Upsurge in paramilitary attacks in Derry attributed to 'dissident' Republicans.
As general tensions continue to simmer in Northern Ireland following nearly two weeks of nightly rioting across the territory, more localized conflicts appear to be taking hold as well.
A string of shootings in Derry has raised fears of the growing influence of paramilitary groups linked to what the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) calls “dissident” Republican groups.
On Thursday night (April 15), a man in his 50s was shot in the legs by masked men in the Currynierin area of the Waterside, on the edge of Derry.
The shooting at the Waterside came on the heels of another shooting on the edge of Derry on Tuesday (April 13) in which a man in his 20s was shot in the Bogside area in what the PSNI described as a “paramilitary-style assault”.
Altogether there have now been seven non-fatal shootings in Derry this year.
Chief Superintendent Darrin Jones of the PSNI has blamed “dissident” Republicans for the shootings.
The term dissident Republican refers to Irish nationalist groups which reject the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 that ended the low-level conflict in Northern Ireland.
"Their [dissident Republicans] actions are linked to wider criminal activity that includes selling and supplying drugs and extortion", Ch Supt Jones told BBC News Northern Ireland.
"It would be both naive and dangerous to think that these attacks are carried out as some form of justice on behalf of the community”, he added.
While there is some evidence so-called dissident Republican groups resort to criminality to fund their activities, there are also credible reports they punish criminals and drugs dealers in their areas so as to maintain order and social cohesion.
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