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just anti-social behaviour?”
Crawford states that he does not like the diminutive term ‘recreational
rioting’ to describe interface violence; but he nevertheless argues in favour of the anti-social behaviour debate stating that: “some people like
the excitement of rioting, it doesn’t mean they hate the people they are
rioting against; they just like to riot.” Crawford argues that there is “a
culture of violence” in Belfast which he feels underpins the recreational
aspect of interface rioting. Harry (PSNI) would agree with Crawford’s
analysis of interface rioting as being underpinned by a culture of violence. Harry suggests that owing to the legacy of the conflict in Belfast,
violence became the norm within particular communities whereby it was
seen as a legitimate means to exercise grievances. Hence Darby argues
that a culture of violence became the norm in Northern Ireland owing to
the nature of the conflict, whereby “the routine procedures for maintaining law and order failed, and society largely accepted violence imposed
by sub-groups within its boundaries” (Darby 1997: 111). However, in
the post-1998 Agreement era, sectarian violence is no longer the norm
and greatly undermines notions of a shared future and a peace process.
It is problematic that sectarian interface violence is being constructed as
anti-social behaviour or recreational rioting because this serves to downplay the extent of sectarianism in Belfast at present.
Perhaps for some stakeholders, hatred is too strong a word to describe
what occurs at certain interfaces in Belfast. Some stakeholders in particular areas stress