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Rioting Erupts Across Ulster As Police Raid Loyalist Homes

Posted on: Monday, 12 September 2005, 12:00 CDT

A 700-strong mob took to the streets of Belfast last night in a new wave of loyalist rioting, police said. Loyalist petrol bombers hurled devices at security lines drawn on the Albertbridge Road in the east of the city. One police officer was injured in the violence.

A bomb also exploded at the gates of New Barnsley Police Station in west Belfast, causing minor damage. Gangs set fire to a hijacked car and van in south Belfast, while more vehicles were seized at Ballysillan in the north of the city.

Nearly 100 masked men attacked police with petrol bombs on the nearby Ardoyne Road, and motorists were urged to avoid the Westlink motorway route through the city.

And two men hi-jacked a bus full of passengers in Bangor, Co Down last night, police said.

The vehicle was driven from the Belfast Road to the Clandeboye Road where those on board had personal belongings stolen from them before being ordered off. The bus was then set alight.

Late last night police said 10 people had been arrested so far in East Belfast for rioting offences, while in the south of the city more cars were set on fire at Donegall Avenue. As the attacks at New Barnsley police station grew worse, a car and van were crashed into the gates.

Wheelie bins and gas cylinders were also pushed against the station sangar and set alight.

Earlier, in Banbridge, Co Down, youths hijacked a vehicle and set it across a road while trouble also broke out in the Ballykeel and Harryville districts of Ballymena, Co Antrim.

Fresh trouble flared after police raided homes as part of their hunt for the terror thugs who unleashed ferocious rioting in Belfast and surrounding towns on Saturday.

Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde has appointed one of his top detectives to lead an investigation into the violence that followed a controversially re-routed Orange Order march in west Belfast.

A 48-year-old man and a youth aged 16 are due in court today as the first charges were brought over the original disorder that led to 32 police officers being injured.

Sir Hugh will also brief Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain on the rioting which he described as one of the most dangerous for any police force in UK history. Some 32 police officers were injured on Saturday.

Loyalist paramilitary gunmen fired at least 50 shots at security lines during 12 hours of mayhem on Saturday. Police and soldiers discharged 430 baton rounds and used water canons to drive back rioters, and returned live fire.

Seven guns were seized and a bomb making factory was discovered in the Highfield estate, north Belfast. One man was critically injured after being caught in an explosion while another member of the public was wounded in the gunfire.

More than 2,000 police officers and soldiers were needed to deal with the mayhem as it spread overnight into surrounding towns and villages in County Antrim. Cars, lorries and buses were being hijacked and set alight so regularly that roads were closed and motorists urged to stay at home.

As detectives began studying CCTV footage to identify the Ulster Defence Association and Ulster Volunteer Force paramilitaries behind much of the chaos, Sir Hugh called his men and women heroes. He said, 'We are very lucky we do not have dead officers. They were shot at by paramilitary groups from the Loyalist side.'

As well as making arrests, police also have suspected gunmen captured on film.

After clashes in north, west and east Belfast, loyalists in the towns of Ballymena, Antrim, Carrickfergus, Larne, Ballyclare and Glengormley then either blocked roads or petrol bombed police.

Mr Hain condemned those involved and challenged Orangemen and Unionist politicians to be equally critical.

He said, 'This rioting and attacks on the police and Army are totally unacceptable. Attempted murder cannot in any way be justified. There can be no ambiguity or excuse for breaking the law.'

The Chief Constable blamed the Loyal Order for provoking the disorder by appealing for supporters to take to the streets in protest. Pledging to release footage to prove their involvement, he said, 'I saw members of the Orange Order attacking my officers. I saw them standing next to men wearing masks, organising the violence.'

Source: Western Mail

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