BELFAST has had many organised pogroms bcfore August 1969 whose main aim has been to dispossess Catholics of their houses and jobs and to intimidate them to a point which will encourage emigration. The political advantages of a successful pogrom are obvious, one of the main fears of Protestants being the Catholic birthrate. Of course there are other political advantages for those who rally the people from the street corners by organising campaigns of looting, burning and intimidation. These local, small-time, shopkeeper politicians-such a one is John McKeague, chairman of the Shankill Defence Committee and owner of a pet-shop-gain much popular support by distributing among their minions the houses and jobs wrested from the Catholics.

However the most important advantage to be gained from successful pogroms in the past has been the strengthening of the Unionist hegemony by the regeneration of the feuds upon which it is based. In previous pogroms there has never been any question of a split within the Unionist camp such as now exists. The ascendancy who have always ruled the party and who have agreed to concede reforms as the only realistic way of remaining in power, are viciously opposed by two powerful factions. These are the careerists and opportunists, such as Faulkner, on the one hand, and the solid block of right-wing anti-reformists, such as Craig, on the other. The so-called moderates have been strengthened by the North's reliance on British subsidy and foreign . capital, which demand at least the semblances of moderation and harmony in the province. This demand is further reinforced by the presence of a Labour government in Britain which, unlike many of its Conservative predecessors, cannot be seen to tolerate the bashing of rebellious Fenians.
Whereas the pogroms of 1922, 1935 and 1949 helped and sustained the  Unionist Party and its aris.tocratic leadership, the recent campaign of terror has, ironically, weakened the party and precipitated the overthrow of the ascendancy. While the " moderates" remain the only faction that will satisfy Westminster, popular support, which now sees them as Lundies of the lowest order, has swung behind the right-wing within the party and the fascist rabble-rousers without. Local overlords have never had it so good.

History of Pogroms
In the nineteenth century Belfast suffered from the same kind of vicious, sectarian rioting which characterised most of the new industrial cities of Great Britain. Since 1886, howevcr, this rioting has become political in function if not in content, and Belfast has remained since then a city admirably suited for pogroms. Unionist gerrymandering has kept the old electoral areas stable so that Belfast does not have the huge working-class housing estates that usually surround a city of its size. The few housing estates that were built were tagged on to "safe" areas so that they would not upset the political balance.Thus a predominantly Catholic housing estate built in the Ardoyne area was situated right beside a traditionally Catholic area which includes Hooker Street, Herbert Street and an extensive part of the Crumlin Road.

In the centre of the city old working class areas, which would have been knocked down ages ago in any other city, still stand. These contain ghettoes of different denominations situated unnervingly near each other and retain vivid memories of earlier sectarian rioting. Thus the Shankill Road area runs parallel to the Divis Street/Falls Road arca and Duncairn Gardens parallels New Lodge Road. These hot-beds of enmity are broken only by shops and public houses which are often the first targets, while peripheral streets such as Dover Street, Townsend Street and Percy Street constitute the main battlegrounds for the mob fighting. Successivc generations of pogroms serve to solidify the already existing sectarian divisions.

August pogroms carefully planned?
The pattern of the August rioting in Belfast points to the possibility that there were in fact carefully drawn up plans for a political pogrom. Earlier this year the city was comparatively peaceful. During a troubled period in April, the hand of the U.V.F. was seen by many observers in the destruction of the Kilkeel pipelines which provide Belfast with its water supply. These were destroyed in the heart of militant Paisleyite territory where no Catholic body, least of all the I.R.A., could have found cover or have avoided the police road blocks which were immediately erected. Besides, the I.R.A., which in recent years has always claimed responsibility for its exploits, denied that they were responsible.

The evidence pointed to a co-ordinated effort by Protestant extremists. A possible plan might have been to raise tempers in Belfast by creating an atmosphere of suspicion reminiscent of the border campaign era, and, by depriving the city of its water supply, to pave the way for the uncontrollable burning of Catholic areas.

If this was the plan it did not work, possibly for two reasons. Firstly the co-ordination between the rural Paisleyites, who presumably blew up the pipe-lines, and their urban counterparts may not have been adequate. Secondly, the people of Belfast had not been riled or terrified by previous incidents to a pitch which would allow them be led on an invasion of Catholic areas.

In the Belfast rioting which broke our at the beginning of August there was little evidence of organisation. On August 2nd a rumour spread that the Catholic inhabitants of Unity Walk Flats had stoned a Junior Orange Parade. The mob that instantly descended on the buildings found itself in open confrontation with the RUC who were attempting to give some protection to the flats. When the occupants came to the assistance of the police they found themselves at the receiving end of a vicious baton charge which penetrated the courtyards of the flats. Meanwhile a large Protestant mob took advantage of the preoccupation of the police by setting off along the Shankill Road on a rampage of looting.

The charge that the whole thing had begun by the stoning of an Orange Parade was later denied by the head of the parade himself. The geographical position of Unity Walk Flats, which are perched at the end of the Shankill Road and are totally defenceless, makes it more likely that trouble began with some of the callous rumour-mongering which characterises Belfast. The subsequent unco-ordinated behaviour of the RUC especially in the Ardoyne area did little to help an already explosive situation.

When a crowd of about a thousand assembled later that night in the predominantly Protestant Disraeli Street facing across the Crumlin Road into Hooker Street, the police, despite massive provocation, simply formed a human chain in an abortive effort to hold them back. They showed less restraint in dealing with the Hooker Street mob whom they attacked viciously with considerable help from Disraeli Street. The most serious casualty of this attack was an eighteen-year-old Neil Summers of Dunblayne Avenue who sustained injuries leading to amputation as result of being mowed down by a land-rover which then backed over him.