Serious rioting in north Belfast
Serious rioting in north Belfast has left more than 80 people injured on the return leg of an Orange parade.
Police officers were attacked with petrol bombs in the nationalist Ardoyne area following protests launched by nationalists as the Orange parade passed by. Seven members of the public were also injured, but none seriously, and a number of people were arrested.
Sinn Fein said the police were to blame, but the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) said the violence was pre-planned.
Police officers had tried to hold back nationalist protesters as Orangemen marched along the Crumlin Road in the Ardoyne area, and water cannon were used.
Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams said: “When the police moved, in what I think was quite a reckless manner, they took management completely away from the stewards.”
Superintendent Gary White of the police service of Northern Ireland, who was in charge of the operation, said their reaction had been “proportionate”. He also suggested the violence had been premeditated.
