Police injury count in Belfast riot climbs to 56
Fifty-six police officers were injured during loyalist riots in Belfast city centre in a night of chaotic violence that the North’s Chief Constable has described as mindless anarchy.
Protesters who ran amok through central streets and attacked police with missiles, including scaffolding poles and paving stones ripped up from a main shopping district, have scarred the city’s reputation, Matt Baggott said.
The region’s top officer issued a challenge to politicians and community leaders to act like “statesmen” in the wake of the disorder and unequivocally condemn those responsible.
The violence erupted in the Royal Avenue area, a usually busy commercial street close to City Hall, as more than a thousand loyalist demonstrators gathered to protest at the republican rally to mark the introduction of internment without trial in the North during the Troubles.
Four officers required hospital treatment. PSNI officers, who deployed water cannons and 26 plastic baton rounds in a bid to quell the unrest, have arrested seven people so far, but have warned that many more will follow.
“I know that 99%, if not more, of the population will stand with me in utterly condemning those who scarred the reputation of our beautiful city last night,” said Mr Baggott.
“Those people had no intention of peaceful protest, they lack self respect and they lack dignity.”
Mr Baggott, who warned that the “prisons would be bulging” once the police had identified and arrested those responsible, added: “The only voices we should hear now are those unequivocally condemning the violence and supporting fully the actions of the police and the rule of law and I don’t want to hear any excuses for the disgraceful scenes that took place last night, because quite frankly there aren’t any.”
The trouble broke out as the city hosts thousands of international visitors attending the World Police and Fire Games.
Violence spread from the Royal Avenue area as the Anti-Internment League parade, which was sanctioned by the Parades Commission adjudication body, approached from north Belfast.
Some direct clashes with loyalists and republicans ensued close to the entrance to the unionist Shankill Road, and police said they came under attack from both sides, but officers have stressed that loyalist protesters were responsible for the vast majority of the violence.
A number of parked vehicles were set on fire in the nearby North Street area and police have revealed that some rioters took to the roof tops of city buildings and houses and tried to set them on fire.
The parade did not pass down Royal Avenue as intended. After a significant delay, it did finally proceed along the outskirts of the city centre and onward to west Belfast.
Police stressed that the parade was not re-routed by their officers with organisers voluntarily deciding to take another road.
