The war on the streets

A round-up of the violence which broke oiut around the Six Counties following the PSNI attack on the Ardoyne protest.

MONDAY

North Belfast

The worst of the violence that occurred on the Twelfth took place in the north of the city. The fiercest rioting was in Ardoyne and broke out after the PSNI forced through an Orange Order march having spent three hours clearing residents from the road where they had staged a sit-down protest. Riot police then engaged nationalist youths.

Around 70 plastic bullets were fired and water cannon were deployed.

A female police officer was struck with a rock that the PSNI claimed had been dropped from a height. Other reports suggested that it was water cannon which had dislodged pieces of masonry from a shopfront.

Earlier in the day two cars were hijacked in the Oldpark area. One of the vehicles was abandoned in Alliance Avenue in Ardoyne and sparked an alert.

Claims that a member of the Orange Order was struck by a stone were later denied.

West Belfast

A bus driver was ordered to drive to Woodbourne PSNI station after telling him a bomb had been left on the top deck of the vehicle. The PSNI later said the device was a hoax.

A bus was set on fire on Divis Street, with the road closed to traffic for a period.

There was also a security alert at the Park Centre shopping centre.

Sout Belfast

A row of bins was placed across Ormeau Road and set alight following the return of an Orange parade in the evening. The PSNI on Ormeau Bridge defending the parade attacked nationalist residents. Youths threw petrol bombs, paint bombs and other missiles. Hundreds gathered in the lower Ormeau area as tensions heightened.

Dozens of police in riot gear responded to “a major disturbance” at Botanic train station as loyalists returned from a parade.

East Belfast

Trouble flared in the Short Strand and A1bertbridge Road areas with the PSNI describing it as “sporadic violence” throughout the evening.

Derry

Five shots were fired at the PSNI during riots at Lecky Road in the Bogside shortly after 1am. A gunman was said to have walked out from behind a pub and opened fire with a handgun.

The PSNI said the rioting was the “worst in a decade”.

Armagh

A car was hijacked and burnt as a large group of young nationalists gathered in the Killylea Road area during the afternoon.

Lurgan

A crowd rioted at a level crossing in the town and blocked a train, and an attempt was made to set it alight. However, the driver was able to continue a short time later and no-one was injured.

Nationalist youths threw seven petrol bombs and stones at the PSNI and hijacked a van. Petrol bombs were also thrown at officers during sporadic violence on the Antrim Road. Cars were hijacked and set alight.

TUESDAY

Ardoyne

Missiles Including fireworks and a large number of petrol bombs were thrown. One pipe bomb was thrown with reports that six shots were fired. Barricades were erected on Crumlin Road with one vehicle hijacked and set alight. About 150 people were involved in the disturbances. British army bomb experts were called to deal with a suspicious device at Highbury Gardens in Ardoyne yesterday afternoon.

New Lodge

Nationalist youths attempted to block North Queen Street by placing barricades across the road. Calm returned to the area around midnight.

South/East Belfast

There was sporadic stone-throwing in the Markets, lower Ormeau and Short Strand areas.

Lurgan

One car was hijacked but no major incidents.

Armagh

A viable device was found at the side of a main road.

The bomb was found on a grass bank close to the Killylea Road/Friary Road junction in Armagh city by police officers on foot patrol

Derry

Four petrol bombs were thrown at police in Westland Street at around 2.30am. There were also attempts made by the crowd to move a vehicle.

WEDNESDAY

Stones and petrol bombs were thrown at the PSNI in north Belfast for a fourth night as large groups of young people gathered at a flash point Interface. Dozens of young men and women congregated near the Ardoyne shops.

Although the violence was less severe than on the previous three nights, the PSNI clashed with people throwing missiles over the shop-fronts from the direction of Brompton Road.

Other areas that had been the focus of disturbances in recent days, including North Queen Street in north Belfast and Ormeau Bridge in south Belfast, were calm.

Urgent Appeal