Belfast hit by riots as rival soccer fans clash

A SENIOR police officer in north Belfast last night appealed to community leaders to calm tensions along a sectarian flashpoint after 200 people clashed following the outcome of the Scottish Premier League football race.

Following Glasgow Rangers dramatic capturing of the title, which had been expected to go to Celtic, violence erupted in the Ardoyne area. A total of 18 police officers were treated for injuries while trying to keep rival factions apart.

A woman officer was partially dragged from a police vehicle and had a bottle smashed over her head.

A male police officer also sustained a serious foot injury in scenes which the Northern Ireland Office Security Minister Shaun Woodward insisted could not be tolerated. Within minutes of the Scottish title being decided, rival supporters clashed on the Crumlin Road.

Democratic Unionist Assembly member Nelson McCausland claimed nationalists attacked a loyalist home in the Twadell Road, damaging an already fortified window of a house which had come under attack. Within minutes a clash involving a small number of people had swollen to a riot involving 200 people.

Police summoned to the scene were pelted with stones, bottles and other missiles, but were criticised by Sinn Féin councillor Margaret McClenaghan for pushing nationalists back into the Ardoyne.

Superintendent Gary White confirmed that two water canons were also deployed. He said: “Police will use all available means to identify those responsible, including monitoring nearby CCTV.

There were clashes in other flashpoint areas of north Belfast, in the Limestone and Whitewell Roads.