A young Catholic wears a gasmask during clashes with British troops. People had been fleeing from teargas after a night of street fighting.

In 1969, violence broke out in Northern Ireland leading to 30 years of conflict known as the Troubles. Despite the use of the terms Protestant and Catholic to refer to the two sides, the conflict was primarily political rather than religious. Nationalists, who were mostly Irish Catholics, wanted a united Ireland, and loyalists, who were mostly Ulster Protestants, were in favor of Northern Ireland remaining part of the United Kingdom. Sectarian lines still divide parts of Northern Ireland today, 24 years after the 1998 Good Friday Agreement largely ended the Troubles.