British soldiers have been deployed on the streets of Belfast in support of the RUC, following another evening of violent disturbances in support of Drumcree Loyalist protestors. The RUC Chief Constable, Sir Ronny Flanagan, has said intelligence reports indicated gun and bomb attacks were planned on his officers in Belfast and Portadown during the night. He said the attacks would include the use of blast bombs and firearms.
RUC lines were attacked by demonstrators hurling bricks and bottles, while there were a number of vehicle hijackings. Loyalist protestors brought rush hour traffic to a halt when they blocked main roads and junctions around the city. Protesters at Drumcree set fire to tyres against their side of the high steel barricade erected by the security forces to prevent access to the lane leading to the Garvaghy Road, in the only incident in an otherwise peaceful protest.
The British Army disclosed that there had been 61 incidents of civil disorder in the Belfast area in the past 24 hours - more than for the whole of the past year. The details were given as hundreds of Orangemen from Country Antrim rallied at Drumcree with bands in support of their Portadown colleagues' protest. British soldiers have erected a steel barrier at the main flashpoint between Drumcree Church and the mainly nationalist Garvaghy Road.
The Northern Secretary, Peter Mandelson, earlier said the security forces would come down hard on demonstrators at Drumcree who used violence. His comments followed a third successive night of violence by loyalists across the North in protest against the ban on Sunday's Orange Order parade going along the mainly-nationalist Garvaghy Road.
Clearing-up operations were underway in Belfast this morning after a night of rioting in Loyalist areas. Sinn Féin and the SDLP have complained that the RUC did not do enough to protect Catholic homes caught up in the trouble. At Drumcree itself where water cannon were used last night, British Army engineers have moved in to erect fortifications near the church. The structure, which is 20 feet high and 30 feet wide, is made up of steel containers filled with concrete and topped with barbed wire. A British Army spokesman said that the barrier had been put in place because of the escalating violence in advance of next Sunday's Orange Order parade.
The Northern Secretary, Peter Mandelson, signed an order allowing the security forces to take possession of Church land beside Drumcree Parish Church. Loyalists have been urged to call off their protests after the worst night of disturbances in the North this year. The call was made by the Minister for Agriculture in the Northern Executive, Bríd Rodgers of the SDLP, who said the Orange Order must show responsibility. However, the DUP Assembly member for Newry and Armagh, Paul Berry, who was at Drumcree last night, said that protests on the hill should continue. He did said, however, that violence did nothing to help the Orange Order's cause.
Violence erupted for the third night in a row in Drumcree and Belfast, with Loyalists spreading their protests to several other areas across the North. Shots were fired at RUC officers in Belfast and Loyalist demonstrators used syringes to fire acid at police in Drumcree. The violence comes in the run up to next Sunday's Orange Order parade by the Portadown lodge. The Parades Commission has banned the marchers from going down the mainly Nationalist Garvaghy Road.
The RUC returned fire after shots were fired at them in the Lower Shankill area of Belfast, last night, where Loyalist demonstrators had gathered. There were no reports of injuries. At Drumcree, police used water cannon to disperse a crowd of around 500 rioting demonstrators. Nine police officers were injured during the disturbances and four people were arrested for public order offences, including two women and a juvenile. A British army vehicle was also set alight with a petrol bomb. Elsewhere, dozens of roads were also blocked by demonstrators in Loyalist areas of Belfast as well as in Armagh, Dungannon, Ballymena and Coleraine.
