3.1 Living at the interface
Figure 10 is a map of the wall along the interface between the Falls and the Shankill areas in West Belfast. The red line in Figure 10 indicates the peace wall. It runs from the Shankill and Falls to Springfield Road. There are gates or access points between communities along the wall, including one on Lanark Way where the disturbances you saw earlier happened.
Within communities who live on either side of these interfaces, such as the Falls and the Shankill communities, there is often a strong sense of community spirit because of the hardships people have lived through. But there is also fear and mistrust of the other community. It can be hard now to break the cycle when you don’t have an opportunity to speak to people on the other side or ‘put yourselves in their shoes’.