Plastic bullets defended as 39 RUC hurt
The RUC has defended the use of new plastic bullets on the streets of the North after officers came under attack during a mass riot between loyalists and nationalists in north Belfast overnight.
39 officers were injured when up to 600 rioters launched acid bombs and over 100 petrol bombs at police lines during violence which continued into this morning.
Gunmen from both sides fired shots at security forces and, at one stage, loyalists tried to petrol bomb an ambulance carrying wounded RUC officers.
A blast bomb and a number of shots were also fired at police as tension gripping the flashpoint Ardoyne area of north Belfast over the last two days erupted into full-scale rioting.
