Violent protests immediately followed the decision to fly the Union Flag at Belfast City Hall only on 18 designated days, the Unionists stating they consider the changes to be an attack on their cultural identity.
Maybe it started off like that but what we are seeing now look to me like mindless aggression and vandalism, buses have been set on fire and even a disabled children's centre was one of the buildings trashed in rioting.
Northern Ireland has a host of problems but it seemed as though the worst was behind it but there was always those underlying political and sectarian divisions which bubbled underneath and this is where the root of the problem stems from.
It doesn't help when you have people like Willie Frazer, the most prominent of the protest organisers, has been popping up in the media attempting to justify the protesters and accusing the Alliance Party who are the largest party in the Belfast City Council of being aligned with Sinn Fein and the SDLP.
Dangerous, explosive rhetoric from a man who was recently filmed telling loyalist protesters that 'we will not be dictated to by gunmen, mass murderers and paedophiles'.
It is warped people like this stirring up old hatreds and a section of young Belfast youth that probably don't care whether the Union Flag flew outside Belfast City Hall or not, to them it is a fig leaf to just run riot.
Northern Ireland has serious problems and it seems plenty of people there to exploit them and keep the pot bubbling and a depressing amount of petrol bomb throwing imbeciles willing to allow themselves to be exploited.
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