Police officers injured during riots

Nine police officers were injured and up to ten shots were fired at police after trouble flared overnight in north Belfast.

It followed a Protestant parade in the Catholic Ardoyne area of north Belfast, police have said.

No-one was injured as a result of the gunshots on Thursday. Petrol bombs and bricks were thrown at police lines by both nationalists and loyalists.

Police fired six plastic bullets. Two people were arrested.

Police also used water cannon on the crowds.

In Londonderry, petrol bombs were thrown in the Westland Street area and at the city's walls. A car was set alight in Fahan Street.

DUP MP for north Belfast Nigel Dodds condemned the decision by the Parades Commission to allow a nationalist protest parade to take place in north Belfast.

"I blame entirely the Parades Commission who permitted this parade by a dissident republican crowd intent on trouble," he said.

"People here in Twaddell and the Orange Order and others have tried their very best to act in the best way possibly, responsibly. But when that parade came out,they were faced with incredible abuse and violence aimed at them. Of course there were people who retaliated and I regret that."

During the violence in north Belfast, three cars were hijacked and two of them pushed at police. At least one of them had been set alight.

There was "significant disorder" in the nationalist Brompton Park and Balholm Road areas. A short distance away police were attacked with bricks and bottles thrown by loyalists on the Crumlin Road near the junction with Hesketh Road.

On the other side of the Ardoyne flashpoint zone at Twaddell Avenue, bricks and bottles were also thrown at police by loyalists.

BBC Northern Ireland reporter Julian O'Neill witnessed some of the trouble.

"The smell of smoke hangs heavy in the air as one of three cars hijacked earlier burns in front of a row of police water cannon vehicles," he said.

"Several petrol bombs have rained down on riot police. I saw one bounce off the Perspex shield of one officer and temporarily engulf two others in flames, but mostly it has been bricks and fireworks.

"I've also noticed laser pens being aimed in the direction of police lines."

Some nationalists object to the parade which marks William III's victory at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.

Earlier, 24 Orange Order marchers completed a parade past the area.

The trouble broke out after Protestant Orangemen, who are members of north Belfast lodges, walked past a row of shops in the Catholic area.

A protest by Catholic residents to show their opposition to the Orangemen walking through the area was held along with a parade by the group Greater Ardoyne Residents Coalition (GARC).

"The Greater Ardoyne Residents Coalition parade was delayed at Estoril Park by agreement due to a public safety issue caused by the significant disorder and a burning vehicle," said Assistant Chief Constable Kerr

"Once this was cleared, the GARC parade continued on to the Crumlin Road.
 

Parade ruling

"Missiles were thrown from both sides as the GARC parade passed the Ardoyne Shop fronts but both the parade and the protest dispersed.

"Police would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the positive efforts of all those parading, protesting and marshalling on Thursday."

Earlier, police said the Orange Order parade had passed "peacefully" and "in accordance with the Parades Commission determination".

The representatives of three Orange lodges, carrying three banners, were escorted by riot police as they walked past Ardoyne.

The marchers were completing a controversial parade within a deadline set by the Parades Commission.

North Belfast Orangemen completed a token march past the Ardoyne shops

There was some shouting from nationalist protesters as the small group of marchers went past.

Hundreds of loyalists were waiting to welcome them when they had passed the contentious area.

The marchers had been taken to north Belfast by bus to meet the 16:00 BST deadline.

Orangemen said it was a peaceful solution to allow them to complete their return parade from the main celebrations to their Orange halls in north Belfast.

Elsewhere, in the mainly nationalist village of Crumlin, County Antrim, a Twelfth of July Orange parade complied with a Parades Commission ruling and all lodges except the local ones took an alternative route to a dispersal point.

The nine local district lodges and five bands marched through the village.

There was some trouble in Craigavon after a bus was hijacked in the Drumbeg estate.

Meanwhile, six men aged between 18 and 34 are due in court later charged in connection with rioting in the Broadway area of west Belfast on Wednesday evening.