Normality slowly returned to the streets of Derry yesterday following a weekend of violence. Shoppers and tourists, many of whom visited the weekend's trouble spots, packed the streets of the city centre. Temporary protective coverings, which had been placed on the windows and doors of many city centre business premises, were removed.
There was also good news for the 45 full-time staff at the What Everyone Wants store in William Street and the Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet in nearby Strand Road, both destroyed in arson attacks.
"I was able to arrange meetings between the managements and employees of both of the retail outlets earlier this morning, and thank God they've both agreed to rebuild and reopen as soon as they can. It would have been terrible both for the workforces and for the image of Derry if it had been decided to close both of the business premises," said the Mayor of Derry, Cllr Pat Ramsey.
Normality also returned for the mayor in terms of his civic engagements. After spending most of the previous 48 hours on the streets, Cllr Ramsey welcomed nine children from New York and Washington DC to the Guildhall.
The children, who are staying with host families, met 24 children from throughout the North. They will be attending a soccer friendship camp this week, under the auspices of the Northern Ireland/US partnership organisation Project Children.
"When we arrived here last year, it was on the day of the Omagh bomb", said Project Children organiser Ms Peggy Jackson. "We arrived just two days ago and although the children saw lots of soldiers and military vehicles on the streets, they saw none of the violence," she said.
However, the political fall-out following the violence continued unabated. In a hard-hitting statement, the 14-strong SDLP group on Derry City Council criticised the Apprentice Boys, the Bogside Residents Group, the RUC and those who took part in the rioting.
"The Apprentice Boys should be ashamed of themselves that they did not take the mature and responsible decision to voluntarily reroute their march away from Belfast's lower Ormeau Road on Saturday. We have no doubt that this would have defused the situation in Derry and that the main parade would have passed off peacefully," said Cllr Annie Courtney, the group's spokeswoman, who also said the BRG failed to meet its moral obligation to ensure the safety of the people it brought onto the streets.
"When the BRG protest ended on Saturday, their leadership left Waterloo Place to return to Free Derry Corner. They did not however bring the bulk of the crowd that had gathered back with them," she said.
Mrs Courtney also criticised a statement by RUC Assistant Chief Constable Alan McQuillan, who claimed on Friday that Republican paramilitaries had planned widespread confrontations on the day of the Loyal Order parade.
"Regardless whether this was the case or not, the RUC were adding fuel to an already tense situation by putting it in the public domain," said Mrs Courtney.