The debate over unauthorised bonfires, and their perceived links with social deprivation, has taken a number of twists over recent days, all of which deserved to be closely studied by the authorities.
A group of young people voluntarily agreed that large piles of woods which had been collected for burning on Saturday night should be removed from an area in north Belfast where serious disturbances took place at this time last year.
Unfortunately, this encouraging development was followed by unacceptable scenes in the west of the city on the same day when police officers came under sustained attack while protecting contractors who were taking similar material away from a private site.
The young people from the New Lodge district set out their thinking in detail in the course of compelling interviews with this newspaper which were published on Saturday.
Some of them defended previous bonfires in the district to mark the anniversary of the introduction of internment without trial in 1971, saying that they helped to bring a community together which had suffered from significant neglect.
However, after the disturbances there 12 months ago, they agreed that the gatherings could not be controlled, had upset many residents and a different approach was needed.
The young people put forward strong points about the way they were sometimes judged solely on the basis of their addresses, and explained the realities of dealing with the high levels of unemployment and suicide which are present on both sides of the sectarian divide in Belfast and elsewhere.
While the New Lodge enjoyed a peaceful weekend, it was shocking that a short distance away off the Grosvenor Road vicious rioting broke out in the vicinity of a bonfire.
The injuries to up to 29 PSNI officers were appalling, and it is essential that the perpetrators are brought before the courts and that police commanders carefully review the sequence of events leading to the confrontations.
There can be no excuse for the violence which took place, but waiting until a matter of hours before a pyre was due to be lit before sending in officers in full riot gear, who quickly found themselves outnumbered in narrow streets, appeared a dubious decision.
The discussions which had such a positive outcome in the New Lodge showed what is capable of being achieved through dialogue in even the most difficult of circumstances.
