Youth workers and a community arts festival have been praised over the absence of republican bonfires in Belfast over the weekend.
In previous years there had been a tradition of lighting bonfires in nationalist areas to mark the anniversary of the introduction of internment without trial during on August 9 1971, during the early years of the Troubles.
Bonfires are also traditionally lit in some areas including Creggan in Londonderry on August 15 to mark the Catholic Feast of the Assumption.
North Belfast MP John Finucane paid tribute to Féile an Phobail and youth workers for diverting young people with “positive alternatives”.
The annual festival was originally set up in west Belfast in 1988 with the aim of displacing the street confrontations associated with the week around August 9 with “a positive display of the community and its creativity”.
This year the festival included political talks, debates and lectures as well as concerts by Irish...
