Erik de la Reguera: the Assassination shows how fragile the peace in northern Ireland

the northern Irish police carried out late on Thursday evening, a stake in the predominantly catholic neighborhood of Creggan in Londonderry, where they had reason to believe that the militants hid weapons and explosive devices intended to be used during the easter weekend.

They were met by violent resistance. Young people threw molotov cocktails against the isn and lit the fire on several civilian vehicles. 50 burning objects were thrown at police during the evening.

Read more: Female journalist killed in the northern ireland riots

a number of sharp shots were fired also. The 29-year-old journalist Lyra McKee was hit and later died of his gunshot wounds.

McKee was a respected investigative journalist, who has written several books and worked for, among others, The Atlantic and Buzzfeed.

It is unclear if she was the target of the attack. The police suspect that McKee met on the grounds that she was standing near the police, and that the offender belongs to member ”New IRA”.

Easter 1916 was an armed rebellion in Dublin against the british empire. It was knocked down, but was followed by continued armed struggle for independence for the republic of Ireland. Why is the easter weekend of great symbolic significance for the radical republican groups, who believe that northern Ireland is still occupied by the united kingdom and that requires ”a united Ireland”.

The armed group, the IRA had in the 1970s and 80s a strong foothold in Londonderry – or only Derry, which catholics call the city. It depended very much on bloody Sunday in 1972, when the british army shot 14 civilian protesters to death here.

Now the growing tensions on the new. As late as in January, detonated a car bomb outside the courthouse in Londonderry. The police fear that more attacks can take place right in the easter holidays.

Since 1998, the peace in northern Ireland, as a result of the so-called good Friday agreement. Many people in the population have painful memories of ”The troubles” (”troubles”) that raged in the years 1968-98, and few want to return to the violence of the logic that led to around 3.500 people lost their lives and more than 47.000 injured.

But Brexit now give the radical republican grouping nutrition. In particular the widespread concern that EU exit will lead to new border posts and military at the land border to Ireland, which today is completely open.

the Murder of Lyra McKee shows how fragile the peace in northern Ireland is – and how quickly a seemingly relatively undramatic situation could escalate and lead to loss of life. The responsibility for this lies, of course, in the first instance on those who fires the shots or detonates the bombs.

But it is still striking that so many politicians and professional tyckare in England are so hard to take in a simple truth: that a hard, avtalslös Brexit not only liable to have economic consequences, but also can indirectly lead to a new civil war.

Read more: Brexit may militant groups in northern Ireland to grow