Northern Ireland’s Police Ombudsman appealed for witnesses today after PSNI officers fired baton rounds during riots in west Belfast.
Police came under sustained attack on Saturday night from a 100-strong crowd throwing stones, fireworks, paint and petrol bombs.
Six officers were injured and nine police vehicles were damaged at Broadway near the M1. A 16-year-old boy is in a stable condition at the Royal Hospital in Belfast today after he was hit by a baton round.
The use of Attenuated Energy Projectiles (AEPs) is being investigated by the Ombudsman Al Hutchinson’s office, routine procedure whenever the police discharge a firearm.
The disturbances came after similar scenes on Friday night when four police vehicles were damaged.
On Saturday night, six police officers suffered head and body wounds. One was struck on the head with an iron bar.
More police vehicles were damaged by rioters armed with sign posts, pieces of masonry and, in one instance, an axe. Gas cylinders were also thrown into the road at the Broadway roundabout and a car was set alight.
The trouble was finally quelled at about 3am.
Police believe some of the rioters may have come from outside the local area and are appealing for the public’s help in identifying them.
At the North-South Ministerial Council meeting in Dublin, First Minister Peter Robinson said there was no possibility of economic growth if society was not at peace and there was political instability.
He said nobody in Northern Ireland who has “more than two brain cells to rub together wants to go back to the bad old days of the past”.
He said society should “treat as pariahs those who would seek to take us there”.
Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, who also attended the Farmleigh meeting, echoed Mr Robinson’s comments. He said there were still “Neanderthals” within society who remain involved in Confrontation and said peace was the only “sane” way forward.