Sectarian Interface Violence: ‘Hate Crime’ or ‘Anti-Social
Behaviour’?
significantly more harm for both victims and the wider community.
This can be demonstrated within those interface communities in Belfast
which have been devastated by inter-communal violence and conflict.
Empirical Review: Sectarian Interface Violence as ‘Hate Crime’ or
‘Anti-Social Behaviour’
In the context of Belfast as a divided place, Rodney1 (statutory sector)
states that peace walls erected in response to “physical changes in housing and demographics” have perpetuated antagonism between communities on either side. These physical barriers of division at interfaces
“seem to be a magnet for that sort of sectarian anti-social behaviour,”
states Rodney. These are an interesting choice of words – Rodney defines interface violence as anti-social behaviour rather than hate crime.
The reason Rodney conceives interface violence as anti-social behaviour
and not hate crime, is because since young people today “haven’t been
a part of the Troubles”, they do not necessarily hate each other; “but
because they’re living in divided communities they just see each other as
the enemy.” Despite acknowledging how division reinforces inter-communal hostility, Rodney’s view here makes a simplistic assumption that
because the Troubles have largely ended, people do not really hate each
other anymore. Other stakeholders from the community-level (such as
Barney, Daniel, Jim and John), would refute this view by arguing that
sectarian enmity is endemic in interface areas and has not subsided since
the Troubles ended; indeed, more interfaces have emerged during the
peace process than ever existed before (McVeigh and Rolston 2007: 9).
Barney, a community worker based at the Short Strand interface in inner-east Belfast, asserts that the police regard sectarian interface violence as anti-social behaviour rather than hate crime. Indeed, he states:
“we have asked them [the police] to report it as hate crime but they re1 All
interviewee names are anonymized in the data for ethical reasons. All interviews
cited herein took place between March and June of 2012.
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