The police have rejected a claim that a bomb which exploded killing a Protestant teenager on Sunday evening had first been hurled from a nationalist end of an interface area in north Belfast.
Glen Hugh Branagh, from Mountcollyer Avenue in north Belfast, died after a pipe bomb, which he was allegedly about to throw at police lines, exploded in his hand on Sunday evening. He would have been 17 on Friday.
Protestant community activist Mr Eddie McClean had claimed that the youth had picked up the bomb to throw it away, after it was fired from the nationalist side during fierce rioting between loyalists and nationalists in the North Queen Street area. Local Sinn FΘin MLA Mr Gerry Kelly denied this claim.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland yesterday said the bomb could not have come from the nationalist end. "At the time the device was detonated, the nationalist crowd had been moved back a considerable distance. From eyewitness accounts and inquiries we have made so far, we are satisfied that this device was not thrown by the nationalist side," said a spokesman.
The North Belfast MP Mr Nigel Dodds called for a detailed inquiry into the circumstances of Mr Branagh's death.
Meanwhile, there was a heavy police presence in north Belfast yesterday as Catholic children made their way to Holy Cross primary school.
Around 400 police officers, double the normal force, mounted a security operation to allow the children and their parents walk to school yesterday in their own time.
Despite the security presence, there were some minor scuffles as the children walked to school.
Police revealed that it is costing about £50,000 a day to manage the 12-week-old protest. Yesterday's operation cost £100,000.
