Shots fired at kids, say Sinn Féin

Tension rose in a sectarian flashpoint area of Belfast amid reports of gunfire in the north of the city.

Republicans claimed children had a lucky escape in the Duncairn area last night after shots were fired in their direction as they were playing football.

Sinn Fein councillor Gerard Brophy claimed five shots were fired from the loyalist Tiger Bay before 11pm.

The north Belfast councillor said: ‘‘We are very lucky not to have a number of young people shot dead.

‘‘These kids were playing football near the Yorkgate shopping complex and play the game there regularly.

‘‘As soon as the shots were fired people in the nationalist community immediately came to pull the kids out of the area.

‘‘Tensions are high coming on the back of a pipe bomb attack on Sunday night and last night’s desecration of a memorial to those killed in the McGurk’s bar bombing.’’

Earlier nationalists and loyalists confronted each other in the south of the city in the flash point Ormeau area.

Police separated between 70 and 80 people on either side of the divide at the Ormeau Bridge.

A number of stones were thrown at Police Service of Northern Ireland officers and cars were unable to travel up and down the road.

The crowds eventually cleared and the Ormeau Road was reopened but security forces were maintaining a presence in the area.

In east Belfast, a demonstration in the Albertbridge Road passed off peacefully.

Loyalists in the area have clashed with nationalists in the Short Strand district over the past fortnight.

Mr Brophy called on unionist politicians to condemn loyalist violence in the Duncairn and North Queen Street areas.

Directing criticism at the Democratic Unionist MP for North Belfast, Nigel Dodds, the Sinn Fein councillor said: ‘‘The silence is deafening.

‘‘Nigel Dodds, and other unionist politicians have said very little about the attacks which have been regularly occurring on nationalists houses in recent months.’’