Why Are Riots in Northern Ireland Not Being Reported By the Media?

Since Friday, violent riots have been erupting in a number of cities in Northern Ireland, including Belfast, setting police cars on fires and prompting several arrests. Yet, some commentators are noting that mainstream media "is barely highlighting the event."

The violent clashes that have been going on for several days now were provoked by a decision not to prosecute 24 leaders of the Sinn Fein Irish nationalist party for violating COVID-19 restrictions as they attended the funeral of Eamon McCourt, a former leading figure of the Irish Republican Army.

According to local media, the riots have been led by "unionists" whose frustration has been already growing recently over Brexit-related agreements.

However, online users have been protesting "the lack of news coverage" of the night clashes in a number of cities including Belfast and Derry/Londonderry, saying that the media "doesn't want to highlight pro-British rioters in a negative way."

Some commentators also argued that "social media platforms are deliberately hiding their posts on the clashes, so the world doesn't know what is going on there."

Meanwhile, local sources have reported that at least 8 people have been arrested by the police in Belfast, including two underage teenagers.