Children fire-bomb 999 crews at club blaze
Police and fire officers came under attack from young children when attending the scene of a fire at a social club in west Belfast tonight.
The RUC said the attack was ‘‘heavy and sustained’’ and carried out by a large crowd of children aged between nine and 13.
A police spokeswoman said the attacks continued from the time their officers arrived at the scene of the fire at 4.15pm until they left at around 8.30pm.
During that time stones and other missiles, together with a petrol bomb were thrown.
Rubbish was strewn across the Whiterock Road and set alight.
‘‘This was more than children playing with fire and could have resulted in a child being seriously injured,’’ said the spokeswoman.
She appealed for parents to act responsibly, to know where their children were and to see they were not involved in such activity.
The cause of the fire is being investigated but the fire service said there were indications it was started deliberately.
