Kate Nash says the time known as "The Troubles" never really ended in Northern Ireland.
While the 1998 Good Friday Agreement brought an era of relative peace and prosperity to the U.K. region, paramilitary groups still exist and lower levels of violence continue to plague the community, says the 70-year-old grandmother who lost a brother in the 1972 Bloody Sunday massacre.
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Kate Nash says the time known as "The Troubles" never really ended in Northern Ireland.
"If they're going to man the border ... that's really something that will start violence again," she said. "They'll be targets, you know, for the IRA or whoever."
The EU underpinned the Good Friday peace deal, negotiated with the help of the U.S., because both Britain and Ireland were members of the bloc. That meant people and goods could flow freely across the frontier and allowed authorities to tear down the hated border posts that were once a flashpoint for violence.
The conflict was born almost a century ago when the Republic of Ireland, dominated by Catholics, won its independence but Northern Ireland, which had a Protestant majority, remained part of the U.K. In the 1960s, divisions over whether Northern Ireland should be part of Britain or Ireland flared into what became known as The Troubles.
"Suddenly those aspirations have been sort of prioritized," Phoenix said. "And that is a factor that is leading to instability."
People here are worried that Johnson will sacrifice their interests in hopes of securing a Brexit deal and say anything that treats Northern Ireland differently than the rest of the U.K. is unacceptable.
Jack Duffin leans on a walking stick as he leads guided tours through the still battle-scarred neighborhoods of Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland. A former member of the Irish Republican Army, Duffin still wants to reunite the island of Ireland and thinks Brexit may help achieve that goal.
"He used to strum," his sister says, thinking of 1972, when Willy played a Marty Robbins album nightly.
William Nash was shot dead in the chest near a barricade. His father saw him and went to help, only to end up being shot himself. The father lived, but his wife never forgave him for their son's death.
Follow AP's full coverage of Brexit and British politics at https://www.apnews.com/Brexit
In this photo dated Monday Oct. 14, 2019 Kate Nash holds a picture of her brother William at home in the Glendora area of Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Nash, a 70-year-old grandmother who lost her brother William in what became known as Bloody Sunday, fears, Brexit may cause the smoldering conflict in Northern Ireland to flare up once again, especially if there are renewed customs and passport controls along the border between the Republic of Ireland and the U.K.'s Northern Ireland. (AP PhotoPeter Morrison)
In this image taken on Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2019 former IRA member Jack Duffin, left, from Belfast political tours takes tourists through the peace wall to a Loyalist area in west Belfast, Northern Ireland. Fears about a return to the violence that killed more than 3,500 people over three decades have made Northern Ireland the biggest hurdle for U.K. and EU officials who are trying to hammer out a Brexit divorce deal. (AP PhotoPeter Morrison)
In this Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2019 photo a woman walks her dogs along the Protestant side of the peace wall that separates a Protestant area from a Catholic area in west Belfast, Northern Ireland. (AP PhotoPeter Morrison)
In this photo dated Monday Oct. 14, 2019 people walk past pro-Brexit graffiti in West Belfast Northern Ireland. Fears about a return to the violence that killed more than 3,500 people over three decades have made Northern Ireland the biggest hurdle for U.K. and EU officials who are trying to hammer out a Brexit divorce deal. (AP PhotoPeter Morrison)
In this photo dated Monday Oct. 14, 2019 shows a Republican mural on a wall in the bogside area of Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Fears about a return to the violence that killed more than 3,500 people over three decades have made Northern Ireland the biggest hurdle for U.K. and EU officials who are trying to hammer out a Brexit divorce deal. (AP PhotoPeter Morrison)
FILE - In this February 1972 file photo, a building burns in the bogside district of Londonderry, Northern Ireland, in the aftermath of Bloody Sunday, one of the the most notorious events of "The Troubles." Fears about a return to the violence that killed more than 3,500 people over three decades have made Northern Ireland the biggest hurdle for U.K. and EU officials who are trying to hammer out a Brexit divorce deal. (AP PhotoMichel Laurent, File)
FILE - In this April 10, 1998, file photo, from right, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, U.S. Sen. George Mitchell, and Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, pose together after they signed the Good Friday Agreement for peace in Northern Ireland. Fears about a return to the violence that killed more than 3,500 people over three decades have made Northern Ireland the biggest hurdle for U.K. and EU officials who are trying to hammer out a Brexit divorce deal. (AP PhotoFile)
Brexit may cause the smoldering conflict to flare up once again, she fears, especially if there are renewed customs and passport controls along the now-invisible border between EU member Ireland and the U.K.'s Northern Ireland after Britain leaves the European Union.
Loyalist activist Jamie Bryson walks past a Ulster Volunteer Force mural in east Belfast, Northern Ireland, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2019. Fears about a return to the violence that killed more than 3,500 people over three decades have made Northern Ireland the biggest hurdle for U.K. and European Union negotiators trying to hammer out an agreement on Britain's departure from the 28-nation free trade bloc. People here are worried that UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will sacrifice their interests in hopes of securing a deal. Anything that treats Northern Ireland differently than the rest of the U.K. would be unacceptable. "There would be an organic explosion of anger and people would take to the streets and obviously any sensible person would be urging people ... to do so peacefully,'' said Jamie Bryson, editor of the Unionist Voice newsletter, as he offered an analysis of where the community stands. (AP PhotoPeter Morrison)
"If they're going to man the border ... that's really something that will start violence again," she said. "They'll be targets, you know, for the IRA or whoever."
Fears about a return to the violence that killed more than 3,500 people over three decades have made Northern Ireland the biggest hurdle for U.K. and EU officials who are trying to hammer out a Brexit divorce deal. Besides securing the Irish border from fraud and smuggling, they must tiptoe around anything that will inflame the tensions between those who want Northern Ireland to remain part of the U.K. and those who want it to be reunited with the Republic of Ireland.
"Brexit has been the greatest existential threat to the peace process in 25 years," said Eamon Phoenix, a historian at Queen's University Belfast. "The island of Ireland has enjoyed really unbroken peace for 25 years after violence in which 3,500 people died ... and suddenly in the last three years, we have the risk to all that."
In this photo dated Monday Oct. 14, 2019 a Republican mural depicting scenes from Bloody Sunday in 1972 on a wall in the bogside area of Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Fears about a return to the violence that killed more than 3,500 people over three decades have made Northern Ireland the biggest hurdle for U.K. and EU officials who are trying to hammer out a Brexit divorce deal. (AP PhotoPeter Morrison)
The EU underpinned the Good Friday peace deal, negotiated with the help of the U.S., because both Britain and Ireland were members of the bloc. That meant people and goods could flow freely across the frontier and allowed authorities to tear down the hated border posts that were once a flashpoint for violence.
Over the past 20 years, the Irish land border has vanished, marked only by changing speed limits and signs targeted by vandals who obscure the word "Northern" with spray paint.
Yet after Brexit — which U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson wants to happen on Oct. 31 — the Irish land border will become an external EU border. Negotiators are struggling to find a way to regulate trade without rebuilding checkpoints and destroying the cross-border links that have spurred economic growth on both sides.
In this Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2019 photo a Union flag flutters in the shadow of a Loyalist mural from the Ulster Volunteer Force in East Belfast, Northern Ireland. (AP PhotoPeter Morrison)
The conflict was born almost a century ago when the Republic of Ireland, dominated by Catholics, won its independence but Northern Ireland, which had a Protestant majority, remained part of the U.K. In the 1960s, divisions over whether Northern Ireland should be part of Britain or Ireland flared into what became known as The Troubles.
The Good Friday peace deal, which includes a power-sharing unity government in Northern Ireland, let people identify as British or Irish or both regardless of where they lived, Phoenix said, allowing them to cooperate and put aside long-held political aspirations.
But Brexit, driven by English voters, has hardened those divisions. While 52% of U.K. voters backed leaving the EU in the 2016 referendum, a majority in Northern Ireland — 56% — voted to remain in the bloc. Phoenix says the Brexit vote unleashed a political Pandora's box.
In this Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2019 photo showing a Loyalist mural painted on a wall in east Belfast, Northern Ireland. (AP PhotoPeter Morrison)
"Suddenly those aspirations have been sort of prioritized," Phoenix said. "And that is a factor that is leading to instability."
While the peace deal ended daily mayhem, it didn't bring about reconciliation in Northern Ireland. Communities remain divided, and so-called "peace walls" that sometimes glorify gun-wielding masked men are a backdrop of daily life.
On West Belfast's Shankill Road, the Union flag bunting crisscrosses the working-class neighborhood. Murals celebrate loyalist paramilitary fighters, with one proclaiming "We seek nothing but the elementary right implanted in every man: The right if you are attacked to defend yourself."
Photo dated Monday Oct. 14, 2019 showing the Bloody Sunday memorial in Londonderry, Northern Ireland with the names of of the victims. Fears about a return to the violence that killed more than 3,500 people over three decades have made Northern Ireland the biggest hurdle for U.K. and EU officials who are trying to hammer out a Brexit divorce deal. (AP PhotoPeter Morrison)
People here are worried that Johnson will sacrifice their interests in hopes of securing a Brexit deal and say anything that treats Northern Ireland differently than the rest of the U.K. is unacceptable.
"There would be an organic explosion of anger and people would take to the streets. And obviously any sensible person would be urging people ... to do so peacefully," said Jamie Bryson, editor of the Unionist Voice. "But we all have to live in the real world and know that once mass amounts of people take to the streets, and once something happens and that genie gets out of the bottle, it's going to be difficult to put it back in."
Others think the genie has already escaped.
In this Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2019 photo tourists with Belfast Political Tours walk into a Loyalist area in west Belfast, Northern Ireland. Fears about a return to the violence that killed more than 3,500 people over three decades have made Northern Ireland the biggest hurdle for U.K. and EU officials who are trying to hammer out a Brexit divorce deal. (AP PhotoPeter Morrison)
Jack Duffin leans on a walking stick as he leads guided tours through the still battle-scarred neighborhoods of Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland. A former member of the Irish Republican Army, Duffin still wants to reunite the island of Ireland and thinks Brexit may help achieve that goal.
"We have been trying to put the border to the forefront of the international community for years," Duffin said. "Brexit has done that for us."
Some didn't need Brexit to be reminded of these long-standing issues. In her lap, Kate Nash cradled a picture of her late brother Willy, a tall, lanky 19-year-old leaning against a wall, guitar in his lap.
In this Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2019 photo former IRA member Jack Duffin, from Belfast Political Tours talks to tourists in west Belfast, Northern Ireland. (AP PhotoPeter Morrison)
"He used to strum," his sister says, thinking of 1972, when Willy played a Marty Robbins album nightly.
"You know 'Out in the West Texas town of El Paso," she said, breaking into a tune.
Her brother, a dock worker, went to a demonstration near his home in Londonderry on Jan. 30, 1972, because it was a local happening — not because he was involved with the IRA. Thousands had gathered to protest internment, but things went badly wrong. British soldiers shot 28 unarmed civilians, killing 13.
Loyalist activist Jamie Bryson speaks to the Associated Press in the Con Club in East Belfast, Northern Ireland, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2019. People here are worried that UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will sacrifice their interests in hopes of securing a deal. Anything that treats Northern Ireland differently than the rest of the U.K. would be unacceptable. "There would be an organic explosion of anger and people would take to the streets and obviously any sensible person would be urging people ... to do so peacefully,'' said Bryson, editor of the Unionist Voice newsletter, as he offered an analysis of where the community stands. (AP PhotoPeter Morrison)
William Nash was shot dead in the chest near a barricade. His father saw him and went to help, only to end up being shot himself. The father lived, but his wife never forgave him for their son's death.
Kate Nash received some solace in the official inquiry that found the British soldiers had opened fire without justification at unarmed civilians and then lied about it for decades.
"The pain of it never really goes away," she said. "You know only the injustice of it."
In this image taken on Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2019 former IRA member Jack Duffin, second left, hands over the role of tour guide to an unidentified Loyalist, left, from Belfast Political Tours, which takes tourists on a tour of both sides of the sectarian divide in west Belfast, Northern Ireland. (AP PhotoPeter Morrison)
Follow AP's full coverage of Brexit and British politics at https://www.apnews.com/Brexit
In this photo dated Monday Oct. 14, 2019 vehicles cross the border between the Republic of Ireland an Northern Ireland. After Brexit, the frontier will become an external border once again, and negotiators are struggling to find a way to regulate trade without rebuilding checkpoints and destroying the cross-border links that have spurred economic growth on both sides. (AP PhotoPeter Morrison)
In this photo dated Monday Oct. 14, 2019 Kate Nash holds a picture of her brother William at home in the Glendora area of Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Nash, a 70-year-old grandmother who lost her brother William in what became known as Bloody Sunday, fears, Brexit may cause the smoldering conflict in Northern Ireland to flare up once again, especially if there are renewed customs and passport controls along the border between the Republic of Ireland and the U.K.'s Northern Ireland. (AP PhotoPeter Morrison)
In this image taken on Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2019 former IRA member Jack Duffin, left, from Belfast political tours takes tourists through the peace wall to a Loyalist area in west Belfast, Northern Ireland. Fears about a return to the violence that killed more than 3,500 people over three decades have made Northern Ireland the biggest hurdle for U.K. and EU officials who are trying to hammer out a Brexit divorce deal. (AP PhotoPeter Morrison)
In this Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2019 photo a woman walks her dogs along the Protestant side of the peace wall that separates a Protestant area from a Catholic area in west Belfast, Northern Ireland. (AP PhotoPeter Morrison)
In this photo dated Monday Oct. 14, 2019 people walk past pro-Brexit graffiti in West Belfast Northern Ireland. Fears about a return to the violence that killed more than 3,500 people over three decades have made Northern Ireland the biggest hurdle for U.K. and EU officials who are trying to hammer out a Brexit divorce deal. (AP PhotoPeter Morrison)
In this photo dated Monday Oct. 14, 2019 shows a Republican mural on a wall in the bogside area of Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Fears about a return to the violence that killed more than 3,500 people over three decades have made Northern Ireland the biggest hurdle for U.K. and EU officials who are trying to hammer out a Brexit divorce deal. (AP PhotoPeter Morrison)
FILE - In this February 1972 file photo, a building burns in the bogside district of Londonderry, Northern Ireland, in the aftermath of Bloody Sunday, one of the the most notorious events of "The Troubles." Fears about a return to the violence that killed more than 3,500 people over three decades have made Northern Ireland the biggest hurdle for U.K. and EU officials who are trying to hammer out a Brexit divorce deal. (AP PhotoMichel Laurent, File)
FILE - In this April 10, 1998, file photo, from right, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, U.S. Sen. George Mitchell, and Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, pose together after they signed the Good Friday Agreement for peace in Northern Ireland. Fears about a return to the violence that killed more than 3,500 people over three decades have made Northern Ireland the biggest hurdle for U.K. and EU officials who are trying to hammer out a Brexit divorce deal. (AP PhotoFile)