SBS Dateline | The New Troubles

When the Good Friday Agreement was signed in Northern Ireland 13 years ago, there were finally hopes for peace after years of violent conflict.

But now a new generation of Irish Republicans are emerging, who feel they’ve been sold out by the IRA and Sinn Féin’s involvement in the peace agreement.

They’re turning to small militant groups and once again the divide between the Protestant Unionists, who want Northern Ireland to remain part of Britain, and the Catholic Republicans, who see it as part of the Irish Republic, is coming to the fore.

There’s been a recent surge in sectarian attacks, especially on the streets of Belfast, where barbed wire barricades still divide the two communities.

The violence has led to heightened security concerns across Northern Ireland, and even in mainland Britain, so could it lead to a return to the full-scale troubles of the past?

Evan Williams reports on the feelings on both sides of the barricades.

WATCH - Click to see his report.

BACKGROUND - Read about the history of the troubles in Northern Ireland in an interactive guide on the Guardian website and look at the study by Martyn Frampton from the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence, which is featured in Evan's report, about the new rise in violence.