New bomb attack near scene of riots
A fresh bomb attack was launched in flashpoint north Belfast tonight as five Protestant families were forced to flee their homes in the troubled area.
A pipe bomb exploded in the back garden of a Catholic home in Alliance Avenue, just yards from the scene of riots when 110 petrol bombs rained down on police, wounding 39 officers.
No-one was injured but three women were treated for shock and a child was hurled against a wall by the force of the blast.
The RUC later found several similar devices in the area.
The attack is the second in 24 hours on the street which backs on to a loyalist part of the tinderbox Ardoyne area.
One man who was at the house when the device went off said: "The impact felt as if somebody had hit me with a spade."
Riot police who had rushed to the scene of the explosion were forced to rush back out after another device was thrown.
Earlier, a number of Protestants were forced to quit their homes as fears grew of further trouble in the area riven by bitter divisions following clashes outside a Catholic Primary School earlier this week.
North Belfast members of the Northern Ireland Assembly tonight met with the new security minister Jane Kennedy as efforts to restore calm were stepped up.
But the prospects of a resolution looked bleak as both loyalists and republicans warned that they would take steps to defend their areas.
One loyalist source who angrily claimed women and children had been attacked by RUC officers said: "We had agreed along with the police to get the men off the road, but after they were batoned on Twaddell Avenue there’s no way it’s going to happen."
The Catholic Reaction Force, which has been used in the past as a cover name for the IRA, also contacted media outlets threatening to have armed patrols on the streets.
Earlier up to five Protestant families were forced to flee their homes as the situation remained unstable.
Billy Hutchinson, an Assembly member for the Progressive Unionist Party claimed loyalists were being forced out of the area.
"Protestants have moved out of their homes in then Ardoyne Road because of intimidation," he said.
"There’s only one person left on the whole road."
Earlier, as Catholic parents were blocked from taking their children to Holy Cross Primary School by riot police at the interface, Mr Hutchinson claimed the situation was being manipulated by republicans.
But Sinn Fein Assembly man Gerry Kelly hit back, claiming the Ulster Defence Association was orchestrating the trouble and called for the paramilitary grouping’s political wing to act.
"The children and the parents at Holy Cross need to be able to get to the schools and back out without sectarian intimidation or attack," he said.
"Pressure should be put on the UDP and all unionist political parties including community workers who have influence on the UDA to stop."
Five of the police officers injured during overnight clashes with up to 600 rioters required hospital treatment, while four civilians were hit after then RUC fired eight of its new plastic bullet rounds.
Dr Jim McLaughlin, medical director at the Mater Hospital, one of Belfast’s frontline treatment centres which dealt with many of the wounded, urged the warring factions to make peace.
He added: "I hoped we had left this behind and the hospital could return to treating normal run of the mill injuries."
