Petrol bombs hurled after Drumcree passes peacefully

Petrol bombs were hurled over the barricade at Drumcree in Northern Ireland overnight but the RUC today described the trouble as ‘‘minor’’.

A crowd of around 400 people gathered several hours after an Orange Order parade passed off peacefully and several hundred remained past midnight in front of the barricade blocking them from entering the nationalist Garvaghy Road.

Up to four petrol bombs were thrown, but they exploded harmlessly in the no-man’s-land between the protesters and the security forces, an RUC spokesman said.

A ladder was used to enable protesters to climb up and try and cut their way through the razor wire on top.

Despite the minor trouble it was on a far smaller level than in past years.

By 2am the RUC said only a handful of the crowd were left and described the situation as ‘‘quiet’’.

Security forces had staged a £6m operation to block nearly 1,500 Orangemen from marching on their traditional parade route along Garvaghy Road a practice which has been blocked by objections from local nationalist residents for the past four years.

Members of the Portadown District LOL 1 staged a protest at the steel and concrete barrier blocking their path at Drumcree bridge, but dispersed after pleas by their leadership for no violence.

Police chiefs had feared trouble could spread throughout Northern Ireland raising tensions in the run-up to Thursday’s big Twelfth of July Battle of the Boyne commemorations where an estimated 100,000 Orangemen will be on the streets.

The peaceful outcome of the parade eased pressure on this week’s talks in Weston Park, Shropshire.

London and Dublin believe a deal on decommissioning, policing, demilitarisation and the institutions must be reached by Tuesday if the Northern Ireland parties are to avoid a dangerous crisis in the peace process following David Trimble’s resignation on July 1 as Stormont First Minister.

Elsewhere last night, three cars were set on fire at Dunmurry on the south western outskirts of Belfast, the RUC said.

They said they had sporadic reports of children and youngsters blocking roads in Belfast, but disruption to motorists was minimal.