N. Ireland's summer of content

July and August are typically hair triggers for violence here in Northern Ireland. In these months, Protestants display their loyalty to the British crown through thousands of marching feet in thousands of parades.

Some of the parades unfold close to Catholic neighborhoods, where they are bitterly resented.

The result has typically been months of sectarian attacks, and murder across the dozens of brick-and-metal "peacelines" that divide Protestant and Catholic residential areas.

But this year - despite a shaky peace process here overall - has proved exceptional. Observers credit additional policing, changing political stakes, and the efforts of community leaders.

While individual attacks on Catholic churches, Orange Halls, Gaelic sports grounds, and vulnerable families have been reported, the level of violence is significantly lower than in the past.

The Orange Order parades (there are some 3,400 each summer) are officially about celebrating the history of Protestant communities. The biggest, on July 12, marks Protestant King William of Orange's battlefield victory over the Catholic-led forces of James II three centuries ago.

In practice, the parades often become violent symbols of which side of the community is stronger in this Protestant-majority state.

In Londonderry, Northern Ireland's second city, the number of overall sectarian attacks during the three-month period fell by 81 percent in its mainly Catholic western district - an improvement attributed to the efforts of community leaders on both sides. Police say violence directly related to loyalist parades in Derry (as it is widely known) also fell with petrol bombings, criminal damage, and assaults down 3 percent.

Police Chief Johnny McCarroll says that Derry could become a model for community relations if everyone does "not take their eye off the ball."

Overall, Northern Ireland's police figures record 109 shootings for June, July, and August of last year. So far this summer, the total is 48. There were 11 bombing incidents - compared to 52 last year. Gas bombs in particular dropped to 81 this year - almost two-thirds fewer than last. Politicians on both sides welcome the change.

"Credit must go to the young people and to community leaders who have worked tirelessly," says former Derry mayor Pat Ramsey, a member of the mainly Catholic Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP).

In Belfast, days before the big July 12 Protestant march, for example, Catholic community leaders held public meetings and organized a round-the-clock community watch to ensure peaceful nights.

Willie Hay, a councilor representing the Protestant Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in Derry, agreed that the statistics are "great news" for everyone in the city.

Behind the statistics "are localized and more general reasons" for the lowered violence, says Peter Shirlow, senior lecturer in geography at the University of Ulster, and a specialist in street-level community relations.

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