 4.1 The evidence from polling .............................................................................................................. 61 4.2 The non-protesting Protestants ..................................................................................................... 64 4.3 Attitudes within nationalism and the centre ground ..................................................................... 66 4.4 The response in the media and on social media ............................................................................ 68 4.5 The role of civil society ................................................................................................................... 73 5 5. WHO ORGANISED THE PROTESTS? .............................................................. 76 5.1 Political manipulation ..................................................................................................................... 76 5.2 The use of social media in organising protests .............................................................................. 77 5.3 A ‘people’s protest?’ ...................................................................................................................... 80 5.4 The role of the paramilitaries ......................................................................................................... 81 5.5 The ‘flag provocateurs’ ................................................................................................................... 85 6. WHAT CAUSED THE PROTESTS? ................................................................... 88 6.1 Social drivers: the impact of gender and generational differences ............................................... 88 6.2 Emotive drivers: the effects of alienation ...................................................................................... 93 6.3 Ideological drivers: arising from opposition to the Agreement ..................................................... 95 6.4 Cultural drivers: a defensive celebration of culture ....................................................................... 98 6.5 Political drivers: arising from distrust of political institutions ..................................................... 101 6.6 Economic drivers: arising from relative deprivation .................................................................... 104 6.7 What distinguished the flag protests? ......................................................................................... 106 7. POLICING THE PROTESTS ........................................................................... 108 7.1 Loyalist criticisms of policing ........................................................................................................ 109 7.2 Nationalist criticisms of policing................................................................................................... 111 7.3 The legal challenge ....................................................................................................................... 112 7.4 Monitoring the Police: the views of the independent bodies ..................................................... 116 7. 5 Overall assessment of the policing response .............................................................................. 119 7.6 Criminal justice ........................................................................................................................... 121 8. THE LEGACY OF THE FLAG PROTEST ........................................................... 128 8.1 The impact on politics .................................................................................................................. 128 8.2 The impact on community relations ............................................................................................ 131 8.3 Other research studies on the protest ......................................................................................... 137 8.4 Perspectives from community relations organisations ................................................................ 138 8.5 The future of reconciliation work ............................................................................................... 141 9. Conclusion ................................................................................................ 144 6 LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES AND ILLUSTRATIONS Table 1. Results of elections to Belfast City Council, 2001 and 2011. ........................................... 29 Table 2. Results of staff survey on policy on flying a flag on public buildings in BCC. ................... 32 Illustration 1. Image of the leaflet distributed in east Belfast prior to the council vote. .............. 37 Illustration 2. Geographical spread of the protests. .....................................................................