Editing Irish War of Independence (section)

===Spring–summer 1921===
[[File:Troop Inspection Belfast City Hall 1920s W.D. Hogan Photographer (5807705678).jpg|thumb|The Lord Lieutenant inspecting troops outside Belfast City Hall on the day Northern Ireland's parliament first met.]]
After a lull in violence in the North, the conflict there intensified again in spring 1921. In February, as reprisal for the shooting of a Special Constable, USC and UVF men burned ten Catholic homes and a priest's house in [[Rosslea]], County Fermanagh.<ref>Lawlor, Pearse. ''The Outrages'', pp. 115–116</ref> The following month, the IRA attacked the homes of sixteen Special Constables in the Rosslea district, killing three and wounding others.<ref>Lawlor, Pearse. ''The Outrages'', pp. 117–119</ref>

The Act of Partition came into force on 3 May 1921.<ref name="O'Day 299">O'Day, Alan. ''Irish Home Rule, 1867–1921''. Manchester University Press, 1998. p. 299</ref> That month, James Craig secretly met Éamon de Valera in Dublin. They discussed the possibility of a truce in Ulster and an amnesty for prisoners. Craig proposed a compromise of limited independence for the South and autonomy for the North within the UK. The talks came to nothing and violence in the North continued.{{sfn|Hopkinson|2002|p=162}} [[1921 Irish elections|Elections to the Northern parliament]] were held on 24 May, in which Unionists won most seats. Its parliament first met on 7 June and formed [[Craigavon ministry|a devolved government]], headed by Craig. Republican and nationalist members refused to attend. King George V addressed the ceremonial opening of the Northern parliament on 22 June.<ref name="O'Day 299"/> The next day, a train carrying the king's armed escort, the [[10th Royal Hussars]], was derailed by an IRA bomb at [[Adavoyle railway station|Adavoyle]], County Armagh. Five soldiers and a train guard were killed, as were fifty horses. A civilian bystander was also shot dead by British soldiers.<ref>Lawlor, Pearse. ''The Outrages'', pp. 180–183</ref>

Loyalists condemned the truce as a 'sell-out' to republicans.<ref>Bell, J Bowyer. ''The Secret Army: The IRA''. Transaction Publishers, 1997. pp. 29–30; {{ISBN|978-1560009016}}</ref> On 10 July, a day before the ceasefire was to begin, police launched a raid against republicans in west Belfast. The IRA ambushed them on Raglan Street, killing an officer. This sparked a day of violence known as [[Bloody Sunday (1921)|Belfast's Bloody Sunday]]. Protestant loyalists attacked Catholic enclaves in west Belfast, burning homes and businesses. This led to sectarian clashes between Protestants and Catholics, and gun battles between police and nationalists. The USC allegedly drove through Catholic enclaves firing indiscriminately.<ref>Parkinson, Alan F. ''Belfast's Unholy War''. Four Courts Press, 2004. pp. 151–155</ref> Twenty people were killed or fatally wounded (including twelve Catholics and six Protestants) before the truce began at noon on 11 July.<ref>Eunan O'Halpin & Daithí Ó Corráin. ''The Dead of the Irish Revolution''. [[Yale University Press]], 2020. pp. 518–520, 522</ref> After the truce came into effect on 11 July, the USC was demobilized (July–November 1921). The void left by the demobilized USC was filled by loyalist vigilante groups and a revived UVF.<ref>Moore, Cormac, (2019),''Birth of the Border'', Merrion Press, Newbridge, p. 84, {{ISBN|9781785372933}}</ref>

There were further outbreaks of violence in Belfast after the truce. Twenty people were killed in street fighting and assassinations from 29 August to 1 September 1921 and another thirty were killed from 21 to 25 November. Loyalists had by this time taken to throwing bombs randomly into Catholic streets and the IRA responded by bombing trams carrying Protestant workmen.<ref>Alan F Parkinson, ''Belfast's Unholy War'', {{ISBN|1-85182-792-7}} hbk p. 316.</ref>