Rival Northern Irish politicians voted David Trimble head of a power-sharing government on Tuesday but scuffling and angry scenes minutes later shook hopes for a smooth path to stability after years of strife.
Moderate Protestant Trimble, a champion of the Good Friday peace accord, was elected First Minister and Roman Catholic nationalist Mark Durkan became Deputy First Minister. The election marked a full-scale relaunch of partnership structures -- which are a pillar of the accord -- which had been hobbled by three years of suspicion and mistrust.
The accord has teetered on the brink of collapse since July when Trimble resigned to force the hand of the Irish Republican Army to start disarming, which they did two weeks ago.
Seventy members in pro-British unionist and pro-Irish nationalist parties voted for Trimble and Durkan, 29 unionists voted against.
But as the two ministers tried afterwards to deliver conciliatory comments pledging to work on behalf of Protestants and Catholics in volatile Northern Ireland, a huge scuffle involving pro- and anti-peace accord politicians broke out in the ornate foyer of the Belfast Assembly. There was angry pushing and shoving and several members of Protestant and Catholic parties had to be restrained as they jockeyed for space in front of a battery of television crews.
At least one Assemblyman said he was kicked and an Assembly woman said she had been pushed to the ground in the melee, which was unprecedented even by the standards of the brittle relations between the province's politicians. Bureau Report