evidence: Trouble on the streets of Derry had been anticipated. It was Easter, when the 1916 Rising against British rule—which paved the way for the partitioning of Ireland, in 1921—is commemorated and old grievances among Irish Republicans are aired. In what became the Republic of Ireland, the matter is more or less settled. The President stands among state dignitaries and observes a parade by the Irish National Army. In the six counties of Ulster that were retained by the United Kingdom, the situation is more volatile. The Troubles, which lasted twenty-five years, saw the paramilitary Irish Republican Army (I.R.A.) engage in "armed struggle" with British and local security forces to try to reunite the island of Ireland as an independent republic. As part of a protracted peace process, the I.R.A. laid down its arms in 1994. Its political wing, Sinn Féin, signed up to the Good Friday Agreement, in 1998. It went on to become the dominant nationalist party, sharing power with the Democratic Unionist Party (D.U.P.). But several small, angry factions regarded the peace settlement as a sellout and are determined to show that they can reignite the conflict.