President Biden is “very excited” about his upcoming visit to Northern Ireland despite recent violence in the region, including the firebombing of a police vehicle, a White House spokesman said Monday.
Biden, 80, will travel to Belfast on Tuesday where he will commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. The 1998 peace accords brought the 30-year-long sectarian conflict known as The Troubles to an end.
“The President is traveling to the United Kingdom and Ireland this week. And as I think you all also know, he’s very excited for this trip and has been now for quite some time,” the White House National Security Council’s coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby said on Monday.
When asked by a reporter about warnings of violence in the region ahead of Biden’s trip, including threats of terrorism, Kirby dismissed concerns for the president’s safety.
“You know we don’t ever talk about security requirements of protecting the president. But the president is more than comfortable making this trip, and he’s very excited to do it,” Kirby said.
On Monday, police in Northern Ireland’s border city of Derry came under attack by a group of people in paramilitary uniforms who marched through the streets to commemorate the anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising – an armed insurrection conducted by Irish nationalists in protest of British rule.
The rioters hurled several Molotov cocktails and other objects at a police vehicle monitoring the group, according to authorities.
“Our officers have come under attack in Creggan [a housing development] with petrol bombs and other objects thrown at their vehicle while in attendance at an un-notified Easter parade,” a spokesman for the Police Service of Northern Ireland said, according to Irish media. “No injuries have been reported at this time. We would appeal for calm.”
Monday’s violence comes a day after police in Northern Ireland reportedly foiled a terrorist bomb plot intended to disrupt Biden’s Belfast visit.
Members of the New IRA paramilitary group allegedly sought to purchase bomb parts in Derry and construct an explosive device, sources told the Belfast Telegraph.
Last November, the group claimed responsibility for detonating a roadside bomb targeting a police vehicle in County Tyrone. Two officers escaped injury when the bomb detonated next to their car.
MI5, the UK’s domestic counterterrorism agency, raised the terrorism threat level in Northern Ireland from “substantial” to “severe” last month.
Ahead of his trip, Biden marked the anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement – signed on April 10, 1998 – on Twitter, vowing that the US is committed to “preserving peace” in the region.
“25 years ago, Northern Ireland’s leaders chose peace,” Biden wrote in a tweet.
“The Belfast/Good Friday Agreement ended decades of violence and brought stability. I look forward to marking the anniversary in Belfast, underscoring the U.S. commitment to preserving peace and encouraging prosperity,” he added.
The president will also attend a series of other events in Ireland in County Louth and County Mayo, home of his Irish ancestors.
The president will also deliver a public address at St. Muredach’s Cathedral in Ballina, County Mayo on April 14.