Derry: Nationalist rioters threw petrol bombs at police in the centre of Derry yesterday evening, less than an hour after the Orange Order's parade had passed off peacefully in the same area.
Two officers and two civilians were treated in hospital for injuries sustained in the disturbances.
A woman constable took a direct hit in the face when a bottle was thrown at police lines from the direction of the nationalist rioters.
The trouble flared up after the parade when rival loyalist and nationalist youths exchanged verbal insults and threw beer bottles at each other at the junction of Ferryquay Street and the Diamond.
Police immediately separated the rival groups and forced the loyalists into Bishop Street.
A standoff then developed between the two groups.
Stones and bottles were thrown before the police formed a cordon and pushed the nationalists across the Diamond into Butcher Street and the loyalists farther up Bishop Street.
After the police, using Land Rovers, had sealed off Butcher Street containing the nationalist rioters, 10 petrol bombs were thrown at police lines as well as bricks and bottles. Several masked youths used catapults to fire ball bearings at the police lines.
Senior members of the republican movement in Derry, who had been on the streets throughout the day monitoring the Orange Order parade, had left the area before the trouble started.
Several of the police vehicles in Butcher Street took direct hits from the petrol bombs.
The most serious disturbances occurred outside the Tower Hotel in Butcher Street.
Half an hour before the petrol bombs were thrown at the police, a bus load of tourists had arrived at the hotel.
Supt Johnny McCarroll, who was in charge of the police operation in Derry yesterday, said the reputation of the city had been damaged as a result of the disturbances.
"We had a peaceful day during the parade, but then some people obviously found it difficult to understand that such a parade could have passed off incident-free," he said.
"They are a mindless group of young people. We have four casualties in hospital, almost a dozen petrol bombs thrown at police trying to keep rival groups apart, and all of this happened soon after tourists arrived at the hotel outside which the trouble took place. I wonder what impression they will have of their visit to this city."
The Orange parade in Derry had been one of the quietest held in the city in recent years. Just over 3,000 Orangemen paraded through the centre for the first time in 13 years.