Babak Belurs

Rabu, 07 April 2021

Bus set on fire and photographer attacked in disorder in Belfast ahead of emergency meeting - Sky News

Violence has again resumed on the streets of Belfast ahead of an emergency meeting of the Northern Ireland Assembly, with a bus hijacked and set on fire and a photographer attacked.

The scenes on Wednesday evening followed several nights of unrest in loyalist communities amid tensions over the controversial Northern Ireland Protocol in the UK and EU's Brexit deal and the police's handling of alleged lockdown breaches by Sinn Fein at the funeral of republican Bobby Storey.

Police said the bus was pelted with petrol bombs at the junction of Lanark Way and Shankill Road in west Belfast, meanwhile stones were thrown at officers while a press photographer was assaulted nearby.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has condemned the violence.

He tweeted: "I am deeply concerned by the scenes of violence in Northern Ireland, especially attacks on PSNI who are protecting the public and businesses, attacks on a bus driver and the assault of a journalist.

"The way to resolve differences is through dialogue, not violence or criminality."

Ahead of Wednesday's violence, the Northern Ireland Assembly had already been recalled from recess after rioting in the city left more than 40 police officers injured.

It had not been due to return until 12 April.

First Minister Arlene Foster tweeted in response to a post by a journalist who said that they were attacked by two masked men.

"There is no justification for violence. It is wrong and should stop," she said.

A 13-year-old boy was one of nine people arrested when trouble flared in loyalist parts of Greater Belfast and Londonderry earlier this week and over the weekend.

A decision not to prosecute anyone for alleged breaches of COVID regulations at an IRA funeral was the tipping point.

But tension has been simmering for months over the Brexit Protocol, establishing a trade border in the Irish Sea.

Front-line police officers are bearing the brunt of failures in politics and policing, according to a former deputy chief constable.

Jim Gamble said: "They’re the ones that will be standing in front of the angry crowds, they’re the ones that are going to be sitting in the back of Land Rovers that are on fire.

"This is not the fault of the front-line police officer. This is a failure of politics and I believe there are questions to be asked at the most senior level in policing about their ability to lead in a consistent manner and the only thing that should govern policing is the rule of law."

Many people expressed concern about the potential for republican violence if there was a hard border on the island of Ireland after Brexit.

But few seem to have considered the potential for loyalist violence in the event of a border in the Irish Sea

Many of the young people engaged in the violence were not born at the time of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

But they are easily influenced by sinister elements within loyalism, a community feeling dangerously alienated.

Stacey Graham, a loyalist activist, says people are losing faith in the peace process because there has been no dividend.

She said: "This community has been left behind. We still have high levels of multiple deprivation, we’re still living in poverty, educational underachievement is a massive issue, we have really poor elemental health."

"People just feel really left behind and disconnected from mainstream politics," she added.

DUP councillor Dale Pankhurst understands the anger but wants young people to make the choice he did: politics, not violence.

He said: "People are hugely frustrated. They’re sick, sore and tired of this but there is a way to change it.

"If you engage, if you empower yourself, if you educate yourself, you then in turn empower and engage your community and that can make the real difference."

For all the hope of the Good Friday Agreement, conflict is never far from the surface.

Until both communities feel politics is working for them, there is little hope of reconciliation.

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2021-04-07 20:58:13Z
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Northern Ireland riots: Bus hijacked and set on fire in Belfast - The Independent

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Northern Ireland riots: Bus hijacked and set on fire in Belfast The Independent
Loyalist violence: Dialogue needed with police 'at all levels' BBC News
DUP MP urges loyalist protesters to ‘use their heads’ Evening Standard
Police attacked and hijacked bus set alight as disorder breaks out in west Belfast Belfast Telegraph
Northern Ireland needs leadership. Without it, the violence could get worse The Guardian
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2021-04-07 19:58:44Z
52781489304732

Covid: Under-30s offered alternative to Oxford-AstraZeneca jab - BBC News

Under-30s in the UK are to be offered an alternative Covid vaccine to the AstraZeneca jab due to the evidence linking it to rare blood clots.

The recommendation comes after a review by the UK drugs regulator found that by the end of March 79 people had suffered rare blood clots after vaccination - 19 of whom had died.

The regulator said this was not proof the jab had caused the clots.

But it said the link was getting firmer.

The review by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) found:

The 79 cases and 19 deaths occurred after 20 million doses were administered - giving a risk of about four in one million of developing a blood clot, and one in a million of dying
Nearly two-thirds of the cases of rare clots were seen in women
The people who died were aged between 18 and 79, with three of them aged under 30
All the recorded cases occurred after the first dose, although the lower number of second doses meant it was not possible to draw any conclusions from this

Meanwhile, the EU's medicines regulator says unusual blood clots should be listed as a possible very rare side effect of the AstraZeneca jab, but that the benefits outweighed the risks. Some European countries have restricted the vaccine's use.

The World Health Organization said the link between the vaccine and blood clots was "plausible" but not confirmed, adding that the clotting incidents were "very rare" among nearly 200 million people who have received the jab worldwide.

Analysis: Should we be worried about a one-in-a-million risk?

No treatment or vaccine is risk free. The key question is whether it does more good than harm.

Wednesday's update once again demonstrates the AstraZeneca vaccine does - even if you assume it's causing these clots, which has not been proven yet.

The risk of dying from one of them following vaccination is incredibly small - about one in a million.

By contrast, Covid kills one in eight people who are infected over the age of 75, and one in 1,000 infected in their 40s among those who develop symptoms.

It is less clear cut for those under 30, who are much less likely to die of Covid - although the AstraZeneca vaccine still presents more benefit than risk.

However, other vaccines may be an even better bet.

The risk might look worrying, but it is actually very low, and usually we don't think about things just in terms of risk.

For example, travelling 250 miles in a car also carries with it a one-in-a-million chance of dying in an accident. How many think about that when they get behind the wheel?

Graphic showing harm vs benefits of AZ vaccine

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the UK's review confirmed that the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab is "safe, effective and the benefits far outweigh the risks for the vast majority of adults".

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the AstraZeneca vaccine had "already saved thousands of lives" and the new advice should ensure people of all ages "continue to have full confidence in vaccines".

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer also urged people to "trust in our doctors and scientists" and said he was looking forward to receiving his second AstraZeneca dose.

The UK reported a further 45 deaths from Covid-19 and another 2,763 confirmed cases on Wednesday. Vaccinations remained low after the Easter weekend, with 186,793 second doses administered and 85,227 first doses.

June Raine, chief executive of the MHRA, said the side-effects of the AstraZeneca vaccine were "extremely rare" - and more work was going to identify if the vaccine was definitely causing the clots.

"The balance of benefits and known risks is still very favourable for the majority of people," she said.

But she said for younger age groups it was more "finely balanced".

She added: "The public's safety is at the forefront of our minds."

Dr Raine said there was a "reasonably plausible" link between the vaccine and the blood clots, although AstraZeneca has said its studies have found no causal connection.

The review prompted the UK government's vaccine advisory group, the JCVI, to recommend that people aged 18 to 29 be offered an alternative vaccine where available.

Professor Lim Wei Shen, of the JCVI, said the move was being made "out of the utmost caution rather than because we have any serious safety concerns".

Professor Sir Munir Pirmohamed, chairman of the Commission on Human Medicines, said the risks had to be weighed against the consequences of Covid-19, which also causes clotting.

He said 7.8% of coronavirus patients suffer blood clots on the lungs, while 11.2% will suffer deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in the legs.

People who have had their first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine should still get their second dose, the MHRA said. Only those who suffered one of these rare blood clots after the first dose should not get vaccinated, it added.

Pregnant women and people with blood disorders that leave them at risk of clotting should discuss the benefits and risks of vaccination with their doctor before going for a jab.

Anyone who suffers symptoms such as a persistent headache, blurred vision or confusion for four days or more after vaccination or who experience unusual skin bruising, shortness of breath or chest pain are being asked to seek medical advice.

England's deputy chief medical officer, Prof Jonathan Van-Tam, described the move as a "course correction" - and said it was normal in medicine to change preferences in this way.

He also said the impact on the government's promise to offer all adults a jab by the end of July should be "zero or negligible" as long as the expected supplies of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines - the other two Covid vaccines in use in the UK - arrived as expected in the coming months.

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