Belfast: Serious rioting erupted in North Belfast last night after the contentious Orange Order march past Ardoyne shops concluded without major incident.
Serious violence erupted when about 300 young nationalists started attacking police. A number of blast bombs were thrown at the police lines and a number of journalists were injured, one seriously. The PSNI said at least 40 officers were injured, one of them seriously.
Ambulances were called to the scene to ferry the injured to hospital. The rioting marred what otherwise had been a successful conclusion to the parade past Ardoyne.
The police came under sustained attack as they began to withdraw from Ardoyne shops last night. They used water cannon to try to disperse the troublemakers who were throwing petrol bombs, bricks bottles and golf balls at police lines. Late last night the situation remained very tense.
The most contentious of the Orange Order parades had passed Ardoyne shops relatively peacefully after police, nationalist protesters and Sinn Féin politicians came to an accommodation.
There was a huge security operation in place but disciplined, highly visible marshalling by republican stewards, coupled with Sinn Féin calls for a disciplined peaceful nationalist protest, helped to ensure the parades ended without serious incident. Protesters gathered behind huge steel security screens and displayed a banner declaring "Make sectarianism history" as the Orangemen, two bands, and supporters - all told numbering about 600 people - paraded by the shops. A number of missiles, including three paint bombs, were fired from the nationalist side over the screens but there were relatively few of them and the incident was short lived.
Senior republicans such as Eddie Copeland and Brendan McFarlane along with Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams, and other senior Sinn Féin figures such as Gerry Kelly and Bairbre de Brún were at the scene throughout the evening, persistently calling for the protest to be peaceful.
The parade took five minutes to pass the shops and immediately thereafter the police and British army began to dismantle the huge security operation, leaving the scene.
Earlier police in riot gear removed nationalists who staged sit-down protests in Dunloy, Co Antrim, and at Ardoyne.Orangemen and local nationalists in Dunloy had engaged in a standoff for six hours yesterday. The incident began in the morning when Orangemen, who had marched outside their hall in Dunloy, attempted to drive to the Presbyterian church in the village for a wreath-laying ceremony.
Nationalists blocked the road and also placed a trailer in the middle of the road. They claimed the Orangemen were planning to break a Parades Commission ruling by assembling in marching order at the church.
Police said the protesters were in breach of the commission's ruling and eventually, yesterday afternoon, PSNI officers removed, first the trailer and then the protesters. The Orangemen then laid their wreath and dispersed.
At Ardoyne yesterday morning police removed nationalists who staged a sit-down demonstration on the Crumlin Road to try to block the Orange Order feeder parade to the main Twelfth of July parade through Belfast. Some chained themselves to lamp-posts. At about 8.30am police in riot gear started moving the protesters, using long-handled cutters to break the chains.
There were a number of incidents during the Eleventh Night bonfire celebrations. At the Newtownards Road bonfire in Belfast the UVF, which is involved in another feud with the LVF that has claimed two lives so far this month, staged a show of strength by firing volleys at the fire.
Police were attacked during rioting between nationalists and loyalists in north Belfast. In east Belfast two police officers were assaulted as they went to the aid of a man under attack at a bonfire near Woodstock Link.
Property was damaged in a number of incidents. The fire service dealt with more than 300 calls. In Newcastle, Co Down, an Orange arch was destroyed and entrance to the adjacent Orange hall in the town was damaged in a suspected arson attack.
Thousands of Orangemen and hundreds of bands paraded to the Barnett Demesne in south Belfast. Thousands more gathered on the pavements to observe the parade or accompany it to the field at Barnett Demesne.
In all there were 18 Orange Order parades throughout Northern Ireland yesterday plus an independent Orange Order parade in Portglenone, Co Antrim.