Violence and ugly scenes in north Belfast last night marred what was otherwise a peaceful Twelfth of July.
Nationalists ignored the restraining efforts of senior Provisional republicans at the flashpoint Ardoyne shops in north Belfast and attacked PSNI and British army lines that were separating them from Orangemen and loyalists.
The trouble flared after about 300 loyalist supporters of the Orangemen, who were returning to Ligoniel and Ballysillan in north Belfast last night, were allowed to parade past the Ardoyne shops.
Nationalists argued that this contravened a Parades Commission ruling that only the Orangemen should parade past the shops, and that their supporters and band should not accompany them.
The Orange Order in turn contended that a judge, in a judicial review of the parade, last week ruled that the Parades Commission could have no effective jurisdiction over what supporters of the Orangemen could do.
The police and British army mounted a huge security operation at Ardoyne shops. Metals screens 15 feet high separated the Orangemen from about 3,000 protesting nationalists. Several hundred police and soldiers in riot gear separated the two sides as the Orangemen marched past the shops shortly before 8 a.m.
Some nationalists fired golf balls, stones and bottles over the barrier while loyalists returned fire. Five minutes later, when the Orange supporters were pushed past, there was a further, more serious exchange of missiles.
Generally, however, republican stewards were able to maintain order. The main violence erupted unexpectedly about 100 yards away, at Ardoyne Road on the nationalist side, when nationalists attacked the army and police who were separating them from the loyalist Glenbryn area.
Such was the fury of the nationalists that senior republicans such as Mr Gerry Kelly and Mr Bobby Storey had great difficulty restraining the crowd. Mr Kelly told the protesters that he understood their anger but that there was little point in engaging in violence.
Some of the nationalists ignored him, jostling and pushing him away, and continuing to attack the police and army. At one stage it seemed that the soldiers and police might be overwhelmed by the crowd.
There were a number of baton charges. Republicans also maintained their efforts to calm the situation which finally led to a semblance of order. The situation, however, remained very tense in Ardoyne last night.
An angry Mr Kelly blamed the police and British government for the trouble, saying they had contravened the commission ruling by allowing the loyalist supporters past the Ardoyne shops.