The Civil Rights Movement was beaten back to the ghettos they were reviled as being coming from.
In 1969 The IRA was the only buffer the Nationalist community had against the State Forces/Loyalist Paramilitaries.
Non-violence was not an option.
Especially in Belfast, where the 'Blacks' were surrounded by very large group of hungry 'Whites'

You are, of course entitled to you opinion, Keith, but whereas discrimination can be legislated against, the above quote from Randy Newman shows the reality of these kind of situations.

I'm afraid the Nationalist people of the north of Ireland wanted a little bit more than that, and its the old maxim, really, isnt it?
You push a person so far, he'll eventually hit back.

And when you have dirty tricks brigades pulling bank heists to try and bring you back down in the mud again (where they think we belong), there's always people like you who sit in your ivory Hertford-like towers, and tell us what you think WE should do.

There was a NEED for barricades, Keith. Or do you think all the news reel footage was recorded for television on the same vacant lot in Hollywood where they staged the moon landings?

Either get real, or stop for a moment and try and empathise with the situation for a little bit longer than it takes you to sing one of those protest songs of yours.

And take your finger out of your ear!