0:00:21 > 0:00:23I mean, the walls have been up for so long now.
0:00:23 > 0:00:26In my lifetime here, I have not seen the walls come down,
0:00:26 > 0:00:28I have seen them increase.
0:00:28 > 0:00:31So the walls are like a comfort blanket, I would imagine.
0:00:36 > 0:00:39Kids growing up, they are looking at this big wall
0:00:39 > 0:00:41and wondering what is over the other side.
0:00:41 > 0:00:44Then when they see the barbed wire and spikes pointing out, they're
0:00:44 > 0:00:47wondering if there must be something bad over there on the other side.
0:00:52 > 0:00:57It could be a stone, it could be a petrol bomb, it could be a brick.
0:00:57 > 0:00:59It could be a bottle. You just don't know.
0:01:05 > 0:01:07You'd be sitting sometimes and you would be going,
0:01:07 > 0:01:09if only you could do something.
0:01:09 > 0:01:13But you can't do nothing, it just makes you so angry at times.
0:01:18 > 0:01:21There is only like around 3,000 people who live in the Short Strand,
0:01:21 > 0:01:23and we are surrounded by 90,000 Protestants.
0:01:23 > 0:01:25It's always been where you go.
0:01:25 > 0:01:27If you are a Protestant you can't go there,
0:01:27 > 0:01:29if you're a Catholic you can't go there.
0:01:35 > 0:01:39I don't think the Protestants and Roman Catholics were brought
0:01:39 > 0:01:43together to say why this wall should be put up.
0:01:43 > 0:01:48The wall's went up and there is no sign of it coming down.
0:02:09 > 0:02:12This is some of the glass still left from the other night.
0:02:12 > 0:02:15And there are golf balls. All you do is lift golf balls.
0:02:17 > 0:02:19I mean, isn't that a lovely view, the wall(?)
0:02:19 > 0:02:22Everybody else has got a lovely view and that's what we get.
0:02:22 > 0:02:25There's more golf balls, more of them lying there.
0:02:26 > 0:02:28I'll take you along to let you see the neighbour's house.
0:02:28 > 0:02:32His house has been blocked up from when the trouble started in 2002.
0:02:32 > 0:02:3610 years later and he's still blocked up, so it is.
0:02:40 > 0:02:42There's more bottles that's been smashed.
0:02:42 > 0:02:45Sometimes it's not worth your while clearing them
0:02:45 > 0:02:48because they're just back again.
0:02:48 > 0:02:52And there's that poor fellow's house that's been blocked from 2002.
0:02:52 > 0:02:54I don't know how he lives like that.
0:02:54 > 0:02:55He is a wee pensioner,
0:02:55 > 0:02:58and I feel sorry for him having to live like that.
0:03:11 > 0:03:13I have hardboard on my top windows
0:03:13 > 0:03:18and I have no intention of taking it off because, if Celtic win
0:03:18 > 0:03:23their match and Rangers doesn't win a match, there is another riot.
0:03:23 > 0:03:27And they start throwing, you know... Or anything at all.
0:03:27 > 0:03:30it's the least wee thing that sparks anything off.
0:03:31 > 0:03:36That wall there, that wall was three metres lower than it was now.
0:03:36 > 0:03:38There were three metres went on
0:03:38 > 0:03:44to it plus that corrugated iron plus the wire on top
0:03:44 > 0:03:48of the corrugated iron, but they can still shoot things over.
0:03:49 > 0:03:53I find stuff in the garden regularly, you know,
0:03:53 > 0:03:59bits of bean tins and pea tins, you know.
0:03:59 > 0:04:03I have paint, I have two different colours of paint
0:04:03 > 0:04:10over my plants in the garden and the back door and that's what you get.
0:04:10 > 0:04:13They paint the door for you when they are rioting!
0:04:14 > 0:04:18You might not like the colour, that is the only thing, you know.
0:04:18 > 0:04:22It might not be put on very level, you know!
0:04:37 > 0:04:41This is the back garden. As you can see, there are quite a lot of leaves.
0:04:41 > 0:04:44I have netting and stuff up just to catch the odd bottle that comes over.
0:04:44 > 0:04:45I used to have a dog
0:04:45 > 0:04:48and there was the odd occasion a bottle used to come over,
0:04:48 > 0:04:50and if it smashed on the ground I used to have to try and clear
0:04:50 > 0:04:54up loads of wee small broken shards of glass before going to work.
0:04:54 > 0:04:55So yeah, the wall is pretty high.
0:04:57 > 0:04:59They still manage to get the odd thing over.
0:04:59 > 0:05:03I suppose the things that come over most are probably whatever is
0:05:03 > 0:05:05on special offer in the off-licence.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10So it's Magners bottles or, you know, bottles of Bud,
0:05:10 > 0:05:12they were quite popular for a while.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15I suppose when the petrol bomb did come over the wall it was
0:05:15 > 0:05:18quite hilarious cos I was sitting on the Xbox at the time.
0:05:18 > 0:05:21Turns out it was a wee small piddly petrol bomb,
0:05:21 > 0:05:25but when it first landed the flames looked quite high to me
0:05:25 > 0:05:27so I obviously thought it was quite a big fire.
0:05:27 > 0:05:29It turns out it wasn't actually that much,
0:05:29 > 0:05:32but Cathy who lives in number 13, I think a petrol bomb
0:05:32 > 0:05:35came and landed in her back garden and set her trampoline on fire.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59If I hear any noise hitting the fence, I would come up and I would
0:05:59 > 0:06:04look at them because you can see if there is anybody out there or no.
0:06:04 > 0:06:08But there's times you come up to close the windows at night time,
0:06:08 > 0:06:09just drawing the curtains,
0:06:09 > 0:06:11and there are ones walking up and they see you and they call you
0:06:11 > 0:06:15"orange Bs" and "I can see you" and all this and that.
0:06:15 > 0:06:18I just have to close my window and just get on with it.
0:06:18 > 0:06:20Because my kids are going to bed
0:06:20 > 0:06:24and this is my son's room I'm in at the moment. He can't open his...
0:06:24 > 0:06:26I have to come in the mornings when he is away to school
0:06:26 > 0:06:31and open his curtains and windows because he is scared to open his curtains.
0:06:31 > 0:06:33I had to take my kids from their bedrooms
0:06:33 > 0:06:36and put them into the living room just for their own safety
0:06:36 > 0:06:40because I didn't know what was hitting the windows.
0:06:40 > 0:06:44That's not peace. It's not a shared future either.
0:06:53 > 0:06:54A lot of people view it as an eyesore,
0:06:54 > 0:06:56it doesn't really bother me that much.
0:06:56 > 0:07:00As you can see, I don't really have any windows on this side
0:07:00 > 0:07:02so I don't look out onto it that much.
0:07:02 > 0:07:05A wee while ago I used to play, a good few years ago I used to
0:07:05 > 0:07:09play a bit of basketball and I would still do that in my spare time.
0:07:09 > 0:07:11So I was going to make a bit of a positive out of the wall,
0:07:11 > 0:07:14it was my dad's idea to put a basketball net up
0:07:14 > 0:07:18so I was maybe going to put one up either there or there.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21Maybe there is a bit low but, you know,
0:07:21 > 0:07:23at least the ball would never go over the wall!
0:07:23 > 0:07:25It would have to bounce pretty freaking high!
0:07:52 > 0:07:57On the right there, not the bathroom, the bedroom,
0:07:57 > 0:08:02the bathroom is covered as well so it doesn't really make any difference.
0:08:05 > 0:08:08You will see the window was broken there.
0:08:08 > 0:08:11I keep the boards on it because I don't see any
0:08:11 > 0:08:15point in taking them off or they are going to break all my windows.
0:08:15 > 0:08:22As I say, I would have to get the glazier in to fix it.
0:08:22 > 0:08:26This glass was put in on a Friday
0:08:26 > 0:08:32and I think it was broken either Friday night or Saturday morning.
0:08:34 > 0:08:38In this day and age, we are supposed to be very modern and one thing
0:08:38 > 0:08:42and another, and very freethinking people.
0:08:42 > 0:08:50But unfortunately, this is the type of business you get caught
0:08:50 > 0:08:55up in when you are on a borderline.
0:09:35 > 0:09:37REPORTER: The barricade building fever
0:09:37 > 0:09:40spread to East Belfast last night, and East Belfast
0:09:40 > 0:09:44is an area which up till now has had comparatively little trouble.
0:09:44 > 0:09:47Over on the Protestant side which lies to the right here,
0:09:47 > 0:09:49between Ravenhill Road and the Woodstock Road,
0:09:49 > 0:09:53a number of barricades were put up in some of the Protestant streets.
0:09:53 > 0:09:55This was apparently done as a protest,
0:09:55 > 0:09:59I am told, against the barricades which are on the Roman Catholic
0:09:59 > 0:10:01side down the Short Strand down here.
0:10:09 > 0:10:12# In the summertime when the weather is high
0:10:12 > 0:10:14# You can stretch right up and touch the sky
0:10:14 > 0:10:17# When the weather's fine... #
0:10:17 > 0:10:24I was born in 1966 in the Strand. We lived in 6 Bryson Street.
0:10:24 > 0:10:27We were only two doors from the Newtonards Road.
0:10:27 > 0:10:29In 1970, when I was four years old, we were burnt
0:10:29 > 0:10:34out of our house during the famous Battle of St Matthew's,
0:10:34 > 0:10:3527th of June 1970.
0:10:38 > 0:10:40This is the Bryson Street peace line.
0:10:40 > 0:10:42This was built in the early '80s.
0:10:42 > 0:10:47This street here used to be houses from one end to the other.
0:10:47 > 0:10:51A series of streets going along here, this used to be Comber Street
0:10:51 > 0:10:54then Beechfield Street, Madrid Street.
0:10:54 > 0:10:56And those streets I used to run along, you could have walked
0:10:56 > 0:10:59up to Canmore Avenue up Madrid Street, up Beechfield Street.
0:10:59 > 0:11:04Then there was a wee street here called Duke Street and
0:11:04 > 0:11:08that used to lead on to Susan Street and then on to the Newtonards Road.
0:11:08 > 0:11:13And I started photographing the peace lines in 1993, 20 years ago.
0:11:17 > 0:11:19The building materials that they are using here,
0:11:19 > 0:11:21that wall is about three feet thick.
0:11:21 > 0:11:26It's 30 feet high. It was built to last...
0:11:27 > 0:11:28..unfortunately.
0:11:30 > 0:11:33I always quote the British Army general, Ian Freeland, who,
0:11:33 > 0:11:36way back in September '69,
0:11:36 > 0:11:40says that the peace lines will be a very temporary affair.
0:11:41 > 0:11:42And that we will not have a Berlin Wall or
0:11:42 > 0:11:44anything like that in this city.
0:11:44 > 0:11:50But 40 years later, we've got 48 peace lines in Belfast alone.
0:12:03 > 0:12:05All the trouble started in the interface
0:12:05 > 0:12:08and then they built this wall.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12I remember the first night it started.
0:12:13 > 0:12:17They started shooting from the belfry of the chapel.
0:12:18 > 0:12:20And seeing people die
0:12:20 > 0:12:26and you could actually see the flash of the guns when the gun is fired.
0:12:26 > 0:12:32I didn't know then that you could see a flash from a gun.
0:12:32 > 0:12:34The next thing I knew, there were
0:12:34 > 0:12:35people shot dead.
0:12:53 > 0:12:57My parents' generation had far more interaction between people
0:12:57 > 0:12:59of the Lower Newtonards Road and the Short Strand.
0:12:59 > 0:13:01It got less and less after the Troubles
0:13:01 > 0:13:07but even in my generation growing up, we still knew people from across...
0:13:07 > 0:13:09A couple of my friends had girlfriends from the other
0:13:09 > 0:13:12side by meeting them at the shop at the top of Mountpottinger Road.
0:13:14 > 0:13:17But since the peace lines started to go up,
0:13:17 > 0:13:21that interaction has just stopped so there is far less interaction
0:13:21 > 0:13:24between the two communities, because of the peace lines.
0:13:33 > 0:13:38Before that wall went up you were able to go into the Short Strand.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41If you had friends there you were able to go in.
0:13:44 > 0:13:48There was no bigotry then or anything said then.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51My mum did go into the area
0:13:51 > 0:13:56because she had friends in the Short Strand,
0:13:56 > 0:13:59but they would have come and met her
0:13:59 > 0:14:06and taken her into the Short Strand and brought her back out again
0:14:06 > 0:14:11onto the Newtonards Road to make sure she was safe to go home.
0:14:11 > 0:14:15And then this wall went up, this interface.
0:14:16 > 0:14:20But it just put that divide between people.
0:14:30 > 0:14:34I have published two books on peace line photography.
0:14:34 > 0:14:39Round about 1993, the idea came that I wanted to photograph all
0:14:39 > 0:14:40the peace lines in Belfast.
0:14:40 > 0:14:43So I set out on a project that lasted about six months.
0:14:47 > 0:14:51That's Cluan Place there. That's Clandeboye.
0:14:51 > 0:14:55What I did was, I walked round to Cluan Place and I met this man here,
0:14:55 > 0:14:57Mr Patterson I think he was called.
0:14:57 > 0:15:01Told him what I was doing, that there was a hoist, a crane,
0:15:01 > 0:15:03and would he come out into the garden and I would photograph him.
0:15:03 > 0:15:06Peggy Quinn on the other side. There is the two communities.
0:15:06 > 0:15:08You don't know which is which
0:15:08 > 0:15:12because there are no symbols to show, no Tricolours or Union Jacks
0:15:12 > 0:15:15or anything, so you don't really know which side is which.
0:15:15 > 0:15:20It showed you that the houses were the same, working-class area,
0:15:20 > 0:15:23working-class area.
0:15:23 > 0:15:27That was taken in 1993. After the siege in 2002
0:15:27 > 0:15:31that wall is now two, three times taller than what it was in '93.
0:15:34 > 0:15:39I think the peace lines generally have had a negative effect
0:15:39 > 0:15:44on community relations, but on the other side, people need to feel safe.
0:15:44 > 0:15:47And then again, it is only certain times of the year that tensions rise.
0:15:47 > 0:15:50Obviously during the marching season tensions rise.
0:16:25 > 0:16:29It is actually a good wee place to live, the Peace Wall is there
0:16:29 > 0:16:34but you forget about it most of the time. Before I moved here I didn't know about the trouble,
0:16:34 > 0:16:38I knew it was at a Peace Wall, I didn't think it through. But to be honest,
0:16:38 > 0:16:40the houses were just so nice,
0:16:40 > 0:16:45inside and the layout and things that I chose it over - I was offered
0:16:45 > 0:16:49a place down in Dee Street, it was a nice place but it was smaller.
0:16:49 > 0:16:52These houses are a nice size,
0:16:52 > 0:16:55they are replacing the roofs at the minute.
0:16:55 > 0:16:59We are getting new roofs on that are bombproof and bulletproof
0:16:59 > 0:17:04and all that, so hopefully if any missiles come over they should be fine.
0:17:04 > 0:17:07It never scares me as such, because I know people on the other
0:17:07 > 0:17:10side of the wall and I know now that they are nine-year-old kids.
0:17:10 > 0:17:16But a lot of time a bottle will come and smash just outside the door
0:17:16 > 0:17:19and that means that I have to go out and try and clean it up.
0:17:19 > 0:17:25Cathy is quite good, she will come down and clean up the bottles and stuff.
0:17:31 > 0:17:37The atmosphere around the bonfire is basically everyone celebrating the 11th July.
0:17:37 > 0:17:42It's the atmosphere, it's a singsong, it's the karaoke is going on, it is being with friends.
0:17:42 > 0:17:44It's being with the community
0:17:44 > 0:17:47that enjoy celebrating their culture, without any hassle.
0:17:47 > 0:17:51Come band season, we call it band season, you would like to
0:17:51 > 0:17:54come home on Saturday after a band parade, friends come back,
0:17:54 > 0:17:57have a drink and play your band music. For me
0:17:57 > 0:18:00not being able to open my windows and play my band music
0:18:00 > 0:18:03because it intimidates them because you're scared of someone
0:18:03 > 0:18:07coming over and hitting or attacking the house, you don't know what would come over.
0:18:18 > 0:18:21Can I have a magic wand? Who wants to hold the magic wand?
0:18:21 > 0:18:24KIDS: Me! Me!
0:18:24 > 0:18:27This boy here in the yellow top. Everybody welcome him up!
0:18:27 > 0:18:29APPLAUSE
0:18:32 > 0:18:35Stand up! And what is your name? Connor.
0:18:35 > 0:18:40Connor, we need Connor to hold on tight to my magic wand.
0:18:40 > 0:18:44Hold on tight. And don't let go. Now whenever Connor's got...
0:18:44 > 0:18:46LAUGHTER
0:18:47 > 0:18:50We just had a magic show for the kids of the area,
0:18:50 > 0:18:54and for us it just means that everyone is safe, they are in
0:18:54 > 0:18:58the one facility and if anything happens the kids will be safe.
0:18:58 > 0:19:01If we get word that there is trouble at any of the interfaces
0:19:01 > 0:19:03then the gates will be locked and we'll keep them in.
0:19:03 > 0:19:08So there is nobody, none of our young people going up near the interfaces.
0:19:21 > 0:19:23I am now getting my kids to understand that
0:19:23 > 0:19:27if they hear anything hitting the fence they are straight in.
0:19:27 > 0:19:31And I am bringing my kids in just so they don't get hit.
0:19:33 > 0:19:35But when the kids are outside playing
0:19:35 > 0:19:39and the kids from the other side of the wall hear them out playing
0:19:39 > 0:19:43this is when the stones come over, because it echoes.
0:19:43 > 0:19:47Because it is so close, it echoes, on dark nights, it echoes
0:19:47 > 0:19:51and that is just trying to get a reaction from our kids.
0:19:51 > 0:19:53At the end of the day, they're kids.
0:20:01 > 0:20:03I was coming back from Albert Bridge Road,
0:20:03 > 0:20:06the garage at Albert Bridge Road, and there was Connor.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09Going over to Pitt Park and I said, "Where are you going?"
0:20:09 > 0:20:12He said I want to go over and get on the amusements,
0:20:12 > 0:20:15because they had a fun day at Pitt Park and amusements and whatever else.
0:20:15 > 0:20:17And Connor was going over to get on.
0:20:17 > 0:20:19That's the mentality, that is
0:20:19 > 0:20:22how much our kids know about the 11th and 12th of July.
0:20:22 > 0:20:24They were going over to join in on the funfair.
0:20:39 > 0:20:43I've just took a wee dander out just to make sure none of the kids
0:20:43 > 0:20:45have left the centre of the park and have,
0:20:45 > 0:20:50come up under the interfaces but as you can see it is as quiet as anything.
0:20:50 > 0:20:52There is not a child or a teenager about.
0:20:54 > 0:20:57You know, they are not running near the interfaces,
0:20:57 > 0:21:00they are not hoping or waiting on something kicking off.
0:21:00 > 0:21:05People don't want that, sometimes people are really, really afraid.
0:21:05 > 0:21:12And you can understand, not everybody is like myself,
0:21:12 > 0:21:15where it doesn't bother me, it doesn't affect me.
0:21:15 > 0:21:19But there are some of the kids enjoying 12th July with their
0:21:19 > 0:21:20wee carry-outs and all.
0:21:41 > 0:21:45Life in Pitt Park, I moved there in the '90s and I didn't see it
0:21:45 > 0:21:49as moving near the interface, it was moving beside the chapel,
0:21:49 > 0:21:51up the Short Strand, you are moving closer.
0:21:51 > 0:21:54So when I had my kids I made them aware
0:21:54 > 0:22:00that this was the Short Strand there and that is where the Fenians lived.
0:22:00 > 0:22:02I have paramilitaries in the family,
0:22:02 > 0:22:06I have a strong influence with some paramilitary organisations, and I was
0:22:06 > 0:22:11a prisoner myself at one time. In 1983 I did time down in Armagh Jail.
0:22:11 > 0:22:14So living in Pitt Park I had to make the kids aware,
0:22:14 > 0:22:18they were aware that there were elements over here that would
0:22:18 > 0:22:23hurt you that they could not go near, that is the way it was, just here.
0:22:23 > 0:22:24We have to be very careful.
0:22:25 > 0:22:28Throughout the years, and that's the way the kids...
0:22:28 > 0:22:31We always had to be careful and made aware of what was happening.
0:22:44 > 0:22:45I didn't move in here
0:22:45 > 0:22:49and know what it would be like. Like Stepford Wives. I knew
0:22:49 > 0:22:54it would be trouble down here, it was part and parcel of moving in.
0:22:54 > 0:22:59Living here you are aware of a Rangers and Celtic match.
0:22:59 > 0:23:02That could cause trouble either way.
0:23:02 > 0:23:06So we living here as a family, we had to be aware of what is happening.
0:23:39 > 0:23:42I am 30 years of age now and I have known no different
0:23:42 > 0:23:43and have seen no different.
0:23:43 > 0:23:48This has been every 11th and 12th and many 12ths in my lifetime.
0:23:48 > 0:23:49It's been the same.
0:23:49 > 0:23:52When they put the shield up across the road
0:23:52 > 0:23:56and block it off it doesn't make any difference to me.
0:23:58 > 0:24:04Last night, it is sort of like if you have to hide your identity
0:24:04 > 0:24:08of who you are, if you're on Newtownard Road to go to Iceland or somewhere
0:24:08 > 0:24:12you're making sure you have no holy medals on and that you have nothing to
0:24:12 > 0:24:16point you out as being a Catholic from the Short Strand.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19I don't feel as though I have to hide my identity,
0:24:19 > 0:24:23I don't annoy anyone on the Protestant side so why should
0:24:23 > 0:24:26anyone approach me or annoy me or anything belonging to me?
0:24:26 > 0:24:28MARCHING MUSIC
0:24:37 > 0:24:39From about six o'clock we had the shutters up
0:24:39 > 0:24:43across the street, you couldn't get in or out of the area or
0:24:43 > 0:24:46out of the district, it is like that on the four points
0:24:46 > 0:24:50for the bands to pass. Why should we be affected
0:24:50 > 0:24:52and hemmed into our own district?
0:24:52 > 0:24:54If there was an emergency or someone needed
0:24:54 > 0:24:57the Fire Brigade or ambulance they could not get in.
0:24:57 > 0:24:59They can't get in near the red railings
0:24:59 > 0:25:01because it is cordoned off and hemmed off.
0:25:04 > 0:25:08You can hear in the background the police were there taking down the
0:25:08 > 0:25:13barriers, and there's nobody about on this side of the wall at all.
0:25:13 > 0:25:15It's 9:15 at night.
0:25:15 > 0:25:18I understand that they want to celebrate their culture
0:25:18 > 0:25:20and whatever else but what is the purpose
0:25:20 > 0:25:25when they are going past the chapel at St Matthews? Every sectarian song
0:25:25 > 0:25:30they can think of outside the chapel, there are UVF flags hanging.
0:25:30 > 0:25:32Sometimes I do feel angry or gutted
0:25:32 > 0:25:35because my own father was murdered by loyalist paramilitaries.
0:25:35 > 0:25:41And sometimes I think, why rub it in people's faces?
0:25:41 > 0:25:44We're supposed to be moving on. Have we got on any further?
0:25:45 > 0:25:46Are we getting anywhere?
0:26:05 > 0:26:10Let's give the women's group some information on what has happened.
0:26:10 > 0:26:15We had a meeting last week with the church committee with Robert, in
0:26:15 > 0:26:19reference to getting the church hall for activities for the younger kids.
0:26:19 > 0:26:24We're in the Pitt Park Women's Group now that we formed last year and constituted.
0:26:24 > 0:26:28We put one of the kids we were aware of through the Prince's Trust
0:26:28 > 0:26:31and he done a week round a football club, which was
0:26:31 > 0:26:36a fantastic thing done by the Prince's Trust. And he met a wee boy from Ardoyne.
0:26:36 > 0:26:38And he came back and he got on the phone,
0:26:38 > 0:26:41"I'm with a wee lad from Ardoyne. He's great, he's dead on."
0:26:41 > 0:26:45He was shocked that this wee lad, that he got on well with him
0:26:45 > 0:26:51and he was smashing and this wee lad... It is not about he's hitting him because he's Catholic,
0:26:51 > 0:26:53He had never met a Catholic before.
0:26:54 > 0:26:59Because they're the kids you need to target, that you need to work with.
0:26:59 > 0:27:03They've never met a Catholic person in their puff,
0:27:03 > 0:27:07apart from on Facebook. And the abuse just goes back and forward.
0:27:07 > 0:27:11This same wee boy would have been throwing bricks and stones back again.
0:27:11 > 0:27:17We have activities for the kids from five to 11 and 12, we keep them in for an hour
0:27:17 > 0:27:20and a half or two hours. I made contacts at the Women's Centre
0:27:20 > 0:27:23and they do a lot of activities up there too.
0:27:23 > 0:27:25The set-up they have is unbelievable.
0:27:25 > 0:27:29We are arranging another meeting with the Belfast men,
0:27:29 > 0:27:35with the Walkway Centre to get more action. And the Short Strand Community centre.
0:27:35 > 0:27:38The resident in the Short Strand, I know they have they same difficulties as us.
0:27:38 > 0:27:42They've got problems with health and education. They worry about their kids.
0:27:42 > 0:27:46The bricks and the golf balls, how do we stop that?
0:27:46 > 0:27:49That's always happened, that is still happening to this day.
0:27:49 > 0:27:53Moving here, how do you stop it?
0:27:53 > 0:27:56Do you encourage it across the community and keep dialogue up?
0:27:56 > 0:27:59You have to. You have to.
0:28:17 > 0:28:20The Protestant community I don't have a bother with.
0:28:20 > 0:28:23I do cross community, so I don't have hatred against them.
0:28:24 > 0:28:28We started off at St Matthew's Primary School, a history group.
0:28:28 > 0:28:35We were doing all different cultural things, what they do
0:28:35 > 0:28:40and what we do and went to the Boyne and all different activities.
0:28:40 > 0:28:43Then at the end of it we decided to write a book.
0:28:43 > 0:28:47Out of the book we have done the play.
0:28:47 > 0:28:50The input was from another primary school.
0:28:50 > 0:28:54It was called The Other Side, it was about more or less what the
0:28:54 > 0:28:59girls had wrote, the stories they wrote in the book about what they had done when they were younger,
0:28:59 > 0:29:02their side and their life and our side and our life
0:29:02 > 0:29:05and what we had done, and then we wrote the two of them.
0:29:05 > 0:29:08Took different stories out of the book and made scenes out of them.
0:29:08 > 0:29:12It was a very good experience. It was really enjoyable.
0:29:12 > 0:29:16We had it on about five or six times it was showed.
0:29:27 > 0:29:33One of my friends live, not directly on the other side,
0:29:33 > 0:29:37but I would go through Bryson Street to go to their house,
0:29:37 > 0:29:43they do live in the Short Strand. I do know people on the other side of the wall.
0:29:43 > 0:29:50They're just in the same situation as myself, so I don't really have an opinion on Catholics and Protestants
0:29:50 > 0:29:55because I have friends that would be both.
0:29:55 > 0:30:00I try to stay pretty neutral, to be honest.
0:30:00 > 0:30:04I just think that the world would be much more peaceful without religion.
0:30:04 > 0:30:08Religion causes quite a lot of conflict that is pointless.
0:30:08 > 0:30:15I think... I don't know. Some people, you know.
0:30:16 > 0:30:19Because it's bother, it doesn't really need to be there, you know,
0:30:19 > 0:30:21so I try to stay clear of it all.
0:30:29 > 0:30:315 and 3 - 53.
0:30:33 > 0:30:36On its own - number 7.
0:30:36 > 0:30:395 and 2 - 52.
0:30:39 > 0:30:404-0. Check.
0:30:40 > 0:30:42Blind 40. Check on 40.
0:30:43 > 0:30:47CHATTERING
0:30:47 > 0:30:50Four corners and the full house. Go over there...
0:30:50 > 0:30:52Much, much...
0:30:52 > 0:30:54CHATTERING
0:30:54 > 0:30:56Well, this is our pensioners' lunch club
0:30:56 > 0:31:00and it formed about 12 or 13 years ago
0:31:00 > 0:31:02and the pensioners come round on a Tuesday afternoon
0:31:02 > 0:31:07and get a three-course lunch for £3 and a game of bingo
0:31:07 > 0:31:10and it's a wee time for them to socialise and
0:31:10 > 0:31:13we would invite the women down from Woodstock Road
0:31:13 > 0:31:16but also they invite our women up for, like, a film day.
0:31:16 > 0:31:19So, now every now and again the women from Woodstock Road would
0:31:19 > 0:31:21just come over on a Tuesday cos they know it's always on
0:31:21 > 0:31:22and have their lunch.
0:31:22 > 0:31:25# It's now or never
0:31:25 > 0:31:28# My love won't wait... #
0:31:31 > 0:31:35Today they're having a wee dance where this guy comes out and plays
0:31:35 > 0:31:38the keyboard and they do old-time dancing and stuff.
0:31:42 > 0:31:46My grandmother was one of the founder members of the lunch club
0:31:46 > 0:31:49and she just passed away in March of this year, so
0:31:49 > 0:31:52it's always been like, you know, personal for me to come
0:31:52 > 0:31:54in and help out with the pensioners.
0:31:54 > 0:31:57# It's now or never
0:31:57 > 0:31:59# Come hold me tight
0:32:01 > 0:32:03# Kiss me my darling
0:32:04 > 0:32:06# Be mine tonight
0:32:10 > 0:32:14# Tomorrow will be too late
0:32:15 > 0:32:18# It's now or never... #
0:32:24 > 0:32:31I remember Ellen from when I was young and she was my best friend.
0:32:31 > 0:32:37We used to go in to the Strand and when my first husband died
0:32:37 > 0:32:40I remember her coming and taking my daughter.
0:32:40 > 0:32:44She took my daughter and she kept my daughter.
0:32:44 > 0:32:50Done everything. There will never be any change between...
0:32:50 > 0:32:52me and her. I don't...
0:32:53 > 0:32:54..recognise her...
0:32:56 > 0:32:58..as being a Roman Catholic.
0:32:58 > 0:33:01She's my friend, not, to say...
0:33:03 > 0:33:05..as they say "She's a taig," or whatever.
0:33:07 > 0:33:10That doesn't come into it, she's my friend.
0:33:11 > 0:33:13And she'll always be my friend.
0:33:39 > 0:33:43# Tim Finnegan lived in walking street
0:33:43 > 0:33:45# A gentleman, Irish, mighty odd
0:33:46 > 0:33:50# He had a brogue both rich and sweet
0:33:50 > 0:33:53# And to rise in the world he carried a hod
0:33:53 > 0:33:57# Now Tim had sort of the tippler's way
0:33:57 > 0:34:00# With a love of the liquor he was born
0:34:00 > 0:34:03# And to help him on with his work each day
0:34:03 > 0:34:06# He'd a "drop of the cray-thur" every morn
0:34:06 > 0:34:08# Cho Whack fol the darn, O dance to your partners
0:34:08 > 0:34:11# Whirl the floor, your trotters shake
0:34:11 > 0:34:14# Wasn't it the truth I told you
0:34:14 > 0:34:16# Lots of fun at Finnegan's wake. #
0:34:19 > 0:34:24Since they put them old... that extra bit of corrugated iron
0:34:24 > 0:34:27and wire and one thing and another...look at the mess...
0:34:27 > 0:34:32you know, look at the mess it makes. The wall looks like nothing.
0:34:33 > 0:34:38All that old dirt and muck and nobody seems to come to clean it.
0:34:38 > 0:34:44See, originally, that wall wasn't supposed to be there.
0:34:44 > 0:34:45Cluan Place...
0:34:45 > 0:34:47See...
0:34:47 > 0:34:52there was Nationalists living in Cluan Place before all this.
0:34:52 > 0:34:55You know, before that what do you call it.
0:34:55 > 0:34:58Before the er...
0:34:58 > 0:35:02trouble started. There was people living in Cluan Place
0:35:02 > 0:35:05and, as far as I know, there was talk about it
0:35:05 > 0:35:07when they were building this estate...
0:35:07 > 0:35:11bringing Cluan Place into... into this estate
0:35:11 > 0:35:15but I don't know what happened, you know.
0:35:15 > 0:35:18They...they built a wall round it and that was it!
0:35:18 > 0:35:20Say good night.
0:35:20 > 0:35:21HE LAUGHS
0:35:23 > 0:35:27If you were claustrophobic you'd go crackers, you know.
0:35:28 > 0:35:31You'd be punch stupid, you know, by the time you...
0:35:32 > 0:35:35...it would probably kill you, you know.
0:35:35 > 0:35:39You'd have a shorter life through the worry about it, you know what I mean.
0:35:39 > 0:35:44And, er, but what can you do, you just, you just don't worry about it
0:35:44 > 0:35:47and you don't sit in here that much, you know.
0:36:01 > 0:36:03DISTANT CHURCH BELLS
0:36:09 > 0:36:11CHILDREN SHOUTING
0:36:14 > 0:36:15What's this?
0:36:17 > 0:36:19Aye, right.
0:36:26 > 0:36:30Yeah! It doesn't help. No-one wants to come out in this weather.
0:36:30 > 0:36:35As you know, it's already been bad itself so...doesn't help.
0:36:35 > 0:36:38But it will make a change cos it will keep people in.
0:36:38 > 0:36:40All right, guys?
0:36:41 > 0:36:43You coming in? Yes, I'm coming in.
0:36:43 > 0:36:47I got laid off with the shipyard and I was out of work for a year
0:36:47 > 0:36:51and then I seen this wee shop coming up - I said "I'll take it over,
0:36:51 > 0:36:53"and give it a wee go" and...
0:36:53 > 0:36:57been here two years now and everything's been going great.
0:36:57 > 0:36:59A good variety of people will come in.
0:36:59 > 0:37:01I get people from across the road
0:37:01 > 0:37:05and Pitt Park and Short Strand.
0:37:06 > 0:37:08I dunno...
0:37:08 > 0:37:11You've got old and you've got young but I've noticed a lot
0:37:11 > 0:37:14down Euston Street there would be a lot of disadvantaged
0:37:14 > 0:37:15people down there.
0:37:15 > 0:37:18And I'm sure it's probably the same over in the Short Strand
0:37:18 > 0:37:21on the wall, there will be a lot of old people.
0:37:21 > 0:37:23But they still get on, get on with their lives, really.
0:37:23 > 0:37:25We all have our lives to get on with it,
0:37:25 > 0:37:27just get on and make the best of it as we can.
0:37:28 > 0:37:31Listen, have a nice day. You too.
0:37:40 > 0:37:43The people round here have been through an awful lot.
0:37:43 > 0:37:45Cos it does get disheartening when there's a house being
0:37:45 > 0:37:48constantly attacked by golf balls. It is disheartening.
0:37:48 > 0:37:51Knowing that's there good cross-community work taking place.
0:37:51 > 0:37:53But you build up that good relationship
0:37:53 > 0:37:55and it takes one thing...
0:37:55 > 0:37:57to break all that down and...
0:37:57 > 0:38:00there's a sense...in the whole area that...
0:38:00 > 0:38:03and that feeling that something's happened
0:38:03 > 0:38:07and there's a fear something's going to kick off.
0:38:07 > 0:38:09People can feel it down here, people know,
0:38:09 > 0:38:10they've lived here all too long...
0:38:10 > 0:38:13to not know something's going to happen.
0:38:31 > 0:38:33DOG BARKS
0:38:54 > 0:38:57This used to be the kids' room but I had take the kids out of it cos
0:38:57 > 0:38:59there was too much coming over that wall.
0:38:59 > 0:39:02And it was really bad and the kids weren't getting to sleep at night.
0:39:02 > 0:39:05So, I had to take them out of the back room and put them
0:39:05 > 0:39:06into the front of the house.
0:39:07 > 0:39:10That's been bricks.
0:39:10 > 0:39:11So it has.
0:39:11 > 0:39:14That's them throwing their bricks over and them
0:39:14 > 0:39:15windows are triple-glazing.
0:39:17 > 0:39:19So, it would be the...
0:39:19 > 0:39:22the triple part of it that's been damaged.
0:39:22 > 0:39:24The kitchen ones are the same.
0:39:24 > 0:39:27There not that long ago the back door was done.
0:39:31 > 0:39:34They have been more or less the same neighbours since I moved in.
0:39:34 > 0:39:36There's been a few of us moved out and few of us came in but,
0:39:36 > 0:39:40I mean, they get on well and the kids have grew up here
0:39:40 > 0:39:43so they have. They were...they're here since they were babies.
0:39:43 > 0:39:46So, it's really no difference to them ones if there's trouble or not
0:39:46 > 0:39:50cos they're used to it. They have their friends and all, so,
0:39:50 > 0:39:53no, I wouldn't move out. Been here too long to move out now.
0:40:05 > 0:40:09There's been a lot of rioting down here, big rioting.
0:40:09 > 0:40:14I never once, ever, ever said "Oh, it's time to go, time to move out."
0:40:14 > 0:40:17And people's perception of people in the interface...
0:40:17 > 0:40:20it's, you know, we're not bad people, we're not, erm...
0:40:20 > 0:40:23love it when a riot breaks out and that's why we're living here
0:40:23 > 0:40:25because...
0:40:25 > 0:40:28"Oh, they get a riot down there and they love the excitement
0:40:28 > 0:40:31"and that's why they're there and don't want to move out."
0:40:31 > 0:40:33I don't want a riot down here, I don't want trouble.
0:40:33 > 0:40:36But I don't intend... But I'm not going to blooming well move
0:40:36 > 0:40:37cos of it.
0:40:39 > 0:40:41DOG BARKS
0:40:44 > 0:40:46I know when they moved into these houses
0:40:46 > 0:40:49there was a lot of people spent a lot of money on them, you know,
0:40:49 > 0:40:53getting all this modern stuff, you know, putting wooden floors in
0:40:53 > 0:40:56and, you know, doing all this here. Well them people...
0:40:56 > 0:40:58all them people moved.
0:40:58 > 0:41:01You know what I mean cos they...they were spending...
0:41:01 > 0:41:04and...they said...
0:41:04 > 0:41:09"Oh, I'm not going to live... I'm not going to stick this every year."
0:41:09 > 0:41:12You know, round about the 12th and all.
0:41:12 > 0:41:16And I was in Donegal, Sligo...you know,
0:41:16 > 0:41:19doing camping and staying in hostels and one thing and another.
0:41:19 > 0:41:24And I just never let it annoy me, I just try to carry on with my normal life.
0:41:36 > 0:41:41One night, maybe it wasn't too bad and then maybe the next night
0:41:41 > 0:41:45it was really bad but you had that thought in your mind erm...
0:41:47 > 0:41:49"Should I go?
0:41:49 > 0:41:51"Or should I stay?"
0:41:51 > 0:41:54I had my daughter then and you'd have said -
0:41:54 > 0:41:59"Why should I stay here? I have the child here to rear.
0:41:59 > 0:42:04"I could move out of here, I wouldn't have to stick all of this"
0:42:04 > 0:42:06and whatever but...
0:42:06 > 0:42:07at the end of the day...
0:42:09 > 0:42:11..I didn't go.
0:42:11 > 0:42:13Cos it was my home.
0:42:13 > 0:42:16And I'm still here.
0:42:16 > 0:42:17If I ever...
0:42:18 > 0:42:20..leave the area it will be in a box.
0:42:21 > 0:42:25TV ANNOUNCER: It started with a single bottle being thrown.
0:42:25 > 0:42:28This woman police officer injured by glass.
0:42:28 > 0:42:32Attacking them with metal barriers, golf balls and bottles.
0:42:32 > 0:42:33The gates of the City Hall...
0:42:33 > 0:42:34Nah.
0:42:34 > 0:42:38..were forced open, some protestors getting in to the back car park.
0:42:38 > 0:42:42The roads around the City Hall are now quiet but trouble has flared
0:42:42 > 0:42:46in parts of East Belfast including reports of a church being attacked
0:42:46 > 0:42:48on the Lower Newtonards Road.
0:42:55 > 0:42:56SIREN WAILS
0:43:25 > 0:43:31There's trouble going on tonight but I haven't been out to see
0:43:31 > 0:43:35what is going on. All I can hear is the sirens and
0:43:35 > 0:43:39you can hear that water cannon going but I'm just afraid,
0:43:39 > 0:43:43really nervous for to go out.
0:43:43 > 0:43:47You know, because you don't know what going to happen
0:43:47 > 0:43:49between um...
0:43:51 > 0:43:55..the police and the ones what's rioting, you don't
0:43:55 > 0:43:57know what's going to happen,
0:43:57 > 0:43:59you know, you could end up getting hurt.
0:44:10 > 0:44:13There's... They're all on Facebook complaining now.
0:44:13 > 0:44:16All the children are awake and they'll be awake all night, too.
0:44:16 > 0:44:17A helicopter up.
0:44:18 > 0:44:21Some girl's just said,
0:44:21 > 0:44:22"Be vigilant, people.
0:44:22 > 0:44:26"There's two cars just come in and drove around the roundabout
0:44:26 > 0:44:29"and back out. It's maybe people being nosy but you never know.
0:44:31 > 0:44:35"You don't want to see some innocent person getting hurt.
0:44:35 > 0:44:37"Maybe nothing, but just in case."
0:44:37 > 0:44:39See on Facebook...
0:44:39 > 0:44:42you know when there's trouble at the top end or bottom end.
0:44:55 > 0:44:58CHANTING
0:45:10 > 0:45:12He wouldn't even go out the back tonight,
0:45:12 > 0:45:16because I went out and I opened the gate
0:45:16 > 0:45:19and a girl was passing and she said to me,
0:45:19 > 0:45:20"There's trouble out there."
0:45:20 > 0:45:26And there was, like, a bang, and he jumped and ran.
0:45:28 > 0:45:30And he's been the house ever since.
0:45:30 > 0:45:33If you even open the door to let him go out the back to go to the toilet,
0:45:33 > 0:45:37he won't go, because of all the noise.
0:45:37 > 0:45:41It frightens the animals and all, too.
0:45:41 > 0:45:44You know, they mind, but...you have to live with it.
0:45:47 > 0:45:49HELICOPTER WHIRRS
0:45:49 > 0:45:51District's been very eerie all day,
0:45:51 > 0:45:53but coming into the night, it gets eerier,
0:45:53 > 0:45:55because you're just waiting on something happening.
0:45:55 > 0:45:57I mean, the helicopter's up now,
0:45:57 > 0:45:59which tells you there's something not right somewhere.
0:45:59 > 0:46:02You know the feeling, that something's going to kick off.
0:46:06 > 0:46:09The wall's no benefit to us. It doesn't do anything for us.
0:46:09 > 0:46:12I don't know how many car windows I've replaced...windscreens,
0:46:12 > 0:46:13when they're firing over.
0:46:13 > 0:46:15Doesn't matter - look at the height of it,
0:46:15 > 0:46:17it's still no benefit to us.
0:46:17 > 0:46:20They're still able to get over and them cameras are useless.
0:46:20 > 0:46:23WHIRRING CONTINUES
0:46:54 > 0:46:56Before we know it, it's coming to Christmas
0:46:56 > 0:47:00and we have the instance now, at the minute, with the flag,
0:47:00 > 0:47:03the new flag that's been taken down and...
0:47:03 > 0:47:06Strange enough, and it's not strange,
0:47:06 > 0:47:10everybody's unhappy about it and they're very disappointed
0:47:10 > 0:47:11in the vote that was taken.
0:47:11 > 0:47:14And at the minute, people are saying...
0:47:14 > 0:47:16It's Christmastime,
0:47:16 > 0:47:19and instead of putting up mistletoe and holly and whatever,
0:47:19 > 0:47:21they're putting up blooming Union Jacks.
0:47:21 > 0:47:24It's not right. It shouldn't have happened.
0:47:24 > 0:47:26People are angry - I'm angry.
0:47:26 > 0:47:30People are out protesting to show their disgust.
0:47:30 > 0:47:35But at the minute, there's elements coming out
0:47:35 > 0:47:39and causing violence in the streets.
0:47:39 > 0:47:40And it's not good.
0:47:40 > 0:47:43It's just a crazy situation and it's just really bad timing.
0:47:43 > 0:47:46Whoever came up with this idea of removing the flag over Christmastime
0:47:46 > 0:47:49is absolutely ridiculous and ludicrous.
0:47:49 > 0:47:52Get these lights on - right, here we go.
0:47:55 > 0:47:56There you go - how's that, now?
0:48:09 > 0:48:13In terms of it affecting people's daily lives,
0:48:13 > 0:48:15I think you'd be lying if you said
0:48:15 > 0:48:18it didn't affect your life day-to-day with them protesting.
0:48:18 > 0:48:20Even as far as going to go into the city centre
0:48:20 > 0:48:22to do your Christmas shopping, people are scared to go in.
0:48:22 > 0:48:24One of the girls I was speaking to in here today,
0:48:24 > 0:48:27she says she hasn't done her Christmas shopping yet,
0:48:27 > 0:48:28she's so scared to go into town.
0:48:28 > 0:48:32A young girl who works in one of the restaurants in Victoria Square
0:48:32 > 0:48:34was coming home from work last Saturday
0:48:34 > 0:48:36when they were protesting into the town
0:48:36 > 0:48:38and she felt a bit intimidated,
0:48:38 > 0:48:41so she went over and rapped the police jeep's window
0:48:41 > 0:48:43and she asked them what was going on and that she felt scared.
0:48:43 > 0:48:46They told her just to stand there until it was over.
0:48:46 > 0:48:49Like, 17 years of age and she was being approached
0:48:49 > 0:48:51by hundreds and hundreds of Protestants,
0:48:51 > 0:48:52Union Jacks wrapped round them.
0:48:52 > 0:48:54Who wouldn't be frightened?
0:49:26 > 0:49:30Two DUPs under threat there, so...
0:49:30 > 0:49:33There's always something every day, ain't there?
0:49:33 > 0:49:36I think it's all to do with this flag situation, probably.
0:49:36 > 0:49:40Don't know - I don't really bother too much about it, you know?
0:49:40 > 0:49:41Not my cup of tea.
0:49:41 > 0:49:44I'm just here to do a wee job and that's it, really.
0:49:44 > 0:49:46You never hear good news, anything good happening.
0:49:46 > 0:49:48You always hear the negative.
0:49:48 > 0:49:51Heard something just the other day about a wee charity
0:49:51 > 0:49:54where they take food round to people who don't have the money
0:49:54 > 0:49:56or whatever reason.
0:49:56 > 0:49:59If you hear about things like that, you'd be all chuffed, you know?
0:49:59 > 0:50:02But as I say, you don't want this all negative,
0:50:02 > 0:50:04you know...which is not good.
0:50:18 > 0:50:21# All is calm
0:50:21 > 0:50:25# All is bright
0:50:25 > 0:50:32# Round yon virgin, mother and child
0:50:32 > 0:50:39# Holy infant, so tender and mild
0:50:39 > 0:50:50# Sleep in heavenly peace
0:50:53 > 0:50:57# Silent night
0:50:57 > 0:50:57# Holy night
0:51:02 > 0:51:07# Shepherds quake at the sight
0:51:07 > 0:51:13# Glories stream from heaven afar
0:51:14 > 0:51:20# Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia!
0:51:21 > 0:51:28# Christ the Saviour is born!
0:51:28 > 0:51:32# Christ the Saviour is born. #
0:51:35 > 0:51:37Beautiful job, beautiful job.
0:51:37 > 0:51:39APPLAUSE
0:51:39 > 0:51:42Tonight, we started with the cross-community carol singing
0:51:42 > 0:51:45up at the Oasis Centre in Castlereagh Street.
0:51:45 > 0:51:48It was mixture of young and old -
0:51:48 > 0:51:51there were pensioners, there were kids from primary school,
0:51:51 > 0:51:54there was youth kids, kids that go to our local youth club.
0:51:54 > 0:51:56It just goes to show that last night,
0:51:56 > 0:51:59the city came to a standstill, in the exact same street,
0:51:59 > 0:52:02came to a standstill because of protesting over a flag,
0:52:02 > 0:52:04and tonight, we were able to walk down Castlereagh Street
0:52:04 > 0:52:07and into Short Strand and there wasn't anything, you know?
0:52:07 > 0:52:09So there are people out there who do want peace
0:52:09 > 0:52:12and who want to do cross-community work.
0:52:12 > 0:52:15A big thank you to our Cross-Community Choir,
0:52:15 > 0:52:17they're hoping to sing a few carols for us.
0:52:17 > 0:52:19CHEERING
0:52:19 > 0:52:21These folks are all local
0:52:21 > 0:52:25and they're from the Short Strand Community Centre and Oasis Centre.
0:52:27 > 0:52:29I keep saying it and keep saying it again,
0:52:29 > 0:52:30no-one wants trouble down here.
0:52:30 > 0:52:32I don't want it.
0:52:32 > 0:52:34Our closest neighbours are the ones in the Short Strand,
0:52:34 > 0:52:35they surely don't want it.
0:52:35 > 0:52:38I don't want to see them attacked, I don't want to be attacked.
0:52:38 > 0:52:40This doesn't help the situation.
0:52:40 > 0:52:43I guess everybody's right to be angry and frustrated,
0:52:43 > 0:52:46but there's a way of challenging that yourself
0:52:46 > 0:52:49and getting it across some other way than violence.
0:52:49 > 0:52:51It hasn't worked for 30-odd years, why would it work now?
0:53:12 > 0:53:15I photographed the walls because they affect me,
0:53:15 > 0:53:18they affect my life daily and I use photography
0:53:18 > 0:53:22to try and work out in my head what the walls were all about.
0:53:22 > 0:53:25Some see them as a friend, some see them as an enemy.
0:53:25 > 0:53:28Kids play up against them, use them as a plaything.
0:53:28 > 0:53:30Some people see them as foreboding.
0:53:30 > 0:53:33They have conditioned life in the Short Strand,
0:53:33 > 0:53:34for better or for worse.
0:53:34 > 0:53:37And that's why I decided to study the peace walls
0:53:37 > 0:53:39and take photographs of them,
0:53:39 > 0:53:42to try and...even to try and work out in my own head
0:53:42 > 0:53:44what they were about, what do they mean
0:53:44 > 0:53:46and how they affect people's lives.
0:53:55 > 0:53:58It's OK, people who don't live on the interface
0:53:58 > 0:54:00asking for the walls to come down.
0:54:00 > 0:54:03They usually come from places where there's no peace lines,
0:54:03 > 0:54:04they don't know what it's like.
0:54:04 > 0:54:06Majority of people in the Strand don't want them there,
0:54:06 > 0:54:09but then again, if you're living right on the interface,
0:54:09 > 0:54:10you need to feel safe.
0:54:10 > 0:54:12Like, my sister, who lives in Bryson Street,
0:54:12 > 0:54:15she doesn't want her kids out playing in the street
0:54:15 > 0:54:17and half bricks coming over the walls.
0:54:17 > 0:54:19Because she lives right beside the interface,
0:54:19 > 0:54:22she wants it strengthened and made higher.
0:54:22 > 0:54:25She wants her kids to play in the street and be safe, you know?
0:54:25 > 0:54:27You can understand that.
0:54:35 > 0:54:38These are rocks that have actually come over that fence up there
0:54:38 > 0:54:40and have landed in my garden,
0:54:40 > 0:54:43and I use it to build a wee rockery around my rose bush.
0:54:44 > 0:54:47At the moment, they're talking about taking the walls down.
0:54:47 > 0:54:48I don't want the wall down,
0:54:48 > 0:54:50because it's the only protection I have.
0:54:50 > 0:54:52It could be a stone, it could be a petrol bomb,
0:54:52 > 0:54:55it could be a brick, it could be a bottle...
0:54:55 > 0:54:57You just don't know.
0:54:57 > 0:54:59We asked for the fence to be made higher,
0:54:59 > 0:55:01and they can't do that for structural reasons -
0:55:01 > 0:55:03the wall wouldn't hold it.
0:55:03 > 0:55:06But...no, I think if that wall came down, I would have to move.
0:55:06 > 0:55:08I wouldn't live here.
0:55:16 > 0:55:18I mean, the walls have been up for so long now -
0:55:18 > 0:55:21in my lifetime here, I have not seen the walls come down,
0:55:21 > 0:55:23I have seen them increase.
0:55:23 > 0:55:26So the walls are...like a comfort blanket,
0:55:26 > 0:55:27I would imagine, for people,
0:55:27 > 0:55:30especially the ones living right beside it.
0:55:30 > 0:55:32And to have that come down drastically,
0:55:32 > 0:55:35or just be removed without consultation,
0:55:35 > 0:55:36then people would be threatened -
0:55:36 > 0:55:40it would be like taking that comfort blanket away from them.
0:55:40 > 0:55:43So, to me, it's a slow process,
0:55:43 > 0:55:45because they're so used to having that wall there,
0:55:45 > 0:55:47that security there,
0:55:47 > 0:55:50cos they've lost a lot of faith - probably the two communities -
0:55:50 > 0:55:51in the PSNI.
0:55:51 > 0:55:54Can they rely on them to keep them secure?
0:55:54 > 0:55:57This bricks and mortar seems to give them that security.
0:56:03 > 0:56:05I think the people who decide to take the walls down,
0:56:05 > 0:56:07they don't live in them places.
0:56:07 > 0:56:08They don't see what's coming over the wall.
0:56:08 > 0:56:10They're in their own houses -
0:56:10 > 0:56:12they don't know what's happening in our area.
0:56:12 > 0:56:14As I say, majority of the time, you don't know when it's starting.
0:56:16 > 0:56:19I mean, that wall isn't that big when that extension comes off it.
0:56:19 > 0:56:22So me, my own preference,
0:56:22 > 0:56:24it would be no - keep the extension there.
0:56:35 > 0:56:37I would probably like it to come down,
0:56:37 > 0:56:38but I think a lot of the time,
0:56:38 > 0:56:40the wall actually presents a challenge
0:56:40 > 0:56:42to the young kids that throw stuff over,
0:56:42 > 0:56:43that kind of thing.
0:56:43 > 0:56:46Maybe if the wall wasn't there, it wouldn't be as fun,
0:56:46 > 0:56:49just to throw stuff into somebody's back garden, there would be no...
0:56:49 > 0:56:52Obviously, trying to get a fire extinguisher or a golf club,
0:56:52 > 0:56:56or whatever they throw, it's a bit of a game, I'd imagine.
0:56:56 > 0:56:58I think maybe if the wall wasn't there,
0:56:58 > 0:57:00there wouldn't be any challenge or fun in it.
0:57:10 > 0:57:13They'll do it by ease, if you know what I mean -
0:57:13 > 0:57:15they'll try it in some areas
0:57:15 > 0:57:18where they're sure they can put a gate on it.
0:57:18 > 0:57:21They've gates up there, at the top of the Strand -
0:57:21 > 0:57:23when you're coming over the Albert Bridge,
0:57:23 > 0:57:27you can go through the gates, to go into Mountpottinger Road.
0:57:27 > 0:57:31Things like that - that'll...
0:57:31 > 0:57:33You know, they'll probably do things like that
0:57:33 > 0:57:35before they'd completely knock the walls down.
0:57:35 > 0:57:38I couldn't see them completely knocking the walls down.
0:57:48 > 0:57:50I would like to see the wall come down
0:57:50 > 0:57:54and all the trouble being ended for good.
0:57:55 > 0:58:00To let the like of my family have a life -
0:58:00 > 0:58:05you know, they can do what they want and go where they want,
0:58:05 > 0:58:10and have friends from the Short Strand and whatever.
0:58:10 > 0:58:15But...I don't think I'll see that in my lifetime.
0:58:54 > 0:58:57Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd