13 Jul 2011

Petrol bombs during second night of Belfast riots

Police in Northern Ireland were attacked with Molotov cocktails for a second consecutive night of riots following Orange Order parades in Belfast.

Petrol bombs thrown in second night of Belfast riots - Reuters

Bricks, bottles and fireworks were also hurled at officers and cars were set alight in the city’s northern district of Ardoyne, which has a history of sectarian clashes.

Police in riot gear fired baton rounds and water cannons at crowds of around 200 in the Estoril Park and Brompton Park areas after their lines came under attack from masked youths on Tuesday evening.

Some officers were set alight briefly when hit by petrol bombs and targeted by lasers, while a local photographer was hit by a baton round, the Police Service of Northern Ireland said.

The rioting followed a nationalist protest march held to coincide with a loyal order parade through the residential sectarian interface to mark the 12 July commemorations, in which tens of thousands of members of the loyal orders walk the streets to commemorate the 1690 Battle of the Boyne victory of a Protestant over a Catholic monarch.

Three juveniles and two adult males were arrested on suspicion of riotous behaviour, according to police. Calm was restored to the area during the early hours of Wednesday morning.

On Monday night, 22 police officers were injured when violence broke out in the nationalist areas of Broadway, Oldpark and North Queen Street in the west of the city and continued through the early hours of yesterday morning. More than 40 petrol bombs were thrown and an ambulance and a fire engine were also attacked.