The small group of hooligans who have been attacking police officers and ambulance staff in Crossmaglen over recent days plainly do not want normality to return to their area.
There can be no excuse for their behaviour which will damage efforts to regenerate the economy in south Armagh and has been strongly condemned by community leaders.
Indeed, Sinn Féin representatives have said specifically that information about the perpetrators should be given to the PSNI.
The disturbances followed the weekend crash on the outskirts of Crossmaglen involving a British army helicopter, in which two airmen and four police officers suffered serious but not life-threatening injuries.
It must be hoped that they all make a full recovery and that helicopter flights in south Armagh, together with other images associated with the troubles of the past in the region, are soon nothing more than a distant memory.
