Youths turn on RUC in second night of rioting

As the attacks intensified blast bombs were hurled and the RUC said there were a number of shots fired at officers from the loyalist Glenbryn Parade area.

The shooting was reported after Progressive Unionist Party Assembly member Billy Hutchinson said he had been injured by the RUC in the area when they forced loyalists back up the street.

Mr Hutchinson said he was going to make an official complaint to the Police Ombudsman about his treatment after going to hospital.

‘‘Police officers beat men to the ground with their batons and shields and I had to get up and run,’’ he claimed.

Up to six RUC officers were injured, the RUC said, when they came under attack in the Ardoyne area. Petrol bombs, missiles and other objects including fireworks were hurled at them.

A number of petrol bombs were also recovered by the security forces in the area.

Army bomb disposal experts were sent to the area to examine lengths of copper piping amid fears they might be pipe bombs containing explosives.

More RUC officers were injured as trouble spread out of the north of the city into the west.

In the Springfield Road area three RUC officers were injured when attacked while separating rival factions involved in clashes..

A number of vehicles in the area were also reported to have been damaged, said the RUC.

Another RUC man was injured during stoning back in the Ardoyne area. His condition was not believed to be serious.

A petrol bomb and paint bombs were also hurled at police in the area.

And in the Shankill Road area two people were taken to hospital for treatment after being injured during clashes between rival groups.

Cars were seized and set on fire in the Ardoyne and police warned motorists to keep away for their own safety.

Meanwhile the nationalist Belfast based morning paper, the Irish News, gave over its front page today to an appeal for restraint, coupled with a call for the IRA to act on arms decommissioning.

Under a picture of a shocked elderly woman being led away from her home in Alliance Avenue after it was attacked with a blast bomb, the paper asked: ‘‘Is this what we really want?’’

And it warned: ‘‘If stability cannot be provided, a further slip back to the dark days of the past is a growing possibility’’.

In a strong appeal to the IRA to act over arms the paper said: ‘‘Although republicans have said that they do not intend to react to pressure from the British or the unionists, they plainly have a responsibility to listen to the powerful pleas coming from nationalist Ireland.

‘‘An appropriate response from republicans would be a sign of strength rather than weakness and would earn the gratitude of the Irish nation.’’