Police hunt for Belfast rioters

A special police team is being set up to try and identify those at the heart of the riots which have engulfed North Belfast for much of the past year, it was disclosed today.

From tomorrow a sergeant and eight constables will be working full time for a month viewing video film shot during clashes in a bid to identify and arrest those responsible.

Detective Superintendent Julie Lindsay, the Police Service district commander for North Belfast said: ‘‘People who have been involved in riots can expect to face the consequences.’’

She said that by the summer she planned to have 18 CCTV cameras at key trouble spots on top of two recently erected on the flash point Ardoyne Road.

Another weekend of rioting by loyalist and republican gangs left another four police officers and a soldier injured, bringing the total for the last 10 months to 603.

One officer is in a serious condition in hospital after being struck by a BMW car which deliberately drove at him while he was on riot duty and dragged him 250 yards down the road beneath its wheels.

Another, a WPc, received her injuries when rioters stormed a police vehicle and tried to drag her from it.

There have been 369 petrol bomb attacks and 168 blast bomb attacks - many involving numerous devices - during the past 10 months.

Blast bombs being thrown at police lines forming a buffer zone between the rival factions have become the norm said Detective Superintendent Lindsay.

‘‘In any normal civilised society that would not be acceptable’’.

She said rioters had taken to using sharp knives to disable police vehicles by slashing their tyres.

‘‘At the weekend we had a guy with a hatchet running at police, that is what my officers are facing day and daily.’’

Nationalist politicians have renewed criticism of the security forces for firing plastic bullets during rioting.

But Detective Superintendent Lindsay said over the weekend only three had been fired and over the past 10 months a total of 141.

She insisted: ‘‘It is the least lethal force that can be applied in the circumstances. It is not used willy nilly, but I have a duty to protect my officers.’’

She said there were strict guidelines determining when plastic bullets could be used and police were open to independent scrutiny over every plastic bullet fired.

She predicted it would take more than the Police Service to bring the North Belfast clashes to an end.

‘‘I don’t think the police alone can bring it to an end, really we are being used in the middle to try to keep the two sides apart.

‘‘There are situational aspects, there are social aspects and really all the agencies need to play their part and try to come to a long term solution.’’