Ulster Unionist Assembly member Fred Cobain has visited the Assistant Chief Constable, Alan McQuillan, to thank him and the police service formally for what he said was their work in preventing violence in North Belfast in recent days.
Speaking after a meeting this morning, Mr Cobain said that the actions of the police had prevented "almost certain serious injury to local loyalists and possible loss of life."
The North Belfast MLA claimed that because of the numerous tools of violence that the British Army had discovered in Ardoyne on the 11th night, it was pretty obvious that the republican movement had been planning a full scale riot.
The incandescent rage displayed by senior members of Sinn Fein after Mr McQuillan's pre-emptive comments only served to show that they more than anyone wanted serious disturbance in North Belfast, he claimed.
Mr Cobain added that he and any right thinking person would want to thank the police service and British army for the excellent job they had done in averting republican-inspired disorder on the streets.
Sinn Fein said Mr McQuillan's claim on Thursday night that republicans had been planning a major riot as an Orange march passed through Ardoyne on the 12th was absolutely preposterous.
