Armed men set hijacked bus on fire in N.Ireland, attack Protocol related

Northern Irish police said a bus was hijacked and set alight in a pro-British unionist town on Monday by two masked and armed men who local media said referenced anger over post-Brexit trade barriers as they ordered the driver off the vehicle.

Police said the incident took place in Newtownards around 0630 GMT and that the driver managed to get off the bus unharmed. The two men poured fuel over the vehicle before setting it on fire, police said.

Belfast Telegraph crime correspondent, Allison Morris, said the attackers referenced the Northern Ireland protocol that has introduced trade barriers with the rest of the United Kingdom.

BBC Northern Ireland journalist Stephen Nolan quoted a pro-British loyalist source as saying the hijacking was carried out to coincide with an end-October deadline suggested by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) for changes to be made to the protocol.

Many pro-British unionists say the protocol undermines peace in Northern Ireland by dividing them from the rest of the UK with an effective border in the Irish Sea. Talks are underway between the European Union and Britain to try to smooth out the trade barriers.

The discontent helped fuel the worst violence in the region for years in March and April – including the hijacking and torching of a bus – though there had been little such turmoil since.