The latest development of the long lasting conflict between Protestants and Catholics in Northern-Ireland started on a warm and sunny Sunday evening in July, 27 years ago. Five people were shot dead in cold blood close to their homes in Springhill, west Belfast. They included three teenagers, a father of six and a Catholic priest. Inquests revealed that British soldiers shot all of them. Nobody was ever charged, much less convicted of murder.

The bullets which killed the five - and injured many more - were fired from British army sniper nests on top of a wall around a local timber yard. Not even the names of those responsible are known. The is basically what started the recent split between Catholics and Protestants in Belfast.

Throughout the 1900s, Ireland has been full of rebellion against the British government. Nowhere is this more evident than in Belfast. There are two...