A 49-YEAR-OLD woman is due to appear in court today in Belfast in connection with the seizure of a gun and ammunition by PSNI officers investigating the rioting in Ardoyne last week.
The woman was charged yesterday with possession of a firearm and with possession of ammunition in suspicious circumstances.
She had been arrested by the PSNI on Friday night as police continued their investigation of the nationalist disturbances at Ardoyne and other parts of the North over the Twelfth of July period.
Police have slowly been making arrests in relation to the disorder of last week as Ardoyne appeared to be gradually returning to normal.
Following a public demonstration against the rioters at Ardoyne on Thursday night attended by hundreds of people and led by senior Sinn Féin and SDLP politicians, local clergy and community activists, the violence began to peter out.
The Éirígí republican socialist group has insisted that none of its members was involved in rioting at Ardoyne, and that none of its members travelled to Ardoyne from the Republic to engage in protests.
Sinn Féin and SDLP politicians and local clergy have complained that the violence at Ardoyne was partly orchestrated by dissident republicans who were not from Ardoyne.
It was observed that there were a number of people with southern accents involved in the protests on July 12th at Ardoyne, the night of the worst of the violence.
Local priest Fr Gary Donegan and some local politicians queried why some people who staged a sit-down protest on the Crumlin Road in an attempt to block a return Orange Order parade wore T-shirts stating they were “residents, not dissidents” when they were not from Ardoyne.
However, Pádraig Mackel of Éirígí said none of the group’s members from Dublin or any other part of the Republic travelled to Ardoyne on Monday night. He added: “Éirígí members from across Belfast, including Ardoyne, took part in Monday’s peaceful sit-down protest. There were no members in attendance from the 26 counties,” he said.
“Those members who did attend did so at the request of the Greater Ardoyne Residents Collective. No Éirígí member was involved in Monday’s rioting,” added Mr Mackel.
Meanwhile, PSNI officers have recovered 11 replica guns and other paramilitary equipment during a search of a house in the New Lodge area of north Belfast. The search was linked to a shotgun attack during disturbances last Sunday night week in which three PSNI officers were wounded.
Two teenage boys have been charged with rioting in connection with trouble in south Belfast last Tuesday.
Aged 15 and 16, they are due to appear at Belfast youth court today in relation to the damage of cars by youths firing golf balls at East Bridge Street.
