Violence erupts at loyalist bonfire demonstration
Rioters have attacked police with petrol bombs and missiles at an Orange Order July 12 bonfire in Portadown.
Officers used water cannon and baton guns to disperse the crowds when violence flared in the Edgarstown area shortly after 1am.
They were bombarded with petrol bombs, fireworks and other missiles during a "short but intense period of disorder", an RUC spokesman said.
A suspicious object found on the Corcrain Road was being dealt with by bomb disposal officers.
Thousands took to the streets to celebrate around the fires in towns and villages across the province while in Belfast children in loyalist areas had competed to build the highest bonfire.
The Orange Order was holding its annual Twelfth demonstrations today against a background of continuing deadlock in the political process.
A number of speakers around the Province are preparing to launch bitter attacks on Ulster Unionist politicians involved in talks aimed at saving the Good Friday Agreement.
The talks at Weston Park broke up on Wednesday without any sign of a compromise over decommissioning, police reform and demilitarisation.
Members of the Ulster Unionist delegation left early to return to Northern Ireland for the annual marches, which celebrate the victory of the Protestant King William over his Catholic rival King James at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.
Orangemen, angry at the ban on some of their parades, have pledged to take the Parades Commission to court for breaching the European Convention on Human Rights.
